Commissioner Leinbach was the only Commissioner to respond to the letter. Read this post from the bottom up to follow the exchange between Leinbach and BGT’s Karen Feridun.
We’re taking our response to the next level. Here are three things you can do to help!
1) Please sign and share a petition addressed to all three Commissioners. Please note, however, that Commissioner Scott was a no vote! http://signon.org/sign/commissioners-say-no
2) Write letters to the editor to every newspaper in Berks County! If you need talking points, let me know!
3) Join us on April 9th at the Commissioner’s Workshop meeting at 10:30 a.m. at the County Courthouse building in Reading. Stay tuned for more details!
Commissioner Leinbach,
You are correct. This is not an either/or situation unless it is treated that way by any County or Municipal government. Additionally, according to my understanding of Act 13, the ordinance you passed has no legal standing since no wells have been drilled in Berks County. I’m sure that the lawsuit initiated by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network is just the first of many challenges to Act 13. Surely the question of putting ordinances in place prior to the beginning of drilling will be another. The larger issue, however, is the one I’ve made repeatedly based on my reading of Act 13. If the presence of wells is what is required in order for an ordinance to be passed that the state will recognize, that means that Berks County is not eligible to receive impact fees for other operations that may come here much sooner than unconventional drilling of the Utica shale. That is absolutely something we need to be concerned about and something that needs to be fought at every level of government, if a fight is required. I would rather join forces with my county and local officials to fight the state’s terrible new law. It was in that spirit that I contact Kevin, sent the letter, and included supporting materials. I am still more than happy to work with you and the other Commissioners.
As for detailed pipeline legislation, Harrisburg would call Act 13 detailed, yet it is a highly flawed bill. One of the most obvious examples is any discussion of setbacks when the contents of fracking fluid are still exempt from disclosure under the Safe Drinking Water Act and several other pieces of environmental legislation. It is impossible to regulate something when you don’t know what you’re regulating so any specific setbacks, buffer zones or other protections written into detailed pieces of legislation like Act 13 are meaningless, except to say the farther away you are, the better. I work closely with people who specialize in pipeline issues and am not optimistic that upcoming legislation will be any better conceived.
Sincerely,
Karen Feridun
Founder, Berks Gas Truth
From: Leinbach, Christian Y
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 3:57 PM
To: ‘feridun@ix.netcom.com’
Cc: Buerer, Mary
Subject: Re: Impact Fee
Karen
I just confirmed that not passing this ordinance has absolutely no impact on the “preemptive” portion of the law. That is in place no matter what we do at the county level. The bill also requires detailed pipeline legislation to follow.
Sincerely,
Christian Y. Leinbach
Chairman – Berks County Commissioners
633 Court St.
Reading, PA 19601-4310
Phone: 610-478-6136 Ext. 3 / Ext. 6127
Fax: 610-478-6139
Email: Cleinbach@CountyofBerks.com
www.CountyofBerks.com
From: Leinbach, Christian Y
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 03:49 PM
To: ‘feridun@ix.netcom.com’
Cc: Buerer, Mary
Subject: Re: Impact Fee
Karen
You are welcome.
Christian Y. Leinbach
Chairman – Berks County Commissioners
633 Court St.
Reading, PA 19601-4310
Phone: 610-478-6136 Ext. 3 / Ext. 6127
Fax: 610-478-6139
Email: Cleinbach@CountyofBerks.com
www.CountyofBerks.com
From: Karen Feridun [mailto:feridun@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 03:20 PM
To: Leinbach, Christian Y
Cc: Barnhardt, Kevin; Scott, Mark C; Commissioners; Buerer, Mary
Subject: Re: Impact Fee
Thank you, Commissioner Leinbach, for your quick response to our letter and supporting documents. I understand your concern for protecting the infrastructure, environment, and the overall health of our citizens. It was my understanding of your concern that caused me to appeal to you and the other Commissioners to take the only action that will truly protect all those things. As everyone knows, the puny impact fee will not come close to remediating the environment, treating all the people sickened by the contamination that accompanies drilling, or repairing the infrastructure. Actually, a huge impact fee wouldn’t do much better. We’re creating problems that no amount of money can solve. Better to avoid all those consequences and all the expenditures that will be on the backs of our taxpayers by saying no to drilling in Berks County.
