CUMBERLAND — Opponents of the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus shale of Western Maryland say they want fees to pay for further study of the process and its possible impact and also want those thinking of leasing their land for drilling to be warned of the possible dangers.
Advocates for the fee held a press conference on Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis on Tuesday, led by Delegate Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, and members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Mizeur is a sponsor of House Bills 1034 and 1204, which propose the fees and lease warnings.
The press conference preceded a hearing before the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on the Senate companion bill on the fees, SB 798.
“Evidence continues to mount that Maryland was wise in its go-slow, study-first approach to shale gas drilling” said Mizeur. “It is up to us to protect our communities and regulate this industry, and the way we do that is through fully funding the study, completing the study and determining whether and how Maryland proceeds on this issue. Second chances are expensive. Maryland needs the time, and the funding, to get this right.”
The fee bill would require payment of a $10 fee per leased acre for gas development to be paid by the company that leases the land for drilling. The fees would be paid into the Oil and Gas fund of the Maryland Department of the Environment, according to the fiscal and policy note for the bill prepared by the Department of Legislative Services. The fees would be retroactive to land leased since Jan. 1, 2007.
Land leased after July 1, 2012, would be subject to an annual $10 fee per acre. The money would fund studies for the governor’s Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission. Failure to pay the fee could result in an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 a day. Revenue for the state is estimated at about $1.6 million in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 if the bill should become law.
Garrett County resident Paul Roberts, who is a member of the advocacy group Citizen Shale and a winemaker at Deep Creek Cellars, is also in favor of the bill.
“We should learn from the mistakes we have seen in other states. Maryland has an opportunity to set a national standard for its study and regulation of the industry. These are essential first steps, should drilling be permitted in our community,” Roberts said. Other local speakers included Mike Koch of Firefly Farms and Leo Martin, the mayor of Mountain Lake Park.
“Despite many claims that natural gas is ‘clean,’ recent research shows us that the fracking process leaks copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere, which has more warming power than carbon dioxide,” said Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Given the climate risks alone, it’s absolutely crucial that the General Assembly fund the work of the fracking commission.” Tidwell said as much as one-third of the land in Garrett County has been leased for gas drilling. It’s unclear what percentage of that number is for Marcellus shale gas drilling.
The move to impose fees is a “common sense” idea to fund baseline studies of the environment before drilling begins. Such studies weren’t done in Pennsylvania and have resulted in inability to evaluate whether water problems were caused by fracking or whether they existed before fracking, Tidwell said.
The risk disclosures, required by HB 1034, would prohibit a person from signing a lease unless “specified language as to the risks of drilling is provided to the lessor and stated conspicuously in the lease,” according to a digest of the bill on the General Assembly’s website. “Failure to provide the risk information ... may be grounds for the denial of a well drilling permit.”
The law on risk disclosure would cost about $59,300 to monitor the first year, primarily because of hiring a paralegal to review leases, according to a fiscal and policy note attached to the bill by the Department of Legislative Services.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com
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