PA Sen. Bob Casey Re-introduces Bill Transferring Control of Marcellus Drilling to the Federal Government
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has re-introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would strip away states’ rights, including his home state of Pennsylvania, to manage and protect their own land and natural resources, and instead concentrate that power at the federal level under the Environmental Protection Agency. He calls the legislation “The FRAC Act”—Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals. The bill, if passed (which seems unlikely in the current Congress), would place the practice of high volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) under the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Good question, and one that Brandon Otis, a CPA and valuations specialist with Alpern Rosenthal, an accounting advisory firm, addressed at a recent meeting in Pittsburgh. Otis has done research on 384 Marcellus wells in Susquehanna County, PA and has come up with a list of criteria for determining value. Among the criteria he uses:
Those in Pennsylvania who oppose drilling in the Marcellus Shale have gotten a bit desperate. They’re unhappy with new Gov. Tom Corbett, especially since the budget he introduced earlier this week contains budget cuts to education and calls for a layoff of state workers in order to plug a massive multi-billion dollar shortfall, without also including a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. Pennsylvania, like New York, California, Wisconsin, Ohio and a number of other states is essentially bankrupt from years of overspending and one-time gimmicks and budget patches. The chickens have finally come home to roost and now state governments have to make some hard decisions. It is in that context that anti-drilling protestors got nasty and thug-like yesterday:
The latest fallout from The New York Times story is about how wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Pennsylvania is tracked as it is disposed. Supposedly the Times has found that there is a conspiracy: