Greenish-gray water, from a contaminated well in Dimock Twp., Susquehanna County, was poured into drinking glasses of panelists at a recent forum on Marcellus Shale and campaign finance.
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability spokesman and panelist Pat Carullo said the hydraulic fracturing process, in which a mixture of millions of gallons of water is mixed with chemicals and then injected into the ground, is an “unholy scheme.”
“Gas is not the bridge to the future. Water is the bridge to the future,” Carullo said as he received applause from the crowd of about 100 mostly anti-gas drilling people at the panel Thursday. “It’s a Ponzi scheme; Bernie Madoff couldn’t come up with something like this.”
The panel did not consist of any representatives from the oil and gas industry.
James Browning, a spokesman for the public interest advocacy group Common Cause Foundation, said that Pennsylvania is one of 11 states that don’t limit campaign contributions.
“Money means access; access means influence,” Browning said, in front of a presentation slide that highlighted the increase in campaign donations from natural gas companies since 2001.
A study, called “Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets,” compiled by Browning and Alex Kaplan, also of Common Cause, stated that according to Federal Election Commission and PA Department of State, “the natural gas industry gave $2.85 million to political candidates in Pennsylvania between 2001 and March 2010 and it spent $4.2 million on lobbying since Pennsylvania began requiring lobbyist reporting in 2007.”
The study also lists Republican gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General Tom Corbett as the top recipient of industry contribution from January 2001 until April 2010, with $361,207. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato was listed seventh on the list with contributions totaling $59,300.
Browning said the Marcellus Shale issue could help bring the state’s weak campaign finance laws into light, and is a good chance to educate a large portion of the population about campaign finance reform.
Regional state representatives were invited to speak at the forum, but only Rep. Kevin Murphy (D-113th) showed.
He said he was in favor of a statewide moratorium and is against “forced pooling” -- a scenario gas advocates call “fair pooling,” which requires a land owner to allow gas companies to drill under their land if surrounding land owners signed leases, regardless of whether or not that land owner signed a lease.
“You’re not in this alone,” Murphy said. “There are representatives that feel the same way you do.”
“I find it hard to believe that in Pennsylvania you can get an expedited permit to drill for natural gas in three weeks, but it takes at least 30 days to get a new driver’s license in Pennsylvania,” he said. “That’s a clear indication that there are some serious problems.”
