Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Pennsylvania DCNR Updates Report on Shale Gas Development on State Forest Lands

On July 23, 2015, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, issued an update to the first Shale Gas Monitoring report that was published in April 2014. In order to identify “trends and patterns” of shale gas operations on state forest lands, DCNR developed a Shale Gas Monitoring Program aimed at assessing and reporting the impacts of shale gas development to the Pennsylvania forest system.

The update provides new data collected throughout 2014 on state forest acreage ownership, drilling wells approved by the Bureau of Forestry, and total acreage converted for infrastructure pads, roads and pipelines. In the update, DCNR observed that, in 2014, there was a decrease in the amount of total acreage converted for new infrastructures. It also pointed out that, so far, 608 shale gas wells have been drilled on state forest lands. The full update can be found at: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_20030930.pdf.

New reports will be issued regularly as more information and data become available to allow for better management decisions.

Further information on Pennsylvania forest system is available at: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
07/28/2015

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