Western Md. lawmaker: Shale drilling 'our BRAC'
The House of Delegates today advanced a plan calling for a two-year study of Marcellus shale drilling -- overriding the objections of Western Maryland lawmakers who want to see the potentially lucrative activity sooner.
Del. Wendell Beitzel acted as the chief proponent of hydraulic fracturing, saying it could provide much-needed financial boost in the most economically depressed part of the state, Garrett and Allegany counties.
"We're suffering out there," the Republican lawmaker said, noting that his home counties are losing population, jobs and student enrollment. He compared the potential windfall for Western Maryland to the federal Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) plan that is expected to bring new residents and jobs to Harford County and other areas.
"Fracking," as it is known, is the process of extracting natural gas from deep within the ground. Other states, including Pennsylvania and West Virginia, allow private citizens to lease drilling companies the rights to the shale underneath their land. But the extraction process, which produces many tons of wastewater, is controversial.
Del. Maggie McIntosh, chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee, said the state needs time to study hydraulic fracturing and that proceeding quickly could prove harmful to Maryland's waterways.
Other states, the Baltimore Democrat said, "were ill-prepared for what happened when began to drill." Many have since slowed or stopped the activity while the study it further, she said.
The Senate has not taken action on a similar study proposal, but rejected an effort by Western Maryland Sen. George Edwards to force the Department of the Environment to develop hydraulic fracturing regulations by the end of the year.
Comments
If this legislative effort is all about concerns over the “wastewater disposal” and its potential impact on fresh water & adjoining well waters in the area of "fracked" gas wells why hasn't the General Assembly leaders asked the MD Environmental Health officials to test around the existing deep gas wells that have been drilled in Garrett County and fracked horizontally? As testimony in both the House of Delegates & the Senate Committees on this bill reveled several of that type of gas well have been drilled and currently exist in Garrett County.
If I were Environmental Matters Committee member I would ask MDE for a listing of the existing deep gas wells that have been fracked horizontally and the details of how they were done? How deep? How much water was used? How the "flow back" water was treated or disposed of? Where was it disposed? Did they penetrate the Marcellus Shale strata, etc.? Answers to those types of serious scientific inquiry questions could have been retrieved from MDE for the Committee's consideration in this legislation and probably within 2-3 weeks as opposed to 2 ½ years.
As the Committee Chair did concede during the floor debate MDE has completed discretionary authority under existing COMAR law. It can require before, during, & after water surveys to be conducted in a gas drilling operation and it can require the “wastewater disposal” to be done at a certified “industrial” wastewater treatment plant of MDE’s choosing.
Makes you wonder what this bill is really all about?
Posted by: Dave Moe | March 22, 2011 9:49 PM
So Dave Moe,
Seriously, what do you think this bill is all about?
Posted by: Moe Qeustioner | March 23, 2011 3:11 PM
We need energy now you bums. Get the hell out of the way state leadership.
Posted by: John | March 24, 2011 1:00 PM
Frack the Fracking. I like being able to drink my tap water, not light it on fire or use it as an alternate fuel for my car.
Posted by: Siv | March 25, 2011 12:50 PM