Appropriate controls needed for gas drilling

Gazette.net

Twice in a month, columnists from The Gazette promoted natural gas drilling in western Maryland at the expense of the facts ("Fracking gives O'Malley gas," April 8, and "Narrow thinking limits energy options," April 22), so here are a few.

Both authors inaccurately characterized the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Act as a ban on natural gas fracking. In fact, this innovative common-sense legislation would have done three things: committed the state to a robust two-year study on the safety of drilling in our state; secured funding for this study from the same industry that stands to profit enormously, and created a nonpartisan advisory commission composed of scientists, industry, local governments and residents to make recommendations on the scope of the study, permitting process, and regulatory changes.

State agencies, which have said they currently have neither the expertise nor the resources to move forward with permitting, would have had time to ensure they could protect homes, businesses and farms in our communities before any drilling began.

Our concern is not abstract. Recently, a company lost control of a well in Pennsylvania for days, spilling thousands of gallons of chemically treated water into a tributary of the Susquehanna River and prompting the evacuations of several families. Gas companies in our northern neighboring state average nearly three safety and environmental violations per day.

Read the full article here.

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