When you say no to the impact fee, you’re also saying no to the stripping of local control in Act 13. I’m sure you support the rights of local government.
Actually, this is an issue that needs to be argued at every level of government and on many other fronts. We’ll keep fighting to keep Berks County safe.
Thank you!
Karen Feridun
Founder, Berks Gas Truth
From: Leinbach, Christian Y
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 1:00 PM
To: Karen Feridun
Cc: Barnhardt, Kevin ; Scott, Mark C ; Commissioners ; Buerer, Mary
Subject: RE: Impact Fee
Karen:
Thank you for your email. Without this ordinance in place there would be no dollars from drilling in Berks County going to impacted municipalities the county or DEP. This helps further protect our infrastructure, environment and the overall health of our citizens should drilling occur in Berks County at some future point in time.
From looking at you material it is clear to me that you oppose gas drilling. That is an issue that needs to be argued at the state level and not the county.
Sincerely,
Christian Y. Leinbach
Chairman – Berks County Commissioners
633 Court Street
Reading, PA 19601-4310
Phone: 610-478-6136 Ext. 3 / Ext. 6127
Fax: 610-478-6139
Email Cleinbach@CountyofBerks.com
www.CountyofBerks.com
From: Karen Feridun [mailto:feridun@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 10:11 AM
To: Barnhardt, Kevin; Leinbach, Christian Y; Scott, Mark C; Commissioners
Subject: Impact Fee
Dear Sirs,
I was very disappointed to see that you decided in your meeting yesterday to pursue the impact fee for unconventional natural gas drilling should it ever come to Berks County’s land in the Utica shale. I spoke with Kevin briefly on Wednesday and prepared a letter that day that you will find attached here. I put out a call to see if any Berks Gas Truth members or others would want to add their names to the letter. What happened then even surprised me. People quickly responded by adding their names and circulating the letter to their friends. A handful of people from outside of the area also wanted to sign, including John LaRose, a former resident of Berks who still has property here, but who now lives in the Marcellus region and considers himself a first-hand victim of drilling there. In a little over a day, 100 people signed on to the letter.
Berks Gas Truth has been fighting unconventional natural gas drilling for about a year and a half. In that time, we’ve grown from a very small group of only 3 members to a group of over 450 members. We are very involved in community outreach and organizing. Our website, www.gastruth.org
, has lots of great information about the issue and about our work. Our Resources page contains the best articles, reports, websites, videos, and other resources I’ve found. I’ve attached a couple of those resources here. The best overview of the situation I’ve seen in a long time is the attached article from Rolling Stone. The other two articles are studies done by Duke and Cornell that get at some of the issues related to methane migration into water supplies and into the atmosphere.
The same day that you made your decision on the Impact Fee, the first major legal challenge to Act 13 was initiated by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a group of municipalities, and a physician. I had mentioned to Kevin that such an action was coming, but could say no more about it at the time. The release is attached. The physician’s involvement is due to a section of Act 13 that forces physicians to sign non-disclosure agreements in cases where they are treating patients exposed to fracking chemicals. The Halliburton loophole protects manufacturers of fracking fluid from needing to disclose the names and quantities of the chemicals they use. Act 13 now allows physicians to get that information, but only if they take the time in what could be an emergent situation go through the bureaucratic hoop of signing the non-disclosure agreement, which will then prevent that physician from sharing with colleagues information that could save lives.
Our letter asks you to reconsider the Impact Fee and consider, instead, taking action to protect Berks County from drilling. Even though a lot has changed since Wednesday, our requests are still the same. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the issues surrounding drilling and Act 13 in better detail. For instance, the greater and more immediate threat to Berks County is what Act 13 refers to as drilling operations, not drilling per se. Act 13 strips local government of control over all drilling operations, including the laying of pipeline and other operations that take place hundreds of miles from the nearest well pad. The provisions of Act 13 would allow a pipeline to be laid 300 feet from an elementary school, down Main Street, or down your street. It’s a bad law that we need to challenge, not concede to.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or if you’d like me to meet with you.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Karen Feridun
Founder, Berks Gas Truth
Clearly these commissioners do not know as much as they need to know to be making decisions like this. Thanks for keeping them informed, KAren.