Energy Firms, Ecologists Form Unlikely Alliances
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
8 April 2012
By Erich Schwartzel
Chesapeake Energy hustled a tree clearing in Beaver County last
month before an eight-month moratorium went into effect so Indiana
bats could hibernate in peace.
The Indiana bat weighs less than an ounce and is so small it is
able to nest in the spaces between a tree trunk and its rotting
bark.
It can also do what class-action lawsuits and full-throated
protesters haven't been able to: stop Marcellus Shale drilling.
Energy firms are quizzed daily on their industry's impact on air
and water used by humans, but the companies' rapid development
must also take into account less sentient creatures.
Does that Greene County property sit atop bountiful shale gas
reserves? Better make sure the endangered shortnose sturgeon
doesn't swim in a nearby stream. Think that pasture would make a
great place to lay pipeline? Check for the beleaguered snow
trillium first.
Tracking Pennsylvania farmland for sensitive communities is part
of the state permitting process for a Marcellus well, and it has
fueled a cottage industry of ecological consultants trolling the
hills for threatened wildlife and foliage to help companies avoid
costly fines. The inspection process, which sometimes takes longer
than actual drilling, has inspired some unlikely partnerships
between gas firms drilling underground and the advocates
interested in the life that's above it.
Legless creatures have long brought powerful industries to their
knees. Take the snail darter. In 1973, the discovery of the paper
clip-sized fish slowed construction of a Little Tennessee River
dam, inspiring Congressional infighting and eventually forcing a
Supreme Court decision that temporarily halted construction.
Forget worries about lease expirations. Chesapeake Energy hustled
to complete a tree clearing in Beaver County last month before an
eight-month moratorium went into effect allowing the Indiana bats
to hibernate in peace. The Oklahoma City driller filed an
injunction in district court forcing the tree-clearing to make the
hibernation deadline or risk having to renegotiate the area's
leases.
"The activity, as everyone knows, is quite fast-paced at the
moment," said Mark A. Dilley, the founder and co-owner of MAD
Scientist & Associates LLC, an ecological consulting business
in Westerville, Ohio, that's worked with engineering firms on deep
shale wells.
"They're looking to get the wells up, and that drives quick
turnaround," he said.
Companies surveying a particular plot of land look the region up
in the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory, which highlights
threatened and endangered species in any given area. It's one of
the first steps in preparing a well permit that's submitted to the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Companies have to work directly with the DEP on development
greater than 5,160 acres or 2.8 miles in length, said Dan Maltese,
vice president of ecological services at Robinson-based Civil
& Environmental Consultants Inc. Shale gas operations comprise
about 10 to 15 percent of the firm's business, and have helped it
add about 50 people to the Pittsburgh office of 200 workers in the
past few years.
Its clients include the area's dominant driller, Range Resources,
which said its plans for drilling need to be revised for habitat
concerns about 5 percent of the time.
The company employs a forester to lead the effort, and many
companies have biologists on staff to inspect proposed sites and
search for signs of life.
Field surveyors don't need to spot the actual animal -- just
having a habitat conducive to that animal is enough to preclude
drilling.
Trees with shredded bark are a summer roosting habitat for the
Indiana bat, for example. "If that habitat exists, you have to
assume that the bat could occur in that area," Mr. Dilley said.
Ecological surveying -- which usually includes searching for bats,
wetlands and mussels -- and permitting takes about nine months for
a Marcellus well. That's about three times longer than it takes to
build and drill the well, said Katharine Fredriksen, the senior
vice president for environmental strategy and regulatory affairs
at Cecil-based Consol Energy.
After the well has been drilled and fracked, Consol Energy and
other companies must reclaim the site and have the new vegetation
inspected by the DEP. In Consol's case, the firm places a bond on
the well site that isn't released until the DEP approves the
reclamation.
In another testament to the divided world of shale drilling, what
one party sees as environmental destruction is read by another as
habitat rebirth.
The Ruffed Grouse Society, headquartered in Coraopolis, advocates
for strategic tree clearing so patches of "young" forest with
small trees can populate with creatures that need an
underdeveloped habitat.
Since drilling operations sometimes need to clear established
trees for a rig, the Ruffed Grouse Society sees the development as
an opportunity to introduce young forest to regions where trees
stand tall and old.
Though the organization's initial emphasis was on "the ruffed
grouse and its sidekick, the woodcock," said its president,
Michael Zagata, its mission has expanded to protect all woodland
creatures who need young forest with small trees and little
vegetation.
It's a class that includes 43 kinds of songbirds; plants that
don't handle shade, such as the beech and hemlock; and the
organization's namesake, which is Pennsylvania's official state
bird.
This region has too many trees for certain kinds of wildlife, said
Mr. Zagata, who worked as an executive in oil companies and served
as commissioner of New York's Department of Environmental
Conservation under Republican Gov. George Pataki.
"Of course, it's beautiful in the fall, but if you're one of those
wildlife species that need the young forest, then you've been
evicted from your home or your habitat," he said.
Consol is strategically developing 12,000 acres of southwestern
Pennsylvania land to work with the priorities of the Ruffed Grouse
Society.
The society, in turn, manages the land for Consol and recovers
part of the costs through some of the wood that's harvested.
Hopefully, the ruffed grouse follows.
Erich Schwartzel: eschwartzel@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.