More state land leases at issue

LOCK HAVEN - State Rep. Mike Hanna has joined more than two dozen of his colleagues who are expressing serious concern over a plan to expand natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania's state forests.

Hanna has confirmed he is among 28-plus House lawmakers who signed a letter sponsored by Finance Committee Chair David Levdansky opposing the leasing of more state land for gas drilling, including in Sproul State Forest.

Pennsylvania already leases approximately 600,000 acres of state forests for natural gas drilling. A proposal to help fund the state budget suggests leasing another 200,000 acres for exploratory drilling.

The signers of Levdansy's letters say they represent enough votes to stymie a still-evolving budget proposal negotiated by Democratic and Republican leaders in the General Assembly, and agreed to by Gov. Ed Rendell.

"What it comes down is the budget negotiations were looking at either imposing a severance tax, or the Democrats' proposal to tax at the wellhead ... taxing the gases that come out of the ground," Hanna said. "The Republicans insist they do not want that tax and they want to expand the drilling on public ground."

But expanding drilling on public ground impacts the original intent in creating state forests as sanctuaries and would essentially turn the taxpayer-owned land into a commercial enterprise, Hanna argues.

"It also would run the risk of contaminating the water supplies and damaging the environment in other ways," Hanna said. "We need to go slow in this Marcellus Shale. Mandating that it be open up for drilling without the professional advice of DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) biologists and foresters would be a huge environmental mistake."

But there is more, Hanna said.

"The Republican proposal was to not just mandate the additional public ground be open to drilling, but also to eliminate the Oil and Gas Fund as it exists in law. Currently, the money goes into the Oil and Gas Fund, which is reserved for state parks and state forests. It would eliminate that and that - now and forever under this proposal - the money from oil and gas leasing would go into the general fund.

"I believe it has to be a separate bill in the code that governs the state parks and state forests," Hanna, who chairs the House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee, said.

The veteran lawmaker promised continued discussions among himself, Levdansky, Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Havertown and those on the other side of the issue.

"It's possible they can satisfy our concerns and make sure the professional foresters and biologists are involved in any new drilling and not mandating the grounds be open for drilling," Hanna said.

Originally, Rep. Scott Hutchinson, R-Oil City, proposed any piece of state forest land the oil companies identify as prime territory be put out to bid for lease and drilling, Hanna said.

"That would be absurd to have the oil companies decide where to drill in the state forests," he said. "We need to make sure that, if there is any expanded drilling, professional foresters and biologists are involved."

Hanna said he believes the Republicans' main motivation in expanding leases is so to not tax the gas and oil companies, but he hopes he and his colleagues can force a vote on the issue.

"Before the session is over we want to force a vote on this and force the representatives to say they do not want to tax the oil companies. This is what it's all about. They do not want to tax the oil companies," he repeated.

The week-old budget deal includes leasing more land in state forests to gas drilling companies to help fill a multibillion-dollar revenue shortfall.

The General Assembly created the Oil and Gas Lease Fund in 1955 and established a landmark and farsighted policy of taking the money from the sale of nonrenewable oil and gas resources owned by the state and reinvesting this money into public conservation assets benefiting all Pennsylvanians.

Money from this fund has purchased land for many of Pennsylvania's state parks, acquired critical tracts for state forests and helped to maintain an estimated $3 billion parks and forestry infrastructure.

The anticipated revenues from leases such as these being offered at the upcoming auction are required to be deposited in the Oil and Gas Lease Fund and earmarked for land conservation and recreation projects on state park and forest lands.

Pennsylvania has about two million acres of public forest land. About 1.5 million acres, or 75 percent, is in the Marcellus Shale underlying much of Northeastern and Northcentral Pennsylvania. However, sizable chunks of forest land are off-limits to drilling because they have protection as wild acres or the state doesn't control the subsurface mineral rights.

The Sproul State Forest, located in western Clinton and northern Centre counties, contains 280,000 acres. Land acquisition for the Sproul began in 1898 with the purchase of a tract of cut-over forest land from the Clinton County commissioners near Bull Run in the Young Woman's Creek watershed. The location is marked with a monument. This first purchase was also the beginning of the entire Pennsylvania State Forest system. About 70 percent of Clinton County consists of publicly-owned land.

Budget

Concerning the still-unsigned state budget, Hanna said he believes a final spending plan is still weeks away, though legislative leaders announced a tentative budget deal last Friday.

"In reality, they made the announcement before they made the deal," he said. "Three weeks ago, they made the announcement without the governor and found out they did not have a deal. Last week, they made the announcement without the rank-and-file members.

"They don't have the votes to pass what they announced last Friday."

Hanna said legislators are trying to hammer out a finalized spending plan while fighting over issues, such as the Marcellus Shale drilling and a proposed tax on small games of chance.

"The budget is still being negotiated," he said. "The good news is it's now being negotiated in the trenches."

The plan announced last week does have the correct "spend number" of $27.95 billion, Hanna said, and the legislators are in general agreement which revenues are going to cover that money, but they are still discussing the specifics.

For example, Hanna said the Senate Republicans are still urging the budget include $100 million in "walking around money," which is allocated to legislators to spend at their will in their districts.

Hanna, however, said the House Democrats are opposed to that plan, especially in such a lean budget year.

"These legislative initiative grants help out the Little Leagues and the fire companies. We can't afford to do that this year," he said. "We need to put that money into programs instead of extensive program cuts."

As far as a timetable for a new budget, Hanna responded: "When I hear leaders say it won't be done before Oct. 3, I add a week to that. Oct. 10 is more realistic. It will get done, but unfortunately it won't be done until the first or second week of October."