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The September, 2012 request made by a coalition of KTA and seven other organizations for a public hearing concerning gas drilling on and near the Old Loggers Path (OLP) in Lycoming County has finally been answered.
Unfortunately, our request has been denied. We have again written to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) calling for a public hearing (See letter below).
Keystone Trails Association will be participating in a program to host a tour of the OLP for a number of State Representatives in the near future. Please continue your phone calls, emails and letters to the Governor, your State Senator and State Representative to advocate for a public hearing concerning the Old Loggers Path. We have heard that DCNR may hold a meeting with “local” stakeholders, but we are concerned that non-local Pennsylvanians will be excluded. Whether or not you are local, if you are concerned about the destruction of one of the finest hiking trails in Pennsylvania, your voice should be heard.
Re: Natural Gas Development in the Loyalsock State Forest
Dear Secretary Allan:
On behalf of over 50,000 citizens of the Commonwealth, the undersigned conservation,
recreation, fishing, and hunting organizations write to insist that the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources conduct a formal public comment process concerning gas development on
the “Clarence Moore lands” in the Loyalsock State Forest – and meanwhile halt all negotiations
over development with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The DCNR should not make any deals
with Anadarko until it has provided the public with meaningful information about Anadarko’s
proposed development plans, and sponsored a public discussion of all alternatives – including
alternatives involving no surface development activities. The DCNR cannot determine whether
gas development in the Loyalsock State Forest is in the public interest without public input.
By way of background, on September 7, 2012, our organizations wrote to you about
evidence that Anadarko was preparing to conduct gas development operations on some 26,000
acres of land in the Loyalsock State Forest – including approximately 18,870 acres where the
Commonwealth owns the surface rights, even though Anadarko and International Development
Corporation own the oil and gas rights. The indications of planned development alarmed us
because these lands – known to the DCNR as the “Clarence Moore lands” – contain resources of
great ecological and recreational significance, including most of the Exceptional Value
watershed of Rock Run, the Old Loggers Path and the Devils Elbow Natural Area. The Clarence
Moore lands also contain irreplaceable breeding grounds for migratory birds, and have been
designated an Important Bird Area by the Audubon Society.
In light of the DCNR’s judicially-recognized control of the surface of these 18,870 acres,
we made a modest request in our letter: that before giving Anadarko any access to the Clarence
Moore lands, the DCNR open a public comment period on Anadarko’s proposal to develop these
lands, while making public the DCNR’s assessments of potential environmental impacts. We
noted that under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the DCNR has a legal
duty to conserve and maintain State Forest lands for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians, including
future generations, and that under the Pennsylvania Conservation and Natural Resources Act, the
DCNR may not grant a right-of-way over State Forest lands unless it determines that doing so is
in the public interest. We suggested that, given the ecological and recreational significance of the
Clarence Moore lands and the unique legal circumstances surrounding their control, the DCNR
could not make an informed determination concerning the Clarence Moore lands without public
participation.
On February 22, 2013, you sent us correspondence that thanks us for our letter, but fails
to acknowledge – let alone grant – our request for a formal public comment process. You wrote
that the DCNR is committed to “doing all that we can” to protect the Loyalsock State Forest, but
that the legal issues concerning the DCNR’s surface rights are “very complex.” “We are
currently reviewing all of these issues,” you advised, “and to the extent we have legal flexibility,
we will be guided first and foremost by our Department’s mission and obligation to protect and
enhance our public lands.”
The DCNR’s refusal even to discuss our request for a public comment period is deeply
troubling. The reasons for public participation concerning gas potential gas development in the
Clarence Moore lands are clear. Not only are extraordinary public resources at stake; not only
has the public expressed an extraordinary amount of interest in protecting those resources – the
DCNR itself concluded in its 2010 study (“Impacts of Leasing Additional State Forest for Gas
Development”1) that “there are zero State Forest Land acres suitable for [additional] gas leasing
involving surface disturbance.” For the DCNR to allow surface disturbance on State-controlled
Loyalsock State Forest lands would be a de facto lease. We believe that for the DCNR to do this
without any public input would be an abuse of the DCNR’s discretion.
The DCNR appears to misapprehend its obligations under the Conservation and Natural
Resources Act and Article I, Section 27 of the State Constitution. The DCNR’s obligation to
protect, enhance, and conserve the Loyalsock State Forest is not contingent upon the
Department’s having sufficient “legal flexibility.” The DCNR has a duty to protect, enhance, and
conserve State Forest and Park lands in all circumstances, regardless of their complexity.
Byzantine ownership patterns and awkward court decisions do not relieve the DCNR of its
statutory and Constitutional responsibilities. The DCNR has a non-negotiable duty to protect and
enhance all State Forest lands, including the Loyalsock State Forest, for the benefit of future
generations.
Based on DCNR documents obtained pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law,
we know that in March, 2012 Anadarko submitted a proposed Loyalsock State Forest
development plan to the DCNR – and that the DCNR and Anadarko have since been engaged in
serious negotiations for a surface use agreement. The DCNR should immediately halt these
negotiations. What Pennsylvania needs, now, is a frank public discussion about all alternatives
for the Clarence Moore lands. Given the DCNR’s conclusion in its 2010 study, the burden is on
the DCNR to demonstrate that any gas development should be allowed. This is all the more true
given that some 6,000 acres of the Clarence Moore lands were acquired or developed with
financial assistance under the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, such that their
conversion from public recreation use could require the Commonwealth to purchase replacement
lands, at significant cost, and jeopardize the Commonwealth’s eligibility for future federal
grants. Given continuous advances in horizontal drilling technology, it is possible that all
recoverable gas under the Clarence Moore lands may soon become accessible from private lands
where Anadarko already has surface rights. Even if that does not happen, however, it remains
true that under the CNRA and Article I, Section 27 of the State Constitution, the DCNR may not
grant a right-of-way for gas development on the Clarence Moore lands unless it determines that
such development is in the public interest. For the DCNR to make this determination without
involving the public would be unreasonable.
The DCNR recently expressed that it would be willing to meet with “local stakeholders”
to discuss gas development in the Loyalsock State Forest. While we do not know what
stakeholders the DCNR had in mind, we do know that the members of our organizations who
hike, boat, hunt, fish, and watch birds and wildlife in the Loyalsock State Forest come from
throughout the Commonwealth. Like all of the Commonwealth’s State Forests and Parks, the
Loyalsock is therefore a statewide resource, not a local one. Thus, it is imperative that the DCNR
conduct a statewide public comment process on any proposed development on the Clarence
Moore lands, including at least one public hearing, Meanwhile, the DCNR should halt all
negotiations with Anadarko and other parties over gas development on the Clarence Moore
lands.
We look forward to hearing from you, and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this
issue, answer any questions, and provide any additional information.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
cc: Governor Thomas W. Corbett
House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee
Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee
The Honorable Garth Everett
The Honorable Rick Mirabito
The Honorable Gene Yaw
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