Comments
IamSauerKraut t1_j5yur6h wrote
For years, those same companies also did not pay the required per mile rent for crossing public lands. That changed somewhat only after the PAGC threatened to close some of their facilities due to a funding shortfall. Now the PAGC is awash with cash.
Finrodsrod t1_j5yvno6 wrote
All colluded under and developed by Tom Corbett's governorship. PA should have been the next Texas in terms of natural gas, but Tommy C prefers to sell out the state, protect pedophiles like Sandusky, and to top it off have PA citizens pay more taxes on gasoline.
NotNowDamo t1_j6039vm wrote
Whoa, let's remember Rendell also supported the gas companies and was governor in 2008 (you know the start of the boom).
Corbett was governor in 2011, long after drilling started. He merely continued Rendell's policy. The gasoline tax was at the very end of his term and was bipartisan.
Not saying Corbett was a great governor, but let's get our facts straight. Rendell was the one in office when these things were being decided, was critical of NY for having a moratorium on drilling, and later went to work for a firm with investments in fracking.
HogwartsKate t1_j62s6n0 wrote
The republican legislature controlled it.
NotNowDamo t1_j630vcl wrote
So what? Rendell made his pro-fracking stance very clear, to blame Corbett is stupid.
[deleted] t1_j63qamp wrote
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HogwartsKate t1_j68dkc1 wrote
The legislature STILL controls it. Governors have no real power.
NotNowDamo t1_j69g0yj wrote
I don't disagree, but the governor does do things like campaign on behalf of bills they agree with, and have a louder voice than state representatives. Also, they have that veto power.
But that aside, even if the governor had more power, OP still was incorrect in that it happened during Rendell's watch and not Corbett's.
mister_pringle t1_j5yytid wrote
The report talks about 2017-2021. Two years after Corbett left office.
Finrodsrod t1_j5yzqjr wrote
I'm talking about the impact of his office towards the NG industry in PA - this is one of the repercussions.
mister_pringle t1_j5yzxlk wrote
You should read the article. It talks about how far back the gas lobby influence has been going on. Definitely predates Corbett.
Finrodsrod t1_j5z19qs wrote
mister_pringle t1_j5zmsr1 wrote
> The report, however, does not criticize Gov. Wolf directly despite his oversight of both DEP and DOH.
> The Wolf administration says since coming into office, the DEP vastly increased the number of well inspections and citations, and has fined drilling companies more than $67.5 million for environmental violations.
> While the public relations arm of the Wolf administration put the blame on the Corbett administration, the administration’s attorneys lambasted the report itself.
So you’re going along with ex Governor Wolf in blame shifting what happened on his watch? Bold move. Good for you.
Finrodsrod t1_j5zntn0 wrote
Wolf refused to sign the laws and the Republican congress pushed it anyway...
Keep rooting for that GOP though.
NotNowDamo t1_j603s2c wrote
Did you read your own article, it was highly critical of DEP enforcing the current laws.
sprcpr t1_j5z6uca wrote
Not that corporate Dems aren't on the hook as well but Ridge was also a problem and a rubber stamp for oil and gas.
penguins8766 t1_j5z9hvp wrote
The borough where I live, whored themselves out to Penn Energy as they have 4-5 in the community. My family has yet to see any benefit to them coming in. Same for other residents.
Edit: Spelling
HeyZuesHChrist t1_j5z6j96 wrote
Who could have seen this coming!?!?
Virtual_Wind_6198 t1_j5zg15e wrote
Similar to Louisiana as well.
e_hota t1_j602l4a wrote
Who could have possibly seen any of that coming /s
e30eric t1_j5zjk51 wrote
Nobody could have seen it coming!
[deleted] t1_j61t03s wrote
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69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_j649u3c wrote
Lumber companies did the same shit in the 1850s. Oil companies did the same shit in the 1890s. Coal companies did the same shit for the past two hundred years.
We never learn.
[deleted] t1_j5ydmod wrote
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ArcherChase t1_j5yrm1z wrote
I mean... Corporations are people too friend... Right?
badpeaches t1_j60q6q8 wrote
Do Corporations get voting rights?
DamonRunnon t1_j6178a7 wrote
See Citizens United...
North_Paw t1_j618jx0 wrote
The motherload of corruption in Washington DC
Generic_Mustard t1_j60rkkd wrote
Not yet, right now they just hire lobbies to write the laws and hand them to our lawmakers who don't even read them prior to voting.
badpeaches t1_j60sae4 wrote
That's weird cause they're not even supposed to contribute to political campaigns. This is their work around.
