Dousing the Gas Industry

Two negative incidents in the area (one in Clearfield County, one in Moundsville, WV) in recent days related to drilling into the Marcellus Shale certainly aren’t going to help with public relations for the gas industry. Not with the oil leak in the Gulf, not with an ongoing debate in Pennsylvania over whether to tax natural gas extraction.

The company involved in the Clearfield incident has been placed on a suspension by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that regulates drilling activity in Pennsylvania. Some want Federal intervention and expanded oversight. Others want a moratorium on all drilling activity statewide.

This raises the question of local government’s place in the equation. State courts have heard cases in recent years over municipalities trying to exert their police power over drilling via the zoning process, and some have passed ordinances designating specific zoning districts for drilling activity. A publication by Penn State University points out that "the ability of municipalities to regulate natural gas exploration is limited by the Oil and Gas Act…[which] preempts a municipality or county from regulating a matter that has been addressed in the act". But it is quite possible that these recent events might raise issues as to the regulatory framework.