WV Editorial: By All Means Study Marcellus Drilling, But Keep on Drilling in the Meantime

| |

A balanced and common sense editorial running in today’s The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register makes the point loud and clear that the government and environmental groups should conduct all the studies they want about hydraulic fracturing and drilling in the Marcellus Shale. But please, in the meantime, don’t advocate that all drilling should stop until those studies are completed (which will take years). The editorial says, in part:

Rest assured that at some point, the more radical in the environmentalist community will suggest the government should impose its own moratorium on Marcellus Shale wells until an exhaustive study is completed.

We have no concern about such a study. The more we know about any industry, the better. That should be obvious.

But moratoriums such as New York’s make no sense in view of the gas drilling industry’s environmental record. We are aware of no serious, proven environmental problems with Marcellus Shale wells. The existing regulatory framework in most states seems to address most concerns, and new rules on the way should take care of issues unique to the Marcellus Shale drilling process.

Read the rest of this enlightening editorial by clicking the link below.

*The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register (Apr 6, 2011) – Keep Drilling Rigs at Work