Volume 158, No. 9 covering the 2nd Session of the 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE MARCELLUS SHALE CAUCUS: THE POTENTIAL OF NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H108-H112 on Jan. 23, 2012.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE MARCELLUS SHALE CAUCUS: THE POTENTIAL OF NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reed) is recognized for 30 minutes.
Mr. REED. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today with a few of my colleagues to talk about an issue that, I think, could be a game-changer for the United States of America, which is the natural gas development potential that we find in the shale formations throughout the United States.
I have been privileged to cofound the Marcellus Shale Caucus here in the U.S. House of Representatives with my colleague from Pennsylvania, Mark Critz, who will be joining us shortly. The purpose of the caucus is to come at this issue from an objective, scientific, database point of view in order to talk about the pros and cons of natural gas development in America and, in particular, of the Marcellus shale formation, which is located in my district of western New York, throughout Pennsylvania, and in other areas of the Northeast.
One of the things we wanted to highlight today is the indirect benefits that natural gas development will have on our country and probably most importantly from an economic point of view at this time when we face in our Nation's history some of the most enduring and high levels of unemployment we have ever seen.
What we are fundamentally talking about are jobs, not only the jobs related to extracting the natural gas, itself, and laying the pipeline to transport that natural gas to its markets, but the jobs that come as a result of the indirect benefits of that natural gas production. What I and my colleagues are, hopefully, going to talk about tonight are things like the benefits to the public local municipalities with regard to the tax base, road construction and the improvements of the road structures that are located within the areas upon which natural gas development is occurring as a result of the shale formations.
Through these conversations, I think that we will be able to establish that the benefits of extracting natural gas in America will be that game-changing event when it comes to domestic supplies of energy that come from American sources--an event we have never seen before in our lifetimes or potentially in the lifetimes of our children. So I would like to preface this entire conversation by laying some preliminary remarks based upon some concerns that have been raised as to natural gas development in America.
I travel my district. I go to many town hall meetings and get out in front of the people. At times, this issue can become sensitive in the sense of the environmental concerns that are raised. I have always taken the position that this issue should only be dealt with when we can establish that natural gas exploration and development in America can be done in a safe, clean, responsible manner. That's why, tonight, I am going to read some quotes to you, Mr. Speaker, and to those who may be tuning in and watching this conversation, because there has been a lot of discussion about the potential threat to our aquifers and to our water supplies as a result of hydrofracking and natural gas development out of the shale and tight sand formations. For the record, I would just like to quote some of our leading environmental government officials in America:
``When it comes to natural gas development, the key is to make sure that we say, 'Engineers, make sure we do it safely, without harming water supplies,' and I think we're well on the way. On chemicals, we don't have data that shows those chemicals showing up in someone's well. Over time, that may not be a true statement. Unless there's a problem with well construction, hydrofracking chemicals shouldn't end up in aquifers,'' Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA for the United States of America, October 14, 2011.
``I'm not aware of any proven case where the fracking process, itself, has affected water, although there are investigations ongoing,'' Lisa Jackson, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency for the United States of America, May 24, 2011.
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You know, these are comments coming from our EPA Director, but then there's comments like, ``With respect to hydraulic (fracturing), because it occurs so far underground, we don't know any examples of
(contamination) on public lands. But it demonstrates the importance of ensuring we have wellbore integrity up and down the entire wellbore.'' That's our Interior Secretary, Kenneth Salazar, testifying to the House Natural Resources Committee on November 16, 2011.
I read these quotes to tell the American people and to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that the concern about the environmental impacts to our aquifers, though legitimate, I think have been fully vetted and have had a long, serious, scientific review and approach in determining that risk is not what many people in America are making it out to be. And again I reiterate my position on this matter, that we need to look at this resource through the economic opportunity that it represents to us in our districts, in our homes, but to us as a Nation.
And we have to look at this economic opportunity and this natural resource potential based on making sure that it is done in a safe and reliable way, but we also have to look at it from a third point of view, and that is the national security implications of tapping this domestic supply of energy. Natural gas and oils are now being found all throughout America. They are also being found right here in the United States of America in the shale formation such as the Marcellus shale, the Utica shale formation, and also the tight sands formations that exist here in our Nation.
I don't think I have to speak long or hard to the American people or to you, Mr. Speaker, to explain what impact that would have on our national security. If we can establish an energy supply such that is estimated to be under our own ground in natural gas and oil, we will not be sending millions of billions, if not trillions of dollars, to people in the Middle East who have publicly declared that we are enemy number one. I think this is good public policy to promote.
