• MSC president: “It’s important for listeners to understand more and more about this industry, and really get the facts, because this has been done safely for years and years.”
  • MSC president: “The Safe Drinking Water Act never was the venue for which we regulated hydraulic fracturing processes in this country. It’s regulated by the states, and has been for as long as it has been regulated.”
  • Radio host: “I was in Bradford County last weekend and must say that the gas companies look like they’re keeping everything looking nice and clean, building new roads.”

Canonsburg, Pa. – Yesterday, Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) president Kathryn Klaber appeared on WKOK’s “On The Mark” program to discuss a host of issues regarding the responsible development of clean-burning, job-creating natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation. Below are key excerpts from the interview, which is available on-line HERE (40:13–1:02:52).

On the MSC’s Community Outreach, Supply Chain Opportunities

  • “It’s a really exciting time for the industry. There’s a huge interest around all sorts of businesses who see opportunities here to add new products, to strengthen the supply chain, in working alongside the drillers and the midstream companies. … We’re also working on quite a few public appearances. … It’s important for listeners and viewers and readers to understand more and more about this industry, and really get the facts, because this has been done safely for years and years. And I can let you know that the Marcellus Coalition is working hard to make sure it’s done right for years to come.”

On Modernizing Pa.’s Outdated Legislative, Regulatory Framework

  • “Making sure that as we upgrade the different standards to reflect the current technologies that our members are brining that technical expertise to the table to do it in a way that really does it right. … It’s really important that we have a competitive framework and a competitive tax in place. … And for Pennsylvania, being a shining star in the national shale revolution, we want to make sure that there’s not a tax put in place that takes us out of that status, and makes it over punitive to do business here. And that’s really the same as any business person in Pennsylvania would expect, and deserve as well. Paying taxes is part of what businesses do, but you want to do it in a way that does not make you uncompetitive in what is more and more everyday a global and national marketplace.”

On Hydraulic Fracturing and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

  • “There is an extreme amount of misinformation about the Safe Drinking Water Act. The SDWA never was the venue for which we regulated the process of how water was used in hydraulic fracturing processes in this country. It’s regulated by the states, and has been for as long as it has been regulated. … We have the distinct daily exposure to the many regulatory professionals who are working in all of these companies, both with well drilling companies, well service companies, and the many environmental consulting firms, who are the members of our coalition. And those folks are implementing the dozens of laws that apply to every step of the process. … We’d be glad to show anyone the level of reports and the level of monitoring, the constant tracking of all the water that’s managed throughout this process.”

On GasLand, Shallow Methane Migration, and Pa.’s Private Water Wells

  • “I do believe its entertainment. … [PA DEP] Secretary John Hanger had called it “propaganda.” It’s very easy to show certain images, and not talk about what is the science behind it. For example, the northern tier in Pennsylvania has long had naturally occurring methane in the shallow surface area. It’s a problem when it contaminates private water wells. … That has nothing to do with the shale gas, that’s 8,000 feet below the surface. Is it a problem, absolutely. Does it result in being able to light taps on fire? I understand that’s the case. That is certainly not anything that has to do with shale gas development, and has everything to do with an issue that we really need to address in Pennsylvania, separate and apart from what this new [Marcellus] opportunity means for Pennsylvanians.”

On DEP’s Claims that Half of the Marcellus Operators Failed to Meet Reporting Deadlines

  • “The industry supported a law passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor that created more transparency into what’s called the “production data.” We didn’t have that in Pennsylvania and thought it was a great idea, which gives greater transparency to all involved — and helps move the industry into the next level of modernization. …  August 15th was the first ever filing date for that kind of data. When I saw that information I immediately reached out to our membership and … with the agency to correct some of the significant pieces of misinformation on that release. There is a majority of names on the list that have not even had production during the reporting period. There was no indication that “zero” should be reported, and we’ve since talked about what the industry needs [to do] when there is “zero” production.”

On Midstream Development, Moving Marcellus Gas to Pa. Consumers

  • “We’ve had natural gas wells in Pennsylvania for generations, and that gas travels through what are called gathering lines, and then they go to the transmission lines. Part of the business, called the downstream part, is what sells you or I the gas for our homes or business. … So what’s happening, as larger quantities are being developed from a single well pad than before, is new gathering line infrastructure is being put in place. … Gathering lines are kind of like our neighborhood streets. It’s not the highway; those are the transmission lines. And it’s not our driveway, which just takes the gas from the ground to the wells on site. Those companies are also very integrated in what’s going on in Pennsylvania right now, and work for years, in many cases, with local landowners to make sure that that gas can get to market.”