County Action on the Gas Rush

After reading a newspaper account of the Susquehanna Commissioners' action on a gas committee or task force, I wrote the following letter to the local papers. It summarizes some of my earlier posts and and offers suggestions for the committee or task force.

To address the Gas Rush, the county plans to have monthly meetings of the department heads involved with natural gas industry activities followed by public information sessions during the regular economic development board meetings.

This seems a good start. It focuses on improving coordination and actions by internal resources while both informing the public and getting their input.

The county could use this process to cooperate with the townships on common key areas. Let's consider a few possibilities in three areas.

Public Data Access and Awareness - Some townships get advance notice from engineering companies about planned well pad sites and from gas companies about likely pipeline routes and road crossings. Do all towns? Is this information and usage coordinated across towns and county offices? Could this planning information be aggregated by the county, perhaps on a public website, for use by citizens as well as towns and planning commissions?

Joint Contingency Planning and Reaction - DEP requires gas companies to place their contingency plan and emergency data at each well site. Are these plans provided to and coordinated with town and county Fire and EMA offices? Is or should the county lead in joint contingency planning between towns, fire departments and adjoining districts? Should this be done also for pipeline routes since the Texas experience is that more fires and emergencies arise from the pipelines than from the wells?

Town Road Access Permissions - Who should give approval for thumper trucks to “thump” or gather seismic data along the public roads or for companies to lay pipelines along road right-of-ways? How should landowner safety and property rights be protected in advance of approval? Pipelines create extensive safety setbacks and restrictions on property uses. Seismic exploration can gather data from deep into adjacent properties where landowner permission or contractual agreement may not exist. Should the county facilitate consistent guidelines to protect property rights as well as public safety?

I'm sure there are many other ideas. Hopefully, these will stimulate a discussion. For more, visit my blog at http://JessupJottings.blogspot.com.