LOCK HAVEN - A new year and a new chairman.
So will there be a new direction?
The Clinton County Natural Gas Task Force met Tuesday evening, with county Commissioner Pete Smeltz, as its chair, asking if the group wants to move down some new roads.
Smeltz, newly elected and taking office at the beginning of January, apparently got just what he bargained for, as the varied interests among the task force members competed for time and attention, offering a range of complex issues within a short span of 90 minutes.
If any themes evolved from the discussion, they are: The Marcellus Shale natural gas industry is impacting certain aspects of life here and the committee must find better ways to train workers, facilitate housing needs and land development, understand and keep an eye environmental impact and recruit more industry representatives to hear about their needs and advice.
Indeed, the issues raised last night went from employment, to education, to environment, to infrastructure, to roads, to legislation, to regulation, to tourism, to land development, to housing pressures.
Smeltz apparently asked for and received a renewed commitment to task force activities several weeks ago. Last evening's session was the most well-attended in many months.
Smeltz has been working quietly behind the scenes in recent weeks, gauging the interest of members in creating a new direction, mission or initiative, and the effort apparently paid off in a number of ways. He told the gathering he wants them to take a second look at the task force's mission, discuss changes and determine ways it can be more effective in the coming year, with a goal to "change the agenda to accommodate the future."
To that end, some subcommittees will disappear and others are likely to be merged, as the group moves into the new year, he said.
In the past, only Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the major gas exploration company here, sent representatives to task force meetings. This week, Tom Burnett of XTO Energy and Irv Gleason of Range Resources were on hand, and said their companies will participate.
Smeltz said he will solicit more representation from the vendor-supplier side of the industry.
Anadarko spokeswoman Mary Wolf said the industry is more than just about exploration; the support companies here who are drilling and providing all related services are numerous and are a big part of the picture.
To that end, Smeltz and several members of the audience said they favor invites to the related industry representatives, including Baker Hughes, which is building a facility at the Lamar Township Business Park, and Trican Well Services Ltd., now Clinton County's largest gas industry employer with 225 workers.
The reports from the various subcommittee members offers a broad cross-section of the interests that might be addressed in the coming year:
EMPLOYMENT
Clinton County Workforce Development Director Bruce Jones offered employment statistics, saying the unemployment rate in December was 8.5 percent nationally, 7.6 percent statewide and 7.5 percent in Clinton County, with the county gaining 600 or more jobs over a year ago. Jones said the stats suggest a "significant" improvement in the economy, and demonstrate a trend of discouraged workers renewing their job searches with increasing confidence.
Jones also said that of the 110 "new hires" exclusively through CareerLink in January, only 11 were related to the natural gas industry, a significant "slow down over past months" that suggest the recent build-out of pads and drilling sites has decreased, possibly because of the lower cost of natural gas, but might be renewed when the good weather and construction season returns.
Clinton County Economic Partnership CEO and President Mike Flanagan said the county ranked 24 of 56 counties in the jobless rate, and added, "I don't remember Clinton County being in the 20s," he said. "We've usually seen the 40s and 50s."
Flanagan emphasized, however, that important local industries such as First Quality, Truck-Lite, Croda, Avery Dennison and many others offer job opportunity and stability to the economy.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Clinton County Emergency Services Department representative Trevor Reeder said the department continues to have discussions and dialogue with representatives for the 56 drilling related production and support sites in the county. Reeder said the safety committee continues to work on emergency addressing along leased roads and is making an effort to create well site tours and training opportunities for first responders.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Flanagan said "a lot of action" has occurred in the past year, with the highlight being the decision by Baker Hughes to locate a major facility at the Lamar Township Business Park. He mentioned other industry related activities in the area, including a new building at Jersey Shore Steel Co., an uptick in activity at the Renovo Industrial Park, and continued contacts between the partnership and gas industry representatives and industry related vendors.
Flanagan said another meet-and-greet between local businessmen and industry representatives will be held March 14 at 5 p.m. at the Durrwachter Alumni Conference Center on Lock Haven University campus.
Department of Environmental Protection representative Dan Vilello lauded the Partnership for its quiet but successful efforts to land Baker Hughes as a project for the business park, saying the effort was "phenomenal."
Vilello also outlined DEP's efforts to see "brownfield" and blighted areas renewed for use by drilling company interests.
