A new Pennsylvania DCNR shale gas report re-ups conclusions from four years ago and blows a ship-sinking hole through the DRBC fracking ban justification hull.

Good news is hard to hide, even for Wolf Administration folks committed to supporting the governor’s DRBC fracking ban. A new DCNR shale gas report uses 202 pages to lay out how shale gas development on state lands has been managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. They have to love it because oil and gas leases have provided over $1.1 billion to the Commonwealth and funded many of the land acquisitions they’ve made. But, bragging about it in an administration committed to the DRBC fracking ban requires some real parsing of words, of course. That’s why the good news—the only news that matters—does not appear until page 6, but it’s a huge torpedo through the hull of the DRBC fracking ship.

Here’s the DRBC shale gas report with the relevant portions highlighted and here are the key excerpts (emphasis added):

• Water chemistry analysis from continuous water monitoring and the widespread monitoring efforts do not suggest that at the monitored sites, shale gas development has impacted water quality.
• Over 85 percent of streams in the core gas forest districts are classified as Exceptional Value (EV) or High Quality (HQ).

Read more:

http://naturalgasnow.org/dcnr-shale-gas-report-blows-another-hole-in-drbc-fracking-ban/