On the indirect benefits, I just want to highlight three examples of people that are benefiting from this from my district.
Now in New York in the 29th Congressional District, we have not had any development in the Marcellus shale on a recent basis because of the moratorium in the Department of Environmental Conservation on the State level coming up with the regulations to ensure that this is done safely and responsibly. But I have the privilege of representing a district that's just adjacent to the northern tier of Pennsylvania, adjacent to my good friend, GT Thompson of Pennsylvania, who will speak shortly, where we have had a spillover effect of economic opportunity to the district.
I could talk to you about Dalrymple Holdings, it's a long, family-
held company right outside of my hometown of Corning, New York, that has been involved in highway infrastructure construction in Chemung County for years and counties surrounding it. But now they've expanded beyond. The business has seen a tangible impact from the development across the border.
Mr. Dalrymple has reported to me that he has undertaken contracts for total construction of 65 miles of rural roads, a value over $22 million of road construction being fully funded by private investment. Let me stress that again, Mr. Speaker, $22 million of private dollars going into road construction upon which Mr. Dalrymple and his company have benefited.
Now, it's not just Mr. Dalrymple. I know this man, he's a good man, and in that $22 million worth of additional investment in his company and in the projects that it represents, he has been able to create and hire over 60 new men and women averaging $40 per hour to his business to fulfill those contracts. Those are 60 families that now benefit directly as a result of this development occurring in the northern tier of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Dalrymple and I share a common background in the sense of he's a small business owner, I was a small business owner before I came here to Congress. And I could tell you there is nothing, nothing like looking at a man or a woman when you hire them and bring them into your business, and you put them to work.
When you have sat in that position, you know when you look at that person you're not just benefiting that person, that person becomes part of your family as a small business owner, and you're taking care of him or her, but you're also taking care of his family, his children by putting food on their table, by providing extra dollars for their children and their education. That is the American ideal. That's the American Dream, just to give someone the opportunity to go to work to take care of their families.
And I also will bring to the record tonight a story of our local dry cleaning company. I could not believe it, Mr. Speaker. I went over to pick up the family dry cleaning, and I was talking to Rick over in Painted Post, New York, just adjacent to my hometown of Corning. And he said, Tom, come back here, I want to show you something.
And we went into his back room and he showed me piles of uniforms that were used by industrial workers, by the workers on the fields in the northern tier of Pennsylvania. He related to me that he was adding an additional $5,000-plus revenue to his business coffers every month. He talked about how he was able to give bonuses to his employees because of that new opportunity. He was another small business owner that knew what it was to take care of not only his employees, but their families and to have them share in the rewards of the hard work that they put together in that dry cleaning operation.
Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if we don't talk a little bit about the public benefits that have been brought to my attention. You know, I look to our county executive in Chemung County, adjacent to my home county of Steuben County, and I see that his county, a small geographical county, mind you, is leading New York State in sales tax growth. He's leading New York State in hotel tax revenue increases--a small county leading the great Empire State of New York by what is going on in the northern tier of Pennsylvania.
And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you the story when I spent the day down in the northern tier of Pennsylvania and met with the commissioners of Bradford County and they told me about the history of their tax sales. You know these sales, Mr. Speaker, these are the sales of people who cannot pay their real property tax bill, lose their property at an auction.
I've been to those auctions. I've looked at families that have lost their property because they couldn't pay the tax bill. Well, in Bradford County, I believe in my friend's district, Mr. Thompson, they used to have sales of 100, 150 parcels is my understanding. I know we have had them in Steuben County and Chemung County in New York--and guess how many parcels went up for tax sale in the last year or two? Essentially zero, maybe one or two over those 2-year periods. That is a fundamental shift in what is going on in our part of the country, and hopefully it could be shared across America.
And as that one commissioner told me as we talked about some of the concerns and issues that have to be dealt with, and traffic is always a concern that is raised, he said I'd much rather see traffic lines in my home county than unemployment lines. And I, when I heard that line, I said, Doug, that is exactly what we're talking about. As a commissioner of Bradford County, you nailed it right on the head, and that we are talking about creating traffic lines of economic opportunity and development for generations of Americans rather than compounding and growing unemployment lines.
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And so we will come at this issue of making sure that it is a clean and safe resource that is developed, but let us focus and join hands in bringing this opportunity for America forward.