> #Who can’t contribute > A political committee is prohibited from knowingly accepting a contribution that violates the prohibitions on contributions.
>##Corporations and labor organizations >The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits corporations and labor organizations from making contributions in connection with federal elections. (A corporation or labor organization may pay the expenses of setting up, administering and soliciting contributions for its own political committee, called a separate segregated fund (SSF or PAC). A party committee may accept contributions from a corporate or labor PAC registered with the FEC.) This prohibition applies to all types of incorporated organizations, except political committees that incorporate only for liability purposes. National banks and federally chartered corporations, such as federal savings and loan associations, are prohibited from making contributions in connection with state and local as well as federal elections.
Generic_Mustard t1_j60tphd wrote
Yeah it sucks.
And if you work for a large corporation, there is usually a time in the year where they pass the hat around and ask all employees to contribute to the PAC and to assume that whatever the PAC supports is in the best interest of the company, and therefore in yours as well as an employee.
badpeaches t1_j645yj8 wrote
Are you serious
Generic_Mustard t1_j64dlwd wrote
I am but in my 12 years working there I never gave them a dime and never felt like by not giving, they were going to fire me or retaliate against me.
Yen-sama t1_j62vp10 wrote
They do in the form of SuperPACs
BadRabiesJudger t1_j5ymy0a wrote
Oh yeah they’ll spend 3 months house arrest and a fine that equates to .01% of the wealth made.
SpicyWokHei t1_j5zu7lg wrote
"If the punishment for breaking the law is only a fine then the law only applies to poor people."
How about significant jail time?
Mijbr090490 t1_j5z07q2 wrote
Jail is for poor people.
Zenith2017 t1_j5zf793 wrote
Steal, evade, and ruin land worth billions of dollars - hey :( don't do that
Steal $20 - jail
IamSauerKraut t1_j5yug24 wrote
Make them do the reporting and pay a fine of x amount of dollars for each day the required report is late or incomplete. Fines paid go to funding upkeep of state parks.
piperonyl t1_j5z3lpg wrote
LOL yeah right!!! this made my day
4hundredbillion t1_j60euuk wrote
And hell
ImperialIIClass t1_j5yg5co wrote
> Pennsylvania’s environmental regulator says, over a five-year period, more than half of conventional oil and gas operators failed to report how much gas they pulled from the ground and whether their equipment is safe.
Oh.
IamSauerKraut t1_j5yua56 wrote
But the environmental regulator also failed to enforce the reporting law, the same as they failed to ensure the drillers and pipeline companies were paying required fees to the Commonwealth with the result being that PA taxpayers carried their share of the tax burden.
Bruc3w4yn3 t1_j5zoarh wrote
It's hard to enforce anything when your budget is razor thin and you're limited in the action you can legally take.
Alternative-Flan2869 t1_j5zt5r6 wrote
And grease-palmed legislators made that not happen.
NotNowDamo t1_j603zyy wrote
It is even harder to enforce the law when you have made conscious decision not to, which is what actually happened.
pedantic_comments t1_j5ywotx wrote
It’s not a cop’s fault if someone commits a crime, just like it’s not the fault of regulators that corporations disobey the laws of the commonwealth.
reverendsteveii t1_j5yze2r wrote
It's not a cop's fault that someone commits a crime. It is absolutely a cop's fault when someone commits a crime in front of that cop and that cop knowingly chooses to ignore it.
pedantic_comments t1_j5z37go wrote
That’s not what’s happening. The DEP issued a report highlighting the problem and asks for legislation and resources. They are doing their jobs and saying we need to come up with a better system to enforce compliance - otherwise PA gets stuck with the bill for all the damage violations cause. It’s a regulatory body identifying a big problem and offering legislative fixes, like increasing the bonds these companies pay to operate here.
[The article also insinuates that the money from drillers has corrupted our state legislature.]
Blaming regulators here instead of the corporate assholes messing with our environment and our political systems is stupid.
TLDR; In our analogy, there’s one unarmed cop outside of an armed robbery situation, and they are asking for backup and permission to do more than write a mean letter or issue a small fine.
IamSauerKraut t1_j5yxydf wrote
If a cop witnesses a murder but does not arrest the murderer, do you take a deep breath and say "ho hum"?
LOERMaster t1_j5zk5nl wrote
“Did the well blow up?”
“No”
“Then it was safe.”
