CitizenShale, a local citizens' group formed last year to provide education and information about issues related to natural gas drilling in Maryland, expressed appreciation this week for the work of the county's Annapolis delegation in securing some new legislation pertaining to this industry. The group also noted other efforts evolving to ensure public and environmental safeguards, should hydraulic fracturing for gas come to Maryland.
The organization began working with Delegate Wendell Beitzel and Senator George Edwards last December on drafting three bills to reform key provisions of the gas leasing process, in response to land-owner and lease-holder concerns about misinformation and a lack of transparency in gas leasing. One of those bills did become law.
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Complaints were lodged with the Maryland Attorney General's Office during the last year about the way energy companies and leasing representatives allegedly misrepresented the dangers associated with "fracking" for natural gas, about the extremely low prices paid for leases, and about misleading clauses in the leases that allowed them to be automatically renewed after the original term.
Lease prices of $5 or $10 per acre were standard in Garrett County, during a period when leases purchased in nearby Pennsylvania often topped $2,000 per acre. Leasing began in Garrett County in 2006, and approximately 120,000 acres – some 600 individual leases – were secured.
"People who were not interested now see issues to be concerned about," said CitizenShale board president Eric Robison, an Oakland area resident.
He noted that the organization conducted numerous public education programs in the county during the last year.
"What was a local conversation is now part of a national conversation. People are starting to appreciate the cautious approach the state is advocating," he said.
"Despite differing philosophies about the long-term value of natural gas drilling for our state and county, we were able to work effectively with Del. Beitzel and Sen. Edwards. We greatly appreciated that opportunity," Robison said.
House Bill 402, introduced by Del. Beitzel to address record-keeping shortcomings that had been cited in an earlier law dealing with dormant mineral interests, was passed into law with an amendment late in the session to require that all gas leases filed after Oct. 1 of this year include a standardized "intake sheet" summary of the lease.
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