Responsible Drilling Alliance
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Responsible Drilling Alliance Newsletter
MCOR or MYCOR?   
April 27 ,2012 
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Dear RDA Members and Friends,

 

MCOR or MYCOR?

 

" It's not the fracking that concerns me, it's the fragging. " stated David Yoxtheimer, P.G., hydrogeologist with PSU's Marcellus Initiative for Outreach and Research at Monday's Pine Creek Preservation Association's meeting at the beautiful DCNR facility above Waterville. Lycoming native Yoxtheimer, who's areas of expertise include water supply development and integrated water resource management, was the featured speaker at this month's meeting of an organization located in the heart of the shale-gas assault on Pennsylvania's public lands ( www.pinecreekvalley.com ).

 

Throughout the evening Yoxtheimer candidly acknowledged a number of problems with shale gas development everywhere and specifically in the heavily forested areas in the region once known as the Pennsylvania Wilds. Included was a list of the usual suspects of concern: water quality, methane migration, erosion and sedimentation, excess truck traffic, air quality, inadequate well plugging provisions, health impacts, and the elephant herd in the woods: forest fragmentation.

 

RDA science advisor, restoration ecologist Kevin Heatley has been "stumping" around PA and NY on that very subject for well over two years now. Last he night he gave a power point presentation, which will soon be available on the RDA website, to the environmental club of Lock Haven University before a small, but appreciative crowd. As audiences from the Montoursville Rotary Club to the Interfaith Creation Care Symposium have discovered, Kevin is beyond outspoken in his defense of the value of our core forest resource in the deep woods of Pennsylvania. Holding a master's in environmental science from PSU, Kevin is highly critical of his alma mater's approach to shale-gas development. He insists the science is already in on the impacts of forest fragmentation, that it is well documented and states flat out that we are throwing away over 100 years of equity built up since the destruction of the 19th C logging era. Throwing away, without a cost benefit analysis having ever been done, an extremely rare and valuable asset, as the pace of permitting continues to run amok.

 

Posted recently in Farm and Dairy News, under an "Onion" magazine like title: "Study suggests shale-gas development causing rapid landscape change", is a report of a study by PSU's Patrick Drohan, professor of pedology (soil science). The article, with the byline "Other News", states:

 

 

"Our results suggest," said Drohan, "that shale-gas development could substantially alter Pennsylvania's landscape. The development

of new roads to support drilling could affect forest ecosystem integrity via increased fragmentation."

 

The fragmentation of forestland, especially northern core forest, places headwater streams and larger downstream waterways at risk of pollution, the study suggests.

 

Based on the intensity of development in the Susquehanna River basin, future expansion of shale-gas production in this basin could become a significant land- and water-management challenge for Chesapeake Bay water quality and ecosystem services.

 

 

The entire article is available at:  

 http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/study-suggests-shale-gas-development-causing-rapid-landscape-change/36642.html
 

 

Whether your community of organization would respond best to the Yoxtheimer, Heatley or Drohan approach, the issue of forest fragmentation needs to come to the forefront before the permitting philosophy of the DEP, the SRBC and the Corbett administration is allowed to do much more damage to the future of Pennsylvania, Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay. Bringing in one of these concerned scientists to your community is highly recommended. Contact RDA if you are interested in having Kevin speak to your group or would like to show a DVD copy of his presentation.

 

PSU's role in shale-gas development has been highly criticized by groups like RDA. It is good to hear researchers speaking up. We recognize the difficulty of working for an employer who is so intertwined with such powerful industry "partners" as the oil and gas industrial complex. PSU integrity issues, from its Board of Trustees on down has been international news. The University's Marcellus Initiative for Outreach and Research likes to go by the acronym MCOR. Mr. Heatley, who by the course of his education and career has earned the right to be heard, possesses a wicked sense of sarcasm. He likes to refer to the initiative as MYCOR, the Myopic Center... . Actions taken in the next few years will render the verdict on which acronym will prevail in the annals of Pennsylvania history

 

Myopia: (American Heritage Dictionary) 2. Shortsightedness or lack of discernment in thinking or planning MCOR or MYCOR?

 

 

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Responsible Drilling Alliance Board of Directors
Ralph Kisberg
Robbie Cross
Janie Richardson
Mark Szybist
Barbara Jarmoska
Jennifer Slotterback

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