For Immediate Release
Governor Corbett’s Budget Will Sacrifice State
Forests
Contact: Joanne Kilgour, Director, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, 717-232-0101
Harrisburg, PA – Just days after the release of a public opinion poll[1] which uncovered that more than two-thirds of Pennsylvanians oppose more drilling on state lands, Governor Corbett released his plan to do the opposite. The Governor’s 2014-2015 budget includes projected Oil and Gas Lease Fund revenue of $75 million from new leases of state forest land.
“Governor Corbett plans to sacrifice state lands to an
under-regulated and under-taxed industry despite the wishes of his constituents,”
said Joanne Kilgour, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter Director. “Lifting the
moratorium on leasing state forest lands adds insult to injury in this
administration’s mismanagement of our natural resources.”
“The Oil and Gas Lease Fund should be used for
acquiring mineral rights under our existing state parks and forests to protect
them from future development, not to further the exploitation of these lands,”
continued Kilgour.
“We
must see the study DCNR has been promising that shows the impacts of drilling
before any new leasing could even be considered,” add Gary Thornbloom, “Gas
drillers already have 700,000 acres of state forest land available to them –
how much is enough?”
[1] See http://www.fandm.edu/uploads/media_items/january-2014-franklin-marshall-college-poll-release.original.pdf.
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