Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported today that the Republican administration of Gov. Tom Corbett is considering the expansion of gas drilling in forests and other state-owned land.

“Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration in Harrisburg is considering
leasing more state land, though there are no firm plans at the moment,
said Corbett spokesman Eric Shirk.

“The January 2010 lease sale under former (Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) Sec. (John) Quigley
included 18,000 acres of ecologically sensitive wild and natural areas
which can only be accessed underground and which brought in $128 million
for taxpayers,” wrote Patrick Henderson, Gov. Corbett’s energy
executive, in e-mailed comments. “Done correctly, it is possible to
develop our commonwealth’s natural resources while ensuring the
protection of our public lands.”

About 800,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of state land in the
Marcellus fairway are unleased. Most of the unleased land either is in
ecologically sensitive areas or cannot be accessed without cutting
through those areas, according to a study by the DCNR.

The state forests have a long history of hosting other drilling and
mining, but the Marcellus rush has only just begun. The Marcellus wells
there have nearly doubled over the past year to 175. Another 125 to 150
will go in next year on land already under lease, department
spokespeople said. Initial department estimates posted on its website
had figured for nearly 6,500 wells on nearly 1,100 well pads. 

The push is for money. Once a seven-figure trickle, the state’s Oil
and Gas Lease Fund has exploded from new oil and gas money. It earned a
combined $444.1 million in 2009 and 2010, more than double what it made
in its previous 61-year history, according to department figures.

“I knew this was opening Pandora’s box. It was too successful, and
the numbers were just staggering,” said Quigley, who helped oversee the
last round of leasing under then-Gov. Ed Rendell. “I can’t criticize
Gov. Corbett for doing the same thing my boss did. … The danger is
that some could look to the state forest as a way out of financial
problems, as easy money.”

DCNR expects to bring in a record of $58 million in rent and
royalties alone in the 2011-12 fiscal year, spokeswoman Christina Novak
said.

Last month, Gov­er­nor Corbett’s Sec­re­tary of Eco­nomic and Com­mu­nity
Devel­op­ment, Alan Walker, said that increased drilling in
Pennsylvania’s state forests could bring in “close to $60 bil­lion” over
the next three decades. ““That allows us to solve just about every
eco­nomic prob­lem we have that is hang­ing out there, he said, “includ­ing
un-funded pen­sion lia­bil­ity and infra­struc­ture prob­lems.” .

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