New Preservation Organization – Friend or Foe of PA Drilling?

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We’re not quite sure what to make of this, but we’ll take it at face value (for now). A new non-profit organization has sprung up in (where else?) Washington, D.C. Called the Gas and Preservation Partnership (GPP), the purpose of the new group is to form a voluntary alliance between preservationists and drillers. That is, people who are concerned that drillers may sink a well in an old Indian artifact area, would like those drillers to use seismic mapping of the site to see if anything of archaeological significance is present, and if it is, either drill somewhere else or take time to excavate the site before drilling. The fear is that once drillers start pushing dirt around to level a drilling pad, it might destroy something of historical significance. Which of course sounds to our hypercritical ear a lot like “delay in order to slow down or kill drilling.” But, according to GPP, that’s not their aim.

GPP says they do not (at this time) “plan to advocate” for regulations that will slow down drilling in PA and other shale states. Rather, GPP hopes drillers will cooperate voluntarily, apparently so they won’t have to advocate for regulations. GPP is holding a summit in Pittsburgh later this month. Shell and Southwest Energy are co-sponsoring the summit which aims to bring everyone together to the table to sing kumbaya, er, talk about how drillers can lend a hand with ensuring they don’t destroy any arrowheads buried in the dirt…

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