In response to the DCNR announcement on public review of a proposed drilling plan for the Loyalsock State Forest in Lycoming County, the Save the Loyalsock Coalition issued the letter below, thanking the Department for acknowledging the Coalition's repeated request for greater public participation, but also expressing concern that a 15-day public comment period is too short to provide an adequate opportunity for public involvement.
In the letter, the Coalition sets forth the specific elements of a meaningful public participation process and respectfully requests that DCNR follow such a process for the Loyalsock. The text of the letter follows.
Dear Secretary Ferretti:
We write concerning the recent announcement that the Department will conduct a 15-day public comment period on the final draft Surface Disturbance Management Agreement (“SDMA”) between the Department and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Southwestern Energy Production Company (collectively, “Companies”) for the Clarence Moore lands in the Loyalsock State Forest
We understand that the SDMA will include the Companies’ proposed development plan as an exhibit.
First, we thank the Department for acknowledging and responding to our repeated requests for public involvement in these development plans. However, while we appreciate the opportunity to comment, we also believe that the Department’s proposed 15-day comment period will be entirely inadequate for the public to review, understand, and comment on documentation that we assume will be 100 pages or more in length.
This is especially true if the documentation includes the Department’s environmental reviews and other impact assessments concerning the Companies’ proposed development. We believe strongly that these assessments must be included for the public to be able to evaluate the final draft SDMA.
By way of comparison, when the Department proposes a transfer or exchange of State Forest land–no matter how small the area–it advertises the proposal in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and local newspapers for at least 60 days and accepts comments for 30 days. See 17 Pa. Code § 25.2.
Under Pennsylvania law, thirty-day comment periods are standard for many permitting matters and proposed transactions or programmatic changes. Even a simple change in Pennsylvania’s Smallmouth Bass “Catch and Release” Program requires a 30-day comment period.
Given the ecological and recreational importance of the Clarence Moore lands, as well as the volume and complexity of the information at issue, we believe that the public comment period on any final draft SMDA and proposed development plan should be sixty (60) days, and should include at least three (3) public hearings.
Of course, given the Commonwealth Court’s decision in Clarence Moore v. DER, 566 A.2d 905 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), we continue to believe that an SDMA is the wrong legal instrument for the DCNR to be negotiating at all–that the Companies need a right-of-way from the DCNR to use the 18,870-acre “yellow tract” area because, assuming that the Companies have good title to the oil and gas under the Clarence Moore lands, under Clarence Moore the DCNR has exclusive control of the surface of that area.
We have stated these concerns before, and will reiterate them during the formal comment period. Meanwhile, we respectfully request that the Department’s public comment process for the Clarence Moore lands include the following elements:
-- A 60-day public comment period following publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
-- Three public hearings, including one in the Williamsport area, with publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and one newspaper of general circulation;
-- Public disclosure on the Department’s website of all environmental reviews and other impact assessments (e.g., recreational impact assessments) by the Department and third parties;
-- Recording and collection of the public comments; and
-- Preparation of a comment and response document by the Department.
Please provide written confirmation at your earliest convenience that the Department’s public process will include these elements.
Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely, on behalf of all members of the Save the Loyalsock Coalition,
Mark Szybist, Staff Attorney, PennFuture
Joanne Kilgour, Director, Sierra Club PA Chapter