Where’s My Marcellus Money? By Dr. Charles Bolgiano and Dr. Dennis Wydra Where Have all the Flowers Gone was a Pete Seeker hit song in 1961, yet the same theme is ringing again for the Marcellus drilling rigs, “Where have all the drilling rigs gone?”  If you haven’t paid attention, almost all the drilling rigs in central and eastern Pennsylvania have packed up and either left Pennsylvania or moved to western Pennsylvania to escape the brutal attack on Marcellus drilling by DEP and our two water interstate water compacts, the Susquehanna River Basic Commission and the Delaware River Basin Commission.  Governor Rendell’s boy’s talk-the-talk, but they don’t walk-the-walk for Marcellus drilling! In May 2008 DEP launched two cruise missiles at the drilling companies that have leased your deer camp and/or your farms.  These two environmental-missiles have scored solid hits and devastated your gas leases and created ANWR East in the United States.  Imagine, natural gas is one of the cleanest burning fuels for heating and transportation fuel with so little pollution, yet the environmentalists don’t want to drill for it on your Pennsylvania property.  The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) launched the first missile on May 23, 2008. Last Spring Lycoming County and other north-central and northeastern counties were buzzing with a new drilling economy ready to light up the Pennsylvania Economy in a way most residents have never seen. Drilling crews arrived and more were hired and motels and restaurants were filled. You couldn’t get a seat at Cohick’s Trading Post for lunch in Salladasburg just north of Jersey Shore. Yet trout fishermen and ladies and turkey hunters were not just dreaming of a beautiful spring at their deer camp or year round retreat nestled in Penn’s Woods, they were also dreaming of royalties, gas royalties that is! But at the Northcentral Regional Office of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) located at 208 West 3rd Street in Williamsport, DEP agents were planning tactical raids on the drilling companies with strong enforcement action to “Shut Down the Infant Drilling Industry”. Here’s how they did it. Remember that DEP has several departments, a Coal Mining Department, a Gas and Oil Department, and a Water Department. The drilling companies applied for and received all the necessary drilling permits required by the DEP Gas and Oil Department and received the blessing of that department to go and drill. No one at DEP ever told them they needed additional permits from the Water Department or the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. While Chief Gas and Oil and Range Resources were drilling 2 new Marcellus Wells on the Bobst Mountain area, the mountain to your left while traveling north on Route 15 from Williamsport to Trout Run, the DEP and SRBC conducted their tactical raids on May 23, 2008 at the Big Sandy Run and Mud Run areas of Lycoming County. Both Chief and Range were pumping water into 3” pipes running up to the mountain to fill a water impoundment to frac their new Marcellus wells located several miles apart. That’s the last stage of getting gas out of the Marcellus Shale rocks. This is what the 8 page Cease and Desist orders stated to Range Resources (letters to both companies were nearly identical): G. Based upon visual observations of the flow meter by members of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, the metered withdrawal rate from Big Sandy Run is approximately 84 gallons per minute, or 120,960 gallon per day. H. At the time of the Department’s May 23 2008 inspection, there was no visually observable appreciable loss of flow observed upstream to downstream of Range Resource’s water withdrawal point in Big Sandy Run at the current withdrawal rate. However, Big Sandy Run experiences seasonal fluctuations in stream flow, and has a lower flow rate during the summer and fall months. Any withdrawals during the summer and fall months, or any increase in the current withdrawal rate, have the potential to impair the existing uses of Big Sandy Run. Folks, Range Resources hired their own stream hydrologists and they were only withdrawing 3% of the water from Big Sandy Run. The report never stated that. The water withdrawal was so small that when the DEP and SRBC stood by the stream and looked up and down from the pump they couldn’t tell if any water was being removed from the stream. This is how their conversation at that moment apparently went, “Guys I don’t see any water being removed, do you? Nope, but listen the pump is running, let’s go see if it has a meter. Yup, the meter says 84 gallons a minute. Let’s get back to the boss and our attorney’s and fine them.” After citing numerous water regulations created by DEP and SRBC to curb water use, the May 30th letter continues on page 4: S. The department and the SRBC coordinate their reviews of proposed water withdrawals under their respective statutory and regulatory authorities. T. The SRBC, inter alia, considers the impacts of a proposed withdrawal on surface and groundwater resources and will not permit a withdrawal if the proposed withdrawal will destroy or impair protected uses of surface waters. U. Range Resources has failed to obtain necessary SRBC approval for the ongoing water withdrawal. Absent SRBC approval, the withdrawal from Big Sandy Run has the