Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell last week issued a moratorium on additional natural-gas drilling on state forest land.
The executive order bars the issuance of any new leases to extract natural gas from forest areas.
The state has about 2.2 million acres of forest land, with 1.5 million acres sitting on top of the Marcellus Shale region, which has natural gas embedded in its rock formations.
The state has already leased 700,000 acres of forest land to developers and companies seeking to extract natural gas. Rendell’s order protects the remaining 800,000 acres of forest that hold natural gas in order to maintain wetlands, wildlife, open space, ecotourism, and old-growth forests.
“We cannot lease any additional state forest land that would lead to further surface disturbance without significantly altering the ecological integrity and wild character of our state forest system,” Rendell said last week during a conference call with reporters.
Rendell, a Democrat, will be termed out of office in January. Whether his successor continues the new-lease ban remains to be seen.
The Pennsylvania House in late September passed a bill that would end new leases for drilling in forest areas.
The measure also includes an extraction tax of 39 cents per thousand cubic feet, but the Senate’s majority Republican members have stated that they would not pass the measure because the tax is too high.
The GOP prefers a tax structure similar to what is used in Arkansas, where companies are charged an initial 1.5% tax for two to three years. Rates then increase up to 5%, depending upon production levels.
Rendell earlier this month proposed a compromise tax of 3% in the first year that would increase to 4% and 5% in the second and third years, but lawmakers were unable to find a solution before recessing for the Nov. 2 election.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato, chief executive of Allegheny County, has said that he supports a competitive tax that would generate revenue for environmental protection measures and other issues.
State Attorney General Tom Corbett, the GOP candidate, has said he does not support any tax at this time on the extraction of natural gas.
