PA State Rep. Phyllis Mundy Makes Another Attempt to Stop Drilling in the PA Marcellus Shale

| | |

Pennsylvania State Rep. Phyllis Mundy (Democrat, Kingston) recently reintroduced several pieces of legislation designed to stop drilling in the Marcellus Shale in PA. Not that it will make much of a difference since Republicans now control the governorship, the Senate and the House in PA.

House Bill 233, which calls for a one-year moratorium on issuing of new Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling permits, which would give the Legislature time to enact protective laws and regulations.

House Bill 230, which would increase the restriction for horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing from 100 feet to 2,500 feet of a primary source for a community water system, such as a lake or reservoir.

House Bill 234, which would create an online tracking and reporting system for Marcellus Shale waste, such as drilling mud and the chemically treated water used in hydraulic fracturing, with the information to be posted on the state Department of Environmental Protection website.

House Bill 232, which includes provisions to restrict drilling in flood plains, improve disposal of wastewater, better control erosion and sedimentation when gas drilling does take place in flood plains, and to impose a three-year moratorium on new permits to discharge drilling wastewater into surface waters so DEP can evaluate alternatives for wastewater disposal.*

*The Standard Speaker (Feb 7) – Rep. Mundy introduces bill packages aimed at environment