The natural gas industry has valuable technological knowledge
to share, but should it be entrusted with training Pennsylvania
environmental regulators who oversee drilling operations?

Between 2000 and 2010, industry participants donated more than $3.4 million to influence elected Pennsylvania officials. Now it is paying to train policy makers and regulators who oversee industry operations in the state’s Marcellus Shale region.

The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News reports that ExxonMobil and GE will be investing $1 million each to establish new
training programs at Penn State and two other universities–the University of Texas at Austin and the Colorado School of Mines

A Penn State press release says that the new training programs will “ensure that regulators and policymakers have access to the latest
technological and operational expertise to assist in their oversight of
shale development.” 

Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research
will offer a new “Shale Gas Regulators Training Program” to provide
“best-practices training” to people who oversee the drilling industry.

Is this good news for the environment?

The center’s co-director, Tom Murphy, said in a press release the
program will “offer new regulators the chance to learn the latest
science-based concepts related to geology, petroleum technology and
environmental quality.” 

While acknowledging that the program was sponsored with industry cash,
Murphy insists that the Marcellus Center “is definitely not funded by
industry.” 

What do you think? Use the comment box below.  If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

Related:
Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms
PSU Marcellus Shale study questioned over drilling industry tie

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