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Oil and Gas Drilling Auctions
Pennsylvania to Open a Half-Million Acres of State Forests and Parks to Oil and Gas Drilling
The State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) plans to auction off 499,585 acres of state forest and park land for deep oil and gas drilling. The original auction was planned for May 8 and 9. Due to public pressure, this was delayed. The drilling plan was restructured so that 218,000 acres will immediately be leased out to oil and gas corporations leaving the remaining 282,000 areas potentially to be auctioned off at a later date.
Acreage in parts of six state parks, numerous state natural areas and wild areas and Pine Creek Gorge -- the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon -- is included in the 141 tracts the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plans to offer to the highest bidder. The total acreage offered for lease amounts to 25 percent of the state's 2.1 million acres of forest land, the largest single offering ever. Leases will require that lease owners drill for oil and gas or lose control of the lease.
On July 11, a coalition of citizen groups filed a Right to Know Request with the Department of Conservation Natural Resources (DCNR) to obtain documents related to an apparent agreement that the agency made regarding its plans to lease drilling rights within the Forbes State Forest in Fayette County
Click
here
for the complete story, links to more information, and where you can send
letters.
Click here for information about the
Right to Know Request
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Pennsylvania Outcry Caused Scale Back of Auction of State Forests and Parks to Oil and Gas Drilling
51,000 acres auctioned, from original plan for 499,585 acres
Conservationists Protested Lack of Public Input, Environmental Analysis
On May 8 and 9, 2002, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) had planned to auction off 499,585 acres of state forest and park land for deep oil and gas drilling. Acreage in parts of six state parks, numerous state natural areas and wild areas and Pine Creek Gorge -- the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon -- is included in the plans. The total acreage offered for lease amounts to 25 percent of the state's 2.1 million acres of forest land, the largest single offering ever. This was being done without notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, and with no public comment or environmental analysis. They did not even inform advisory committees within their own department.
On
April 25, 2002, one
day after Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council voted
to recommend postponement
Click
here for details and what you can do to help.
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DCNR to Immediately Auction 218,000 Acres for Oil and Gas Drilling
HARRISBURG (April 25) ‑ Accepting the recommendation
of the Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council, state Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary John C. Oliver
today announced the agency will postpone the gas lease auction originally
scheduled for May 8-9 to allow for further review and discussion by the
public.
Oliver said over the next two months DCNR will hold
several information outreach sessions with the public to explain details
of the gas lease and the history of gas drilling on state forest lands,
hear comments, and address concerns.
Click here
for the Philadelphia Inquirer article about Oliver's House testimony.
Click here for a story about the July
11 Right to Know petition.
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