DoctorSteve t1_j60dh2x wrote
bdschuler t1_j5ygs2g wrote
Wish this news would enter more mainstream consciousness. For every person's clueless, DRILL, DRILL, DRILL post on the internet about wanting to drill in a protected area, I often explain how before they drill in pristine new areas, maybe they should finish the areas they abandoned. Most people are unaware these abandoned wells even exist.
Seems many people have no clue how often they open and close wells based on the economic swing of gas prices. They just assume they pump out all the gas and then clean up the area when they leave. They have no idea they start wells when the price is high and then skip town, and the damage they caused, the moment prices drop.
tempestveil t1_j5ysmx8 wrote
SO SHOCKED. sad. rich people do whatever they want and we just do what we can day by day
Woodyee101 t1_j5yvrmt wrote
Exactly. Like Nancy Pelosi making millions on Google stock right before DOJ announces an investigation. And Joe Biden, look at him, worth 10’s of millions because his shell companies run by crack head Hunter.
Joe_Jeep t1_j5ywr5j wrote
Mm m yes nothing like hating the rich by only getting mad at one party
Woodyee101 t1_j5ywum1 wrote
Keep it fair Joe
tempestveil t1_j5z0vlq wrote
yup and then people like Donald Trump get to create, establish, and then go defunct on scams like "Trump Universities"
Its really just rich people vs everyone else. They dont care about your creed, race, sex, all they care is that were poor and theyre rich and that it stays that way because they want the control&power. Insane.
[deleted] t1_j60hr4b wrote
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Woodyee101 t1_j5z1dwd wrote
I don’t contest this
Yen-sama t1_j62vlyp wrote
Then maybe use him in your argument so you don't come off as a partisan Republican hack just tryin to own the libs or whatever. Hold them ALL accountable.
GTholla t1_j64z5lv wrote
man is simultaneously a useless crackhead and a diabolical business genius huh 🙄
Atrocious_1 t1_j68qc3m wrote
Pretty dumb how much this got downvoted. Pelosi might be the most corrupt legislator imaginable
rednib t1_j5ynuzd wrote
Is eye roll strain a real medical condition?
[deleted] t1_j5yyhor wrote
Yes
IamSauerKraut t1_j5yu140 wrote
Since most of the drillers are from out-of-state, is it any surprise they don't give a crap about PA laws, especially environmental laws?
Dispatcher12 t1_j5yjl7c wrote
There's also the matter of the way wells SHOULD be drilled and cased, and the way some of them ACTUALLY ARE drilled and cased... Per people I know who have worked in the industry in my area.
reverendsteveii t1_j5yyuj1 wrote
Here comes an $8 fine and a stern chiding from the lawmakers they own
SpicyWokHei t1_j5zuhtn wrote
You think there will be a fine? More like a strongly worded email that will probably get spam filtered.
aust_b t1_j5yxzv9 wrote
wow, its almost like we keep reliving the tragedy of the commons every fucking day, yet we need to DeReGuLaTe.
Zenith2017 t1_j5zff8k wrote
Don't worry the consumers will vote with their wallet and the free market will discourage this sort of behavior. lol lmao
Allemaengel t1_j5zhnmi wrote
The logging companies stripped the forests bare back in the day eroding mountainsides and creating flash floods.
The anthracite and bituminous coal companies left the land scarred by culm banks, subsiding tunnels, old strip mines and creeks filled with mine drainage.
The western PA oil industry left abandoned wells behind.
The concrete and slate industries in the Lehigh Valley left water-filled quarries everywhere.
The defunct steel companies and railroads leaving abandoned structures and contaminated soil behind around their mills and railyards.
This state's politicians never stopped any of them from doing what they did, why would Harrisburg stop the gas companies now?
Answer: Money's 200+ years experience do the talking in our state's politics, that's why.
[deleted] t1_j61k6iw wrote
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Newkid92 t1_j5z4t71 wrote
They just keep adding more and more pretty soon it'll be like west Virginia here.... Everyone will get cancer and the government will be like we have NO IDEA what's happening oh my god how could this happen 🥴
crazypants9 t1_j5zdyy7 wrote
Like you thought this wouldn’t happen? Wait until they start to leak. New York banned fracking because they know the danger and the recklessness the gas industry employs
bluewolf71 t1_j5zqqhk wrote
Fall3n7s t1_j5zdnrv wrote
It's not even unconventional wells. There are thousands of conventional wells that were drilled in the 1900's that are just orphaned across the state. If you walk through the woods in western PA you will see pipes or leftover production equipment that was just too heavy to steal.