potential to violate the Department’s antidegradation requirements, impair or destroy protected uses and cause pollution as the existing unrestricted withdrawal may be too excessive to protect existing uses. V. Range Resources has failed to register this water withdrawal with the Department in violation of Section 18(a) of the WRPA, 27 Pa. C.S.A. # 3110(a). W. The unrestricted withdrawal of water from Big Sandy Run creates a danger of pollution of waters of the Commonwealth by impairing the existing and constitutes of Section 402 of the Clean Streams Law, 35 P.S. # 691.402. After citing Range for unlawful conduct, DEP “hereby ORDERED that Range Resources: 1. Immediately cease water withdrawals from all water of the Commonwealth, including those waters in the Impoundment, until range Resources submits to the Department and the Department has approved the method by which Range Resources will withdraw, store, distribute, process, and dispose of water used for gas well drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“Water Management Plan”). This May 30th letter was signed by L. Richard Adams, Environmental Program Manager, Watershed Management Program, Williamsport, PA. DEP agents and their bosses used this nasty method to shut down the Marcellus drilling industry in Northcentral and Northeastern PA. Then the SRBC sent their own letters to cease and desist until all the companies applied for an SRBC water withdrawal permit and they then required them to BUY the water from SRBC. SRBC never purchased the Susquehanna River Basin water from anyone, God gave it to us, but SRBC is selling water they now claim they own. June 13 is when Robert Hawley from the same Williamsport DEP office lobbed the 2nd missile which killed Marcellus in a heartbeat. Bob Hawley is the Environment Program Manager of Water Management. If the drilling companies can run the environmental gauntlet and pay all the water permit drilling fees to DEP and SRBC and they then buy the water, they then must truck that water 10-25 miles from the approved purchase site to the wells in the mountains. BUT, Bob Hawley nailed their coffins shut with his June 13 letter to all Sewage Plants in Northcentral PA. The letter stated that if you accept their frac waste water, you may lose your Municipal DEP Sewage permit for you community. His letter sent shockwaves to all the municipalities and the drilling companies. Now DEP will tell you they are approving some municipal sewage plants to accept franc water, but they can only process a few thousand gallons per day and the franc water can be 3-5 million gallons. There is a sewage solution, build and operate dedicated sewage plants to process franc water, but DEP won’t approve them either in the SRBC basin. The drilling industry knows how to clean the franc water better than many sewage plants currently do, but DEP says NO. In January, the drilling industry presented their case to Governor Rendell and DEP Secretary Hanger at DEP. They are meeting and discussing solutions to these 2 keys water and sewage issues as your read this, but remember that DEP and SRBC is Regulating By Policy. That means they are creating new regulation almost every week and certainly every month. This Water War was created by the environmentalists to keep your Marcellus Royalties from ever reaching your mailbox. Now why didn’t the Williamsport DEP District manager meet with the drilling companies and say, “Hey guys, we want you to get water permits too. His choice was to take the action in Rich Adams’ letter and Bob Hawley’s letter. We understand the DEP district managers in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre took similar action. But DEP didn’t stop there; they wanted the drilling companies to get punished even more. DEP assisted SRBC in fining 6 gas companies $1.58 million. On September 19, Dr. Wydra gave Marcellus testimony to the House Republican Policy Committee Hearing for the Republican Game and Fisheries Committee in Towanda. Part of his testimony stated: · DEP never told the drilling companies they needed a water permit when they first applied for a drilling permit. · Six companies were fined by the SRBC: Cabot ($375,000), Term ($20,000), North Coast Energy ($20,000), Chief ($250,000), EOG ($450,000), and Range Resources ($475,000). · Governor Rendell should reduce these fines to $1.00 or… DEP should pay these fines. Now you know the rest of the story, WHAT CAN I DO you’re thinking. If you care about your deer camp or the guys or farmers that let you hunt and fish their properties, pick up the phone and call your state senator AND your state representative. If you want a copy of these 3 letters, write to the Woods and Waters Editor. We can send you the actual copies. Don’t forget, Unified is working hard in Harrisburg in the Capitol and fighting for your Marcellus rights as well as your hunting and fishing rights. Pick up the phone and ask one friend to JOIN UNIFIED today. If you belong to a sportsmen’s club, ask them to join UNIFIED. Next issue, Why Trout Think Gas Companies Make Good Neighbors! Unified Sportsmen of PA Legal Defense Fund Financial donations in support of the lawsuit will be greatfully accepted. Please make check payable to: Unified Sportsmen of PA Legal Defense Fund C/O John Johnson 7928 Cassel Avenue Harrisburg PA 17112 Click here to print legal defense fund donation form.

