City Council hosts hearing on shale drilling

Two Pitt law professors were among a panel of environmental, legal and political consultants who… Two Pitt law professors were among a panel of environmental, legal and political consultants who addressed concerns about a potential ban on Marcellus Shale drilling at a Pittsburgh City Council hearing yesterday.

Jules Lobel and Emily Collins presented the legal issues during the hearing. Councilman Doug Shields orchestrated the event to provide the Council with facts and opinions on shale drilling. Shields recently proposed a ban on the drilling. If it receives enough preliminary support, the Council will consider formally voting on the issue.

Only five of the nine council members, including Shields, attended  the videotaped session.

Shields said he believes he has the support of six council members, but lacks mayoral support.

“Mayor [Luke] Ravenstahl is against this ban, but I want him to reconsider his position,” he said.

Ravenstahl did not attend the hearing but his spokewoman has told other local media outlets that he thinks Marcellus Shale drilling would create jobs and could generate tax revenue, ideas the Marcellus Shale Coalition has also supported.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition released a single page of “Guiding Principles.”

Travis Windle, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition said in an interview, “The Marcellus Shale Coalition is working each and every day to ensure that safety is our top priority. We agree with Mayor Ravenstahl, who does not support the ban, and we’re creating jobs when they’re most needed.”

The Marcellus Shale Coalition says on its website that the “the Marcellus Shale formation is a clean-burning energy resource that can be extracted safely, while protecting our environment.”

But several members of yesterday’s panel — which included professors from Duquesne and Cornell universities, as well as representatives from public service posts — worry about the environment.

Before turning the floor over to the panel, Shields said, “I have never seen any issue that has a more profound impact on our community.”

The engineers and environmentalists present agreed with Shields’ statement.

John Stolz, a professor of biological sciences at Duquesne University, said the water pollution that results from shale drilling will require more energy to filter.

“The water is normally brought to municipal water waste plants,” Stolz said. He said that the water, in addition to being combined with several toxic chemicals, is 10 times saltier than seawater, which makes it difficult for the waste plants to handle.

Kent Moors, a Duquesne political science professor, expanded upon this idea, saying that filtering the toxic water is ineffective.

“There is no adequate water treatment approach. Period,” Moors said.

Peggy Utesch, a representative from the Grand Valley Citizens’ Alliance, spoke about the effects that shale drilling had on her community in Colorado. Degradation of air and water quality, as well as dramatic decreases in property values, were just a few examples of the negative impact of shale drilling, Utesch said.

To these remarks, Shields responded, “These hearings should have been held in 2001, 2002 and 2003, when the Marcellus Shale Coalition revealed itself to us.”