These are problematic 2 ways. First, they're most likely leaking methane and secondly depending on their location and depth they could be hit during the drilling of a unconventional well which creates all kinds of issues.
The reason why they're still there? They cost 10's of thousands to plug. PADEP ain't got the budget to do that across the state. So they started making drilling companies plug wells that impacted their drilling plans as a way to try to and get caught up. However, there are just too many for this to be a feasible practice. Plus the pushback by drillers is pretty high.
https://gis.dep.pa.gov/PaOilAndGasMapping/OilGasWellsStrayGasMap.html
Generic_Mustard t1_j60t4cn wrote
As a child I had my finger smashed playing around with a DEP abandoned oil well.
30 years later, my finger is still misshapen and the well is still there, unplugged and accessible for the next generation to learn a lesson.
Thanks for posting the map!
sirpranksamillion t1_j61fwf5 wrote
Wait til you see how much money it will cost to plug the large, unconventional Marcellus/Utica wells they are drilling now. They started drilling these well types up here around 2008 and the plugging of them has only really begun in the last 5 years. It can get into the millions to plug one well to PA standards. It’s the elephant in the room for alot of Appalachian drilling companies
Fall3n7s t1_j61gw8p wrote
I worked for an O&G company who drilled in PA. I’m well aware of how much it cost to drill/frac those wells.
You are correct though. To properly plug & abandon them it will run 7 figures easy.
GTholla t1_j653b40 wrote
I'm surprised there aren't wells in my county with how everyone acts around here, and I'm not even talking about 'Ho bott!' lol
drunkmonkey176 t1_j5yqdtl wrote
I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you!
25Bam_vixx t1_j5zt0iy wrote
It’s only a law if it’s enforced
SpicyWokHei t1_j5zup3a wrote
It's only a law if the punishment doesn't only affect poor people.
IrresponsibleScience t1_j603591 wrote
Maybe we need to change how the clean up and removal of the drill sites are managed so that the companies pay in bulk upfront and then into a fund that’s managed by the state to cover the cost of removing these.
sirpranksamillion t1_j61f7m2 wrote
This needs to happen. Large Oil and gas companies have sold their old wells to smaller companies who then create shell companies, transfer ownership of the old, nonproducing wells and then file bankruptcy, relieving them of their rights to plug said wells. Then it’s on the state to cover the cost of plugging. Not saying everyone does this but I have heard of Appalachian companies following this process. Really crooked
Dhrakyn t1_j5zxtg4 wrote
When will the mouth breathers in red states learn that the oil and gas industry will fuck you at every chance they get and don't care about anything except profits?
lildobe OP t1_j5zytg8 wrote
They're just hoping for a dividend payment like Alaska residents get.
(Which is very unlikely)
Spfm275 t1_j60clp9 wrote
Unlike the mouth breathing blue tribe! Who just elected Fetterman ...who let me check my notes here....endorses, approves, and is in favor of fracking. BOTH sides will fuck us all over until we collectively stop voting for them.
I know the horror! How could I dare utter the sinful phrase BOTH sides! It's not like we have had two parties dominate our country for decades as it has crept further and further into a capitalist dystopian hellhole.
Surely it's only that one sides fault!
GTholla t1_j653z0a wrote
>something something libruls frack 2!!
I also only vote for one issue, and get personally offended when my party is attacked! How do you do, fellow mouth breathers?
DamonRunnon t1_j617njb wrote
We got gas right under our feet, blah, blah, blah said a republikan not long ago and why aren't we tearing up the State to get it?
jayandsilentjohn t1_j61cedc wrote
They should start up the classic Wild West bulletin and post them. Why don’t they post the names of the company, maybe a photo of the head guy. Maybe a reward if brought to justice. Seems like me may need to go back to the old way.
Jumpy-Natural4868 t1_j61jjlw wrote
Father Drillers sounds like a gay porn movie title.
Buris t1_j61rrb3 wrote
The fact is fracking really isn’t all that profitable, way more money in finding the big deposits of easily attainable oil than messing around spending millions with only tiny deposits to suck up
thomport t1_j628gsr wrote
Sounds like what the big coal companies did to places like the Wyoming Valley. The coal Barrons took the money, destroyed the land, and the waterways, then left, leaving the taxpayers to pay to clean up the mess.
[deleted] t1_j5ysdji wrote
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