by Curt Ashenfelter, Executive Director
During the first week of November, the Keystone Trails Association and other like-minded organizations received a letter concerning gas drilling on the Old Loggers Path from Department of Conservation and Natural Resources State Forester Dan Devlin. The letter read, in part:
“As of the beginning of October we have received approximately 4,000 emails concerning the proposed activity on the 25,000 acres known as the Clarence Moore lands. A breakdown of those emails…can be found on the DCNR website at www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/index.aspx.
"Although several months have passed since the department last met with stakeholders on this topic, DCNR to date has not met with the private subsurface owners. Therefore, there is no change in status regarding this matter.
"We hope to have a meeting soon to discuss the situation regarding the surface and subsurface resources with both of the companies involved, and also a meeting with stakeholder group representatives. We will be contacting Curt Ashenfelter (Keystone Trails Association) … to facilitate a meeting.”
On November 25, I and several others met with a number of DCNR representatives, including Acting Secretary Ellen Ferretti, Dan Devlin, Nathan Flood, Arianna Proctor, Gretchen Leslie, Ted Borawski, Jason Albright, and Rebecca Oyler.
DCNR began with a recap of the public input sent to Loyalsock@state.pa.us, but could not give a response when asked how they planned to respond to questions asked by the email senders.
The only new piece of information that DCNR shared was that they had a conference call with Anadarko and Southwestern Energy representatives a few weeks ago (after the letter from Dan Devlin referenced above), but have not received a new plan and do not know when that might happen.
My response to this new information was as follows:
“This meeting needs to be placed in context. Its part of a process and should be treated as such. The objective of the meeting is to get a commitment to begin the development of a public engagement process that provides meaningful public participation in the development of natural gas on the Loyalsock State Forest and Old Loggers Path.
Representing the public, we want to spell out what "meaningful" means for the department. Minimally, this means having the opportunity to review draft proposals, understanding the agency's issues and concerns, seeing the options, and understanding what is being proposed by DCNR to mitigate identified issues. Only after this kind of information is made available and reviewed should a public hearing be held.
As far as the first meeting follow-up, DCNR has made some nice statements but nothing specific has materialized. DCNR has been holding off doing anything noting that other players have not come to the table yet. This is a reason, but not an excuse, for moving forward on the development of a process that works for us and the department.”
Despite multiple requests from other attendees, DCNR would not commit to a public process concerning gas development on the Clarence Moore lands. DCNR did ask for any data that we have, perceivably so they would "know what's to be protected.” Attendees mentioned that some information, such as winter raptor surveys and breeding bird inventories, have to be done at the proper time.
We also asked for wetland delineation information and about stream assessments. Dan Devlin seemed interested to know that some streams in the Rock Run/Pleasant Stream and (to the SE) Loyalsock drainages are being assessed; he was told that he would be provided with some of that information. Dan Devlin has been designated the point man for Q&A with DCNR.
I would encourage all Keystone Trails Association members to send an original email to Loyalsock@pa.gov, demanding a robust public hearing process in their area concerning gas drilling on public lands in general and specifically proposed gas drilling on the Old Loggers Path.