ENVIRONMENT
Gerald Lacy, environmental committee chairman, said he and other committee members viewed a lengthy presentation by the Pennsylvania Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society and others, on the impact of the drilling industry on forested lands. He said since the majority of drilling locally is occurring on state forest land, the task force as a whole might want to establish a meeting to view the presentation, which focuses on the fragmentation of forest from drilling and its impact on wildlife. County Planner Tim Holladay and Sproul District Forester Doug D'Amore also offered comments, with D'Amore noting the forestry departments efforts to "shrink things down" to lessen the impact, and others mentioning that 18 of the 56 drilling sites in the county are on private land.
D'Amore said there are two working rigs operating, by Anadarko along the Eagleton Road, and by XTO along the Dry Run Road.
He said 10 to 15 well pads are expected to be completed this year, and between construction and preparation, some 75 wells are planned or built at this point.
Lacy and committee member Bob Myers noted that sedimentation and run-off from drilling site into Chesapeake Bay tributaries might become a regulatory issue down the road.
EDUCATION
Committee member Jim Ladlee said public education continues with a series of articles printed in The Express - some 50 to 60 columns over the process of a year and a half, once a week, touching on the "hot topics" involved in the local drilling activity. The articles have been placed on line at the county's government web site.
Dan Harger talked briefly about developing resources from other nearby counties where drilling has grown.
Scott Owens, director of Keystone Central School District's Career and Technology Center, said the district has made attempts to find out the gas industry's needs but hasn't been entirely successful. For example, he said he sent more than 50 letters inviting industry officials to tour the CTC at Central Mountain High School to see first-hand its numerous and varied vocational training programs, but received no responses. It was suggested the CTC set up an information booth at the March 14 "meet and greet."
Jones mentioned that students and workers with mechanical aptitude are still in high demand, and Harger said a public relations effort is needed to create a better dialogue with the industry about education and training.
Commissioner Jeff Snyder, formerly a school board member, said Keystone Central's facilities and training opportunities are a "best kept secret" and said perhaps an "open house" might be in order to highlight the opportunities.
Smeltz said, "We're cheating our communities if we're not working to match our people and their skills to jobs."
TRANSPORTATION
Anadarko Petroleum representative Wes Carson, a former PennDOT maintenance manager for Clinton County, mentioned some of the past road improvement projects financed by the industry and Andarko, specifically Route 664 in Clinton and Lycoming counties, with the help of Range Resources and East Resources. He also pointed to two miles of improvements to the Hyner Mountain Road and said the company expects to conduct some "mill and fill" operations on Route 144 from the point where Anadarko sponsored the paving earlier this year, to the Centre County Line.
The present county maintenance manager, Damon Wagner, said Route 144 will see a lot of drainage pipe replacement this spring in preparation for the other road improvements.
Wagner said the drilling companies have expressed some concerns about several rock slide areas along the Renovo Road and the possibility of disruption of truck traffic, and he's been in touch with the PennDOT Clearfield office about the situation. A recent rock slide above Renovo resulted in a serious auto accident just a week ago. Wagner said the transportation department is entering a design phase for that situation in the Shintown/Westport area.
LEGISLATIVE
Mitzi Gallagher, legislative aide to state Rep. Michael Hanna, D-Lock Haven, said work toward an statewide "impact fee" on natural gas wells has "moved toward a standstill" because of an impasse between the House and Senate. She said the House proposed a well fee of $160,000 over 10 years and the Senate countered with $360,000 over 20 years, which House officials thought was too high. As a result, she said, the matter is awaiting a conference committee as the two sides work out a deal. However, nine senators have withdrawn support because of a clause pre-empting local regulations as part of the legislation.
"We're back at square one," she said.
HOUSING
Housing and land development doesn't have a committee, but developer Bob Maguire suggested the issue is important enough to consider.
Maguire said housing shortages and pressure to build housing has occurred in other areas, where the cost of rental units is skyrocketing. He said the pressure toward development can be "seen as a dog-gone good problem to have."
He suggested the committee think boldly, and he went so far as to suggest that Lock Haven University consider using dormitories being vacated for new student housing on campus as a possible solution.
Local resident Richard Morris also noted the impact on housing and suggested the region must encourage housing development. Moreover, he said the committee and communities in general need to know more about the gas industry's needs for housing for both its white and blue collar work forces.
Flanagan said that, in at least the case of Trican Well Services - the largest gas industry employer in the county - a few administrators moved to the area and bought homes but many of the field workers hired are from this region and have housing.