About USP The USP has served the grassroots sportsmen of Pennsylvania by representing tens of thousands of sportsmen for regulatory relief and legislative help. Without your continued support, the Unified Sportsmen would not be recognized today as the most influential sportsmen's organization in Pennsylvania. For this reason, we ask that you continue to support USP efforts to defend and promote our rights of hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting. These are difficult times for our nation and state. They are also difficult times for sportsmen in Pennsylvania. We need to be united to exercise vigilance against those who intend to treat our sports as mere secondary items of importance. Why Join the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania? Unified Sportsmen is leading the charge to pass HB 1512, which will guarantee the future right of all Pennsylvanian’s to hunt, fish, shoot, and trap. Unified Sportsmen is strongly opposed to any merger of the Fish and Game Commission into one organization, and will continue to fight for the independence of our state agencies. Unified Sportsmen is leading the opposition to the Game Commission’s massive deer reduction plan by adapting the following positions: Pennsylvania’s deer population is grossly overestimated by the PGC. The PGC does not have a credible system for determining deer harvests, and consequently does not have an accurate count of how many deer actually exist in the Commonwealth. There is a major discrepancy between the number of deer on private land vs. public land, as we continue to reduce an already depleted herd on public land while private land is the source of our over-population problems. The buck to doe ratio is not nearly out of balance as the PGC claims. Antler Restrictions have been found to be detrimental to the deer herd in other states, and there is no reason to believe it will be successful here. The existing deer management plan is devoid of desired deer population numbers, and is instead basing the appropriate number of deer on subjective evaluations such as the existence of desired plant species. Unified Sportsmen has challenged the Game Commission to improve the habitat on State Game Lands to sustain huntable game populations, instead of managing primarily for timber. Unified Sportsmen believe that our youth are the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping, and every effort should be made to enhance their opportunity. The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania is a thriving organization looking to expand our membership as we seek to represent what we perceive to be the voice of Pennsylvania’s sportsmen. We welcome members as well as influential people from around the state to attend our semi-annual meetings, and offer their input on current issues. We publish a bi-monthly newspaper, Pennsylvania Woods & Waters, which is mailed to members, Legislators, and Government agencies to keep the public abreast of sportsmen’s issues. We also maintain a lobbyist in Harrisburg to take issues to our legislature when warranted. The USP believes that being politically correct is counter-productive to the quality of hunting, fishing, shooting, and trapping. Our Officers and Directors are all unpaid volunteers who are free to speak their minds without jeopardizing alliances with other factions within our state. If this sounds like an organization that represents your interests and beliefs, we would appreciate your support. Please contact our Membership Division at 717-651-6669 or visit our Membership Application page for our joining options. Our Mission The purpose of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania is to bring attention to important issues relating to hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting. To promote and maintain high standards in conservation of our natural resources. To cooperate with State and Federal agencies and all sportsmen organizations to protect and achieve needs of both wildlife and sportsmen. To defend our heritage right to hunt, fish, trap, and to protect our Constitutional Right to keep and bear arms. To promote programs to educate the public about hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting for all future generations. Being the largest independent statewide sportsmen organization in Pennsylvania, we can accomplish a lot with just a small amount of money. All of the USP officers are highly motivated, interested, knowledgeable sportsmen and all are non salaried. Even our professional full time lobbyist in Harrisburg is a non salaried officer. However even the USP can not perform miracles, and cannot exist without you as a member.

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