My colleague from Pennsylvania has joined us. Mr. Thompson, if you would like to comment, I yield to you.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Thank you for leading this Special Order on natural gas and its benefits. And thanks for your leadership on the Marcellus Shale Caucus. With natural gas, everybody wins. I am very proud to be a member of the Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Caucus. And I appreciate Mr. Reed, my good friend from just north of me in New York, acknowledging that good stewardship and good science is important. And we have both when it comes to natural gas. This is not 50, 60 years ago when we were extracting coal. This is 2012, where we have and we benefit from great science, and we know that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the environment. I appreciate that acknowledgment.
I represent Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District. There are 17 counties that I serve, and that's 22 percent of the land mass of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, 15 of my 17 counties have Marcellus shale, and I give thanks for many blessings that God has provided me in my life, and I thank God for the blessings of this natural gas at this time for our country.
I also benefit from having an institution like Pennsylvania State University, Penn State, in my district, and specifically the ag extension part of that land grant university that has experts that are out in the field helping everyday citizens with decisions about leases, leasing their land, and helping them with issues related to making sure that it is done in a way that represents good stewardship by the companies.
And here is the part I am most excited about: They are also helping them with finding the right kind of counsel for wealth management. That's the kind of problem we like to see our citizens have, a need for wealth management, because there were a lot of farmers who were going out of business. But today, they have a new John Deere tractor sitting there, and largely that is thanks to Marcellus shale. So it's going to be good for agriculture, which is good for all of America in terms of food.
Let me talk about some of the benefits because that's what we're here to focus on. And I want to start with a big one, and that's energy security. Marcellus shale is taking that large valve that controls us, all that oil that we buy from the Middle East, and we're going to be able to shut that thing off because of energy security, moving towards energy independence that natural gas is going to allow this country to have. That's something, whether you're in an area that's blessed with natural gas or not, every citizen in this country should hope and pray and give thanks for the fact that we will move ourselves in the direction of being energy secure, and that natural gas is going to contribute to that significantly.
I want to put that out there. It is the first benefit that absolutely every American, I don't care where they live in this country, is benefiting from natural gas.
Secondly, it really is jobs. I know that is localized to where the jobs occur. I happen to live in an area that has benefited significantly. I represent a very rural part of Pennsylvania, and we've had our difficult times. We have lost industries. But where we have natural gas, we are growing jobs.
Let me just give a couple of examples. In Tioga County there is a manufacturer. Actually, it's an international company. And the international company, the parent company, is looking to expand a plant. Guess where they're looking to? They're looking to Pennsylvania. And they're looking to Tioga County. And a big part of that is manufacturing, a key feedstock ingredient, whether used for heating, processing, or an ingredient, is natural gas. And the price of natural gas being delivered domestically, how it is available, so plentiful and so cheap right now, they want to build and expand the plant right there in Tioga County. That's very exciting. That's jobs.
As I wander around Tioga County, I see help wanted signs everywhere. And it's not just in traditional businesses that you would think of when you think of natural gas. It's all businesses, because the economy is good. The income is up. The unemployment is way below both State and national averages in the counties where the natural gas production has really taken off. And it's moving to other counties.
In terms of jobs, there's an entrepreneur in Elk County who I serve. This is a gentleman who's a real smart businessman. He saw something that these natural gas companies need, and he went out and he created a small manufacturing business to provide it. He's creating jobs, really good jobs for people, skilled jobs in order to produce the supplies that the companies need. And you know what, that's good for everybody. That's Elk County.
In Centre County, my home county, there's a road contractor there. We know that we have a lot of problems with our roads. We're challenged both in the State and Federal budget in terms of money right now. But this road contractor is doing great things, as are a lot of small excavating companies, in terms of pad preparation and paving those roads. You talk about our roads are getting better. The gas companies are investing a significant amount of money early on to build roads, rebuild roads that really have never been built before.
In Pennsylvania we have what's called Pinchot roads, named for a former Governor, that don't have much of a base. So in the spring when the farmers are out there and are running their tractors, they rut up and get muddy. They've never had a firm base. Well, today, those Pinchot roads are being rebuilt really appropriately for the first time. And all of that is driven, that's a secondary benefit of the natural gas opportunity.
If you go to Warren County, we've got a longtime natural gas producer up there. It's a small, independently owned company. They've been in the oil and natural gas business I have to think for decades. Now today, they're partnering with a very large national company, so they're helping to bring outside dollars into the Fifth District of Pennsylvania, and they're creating more jobs.
The growth of the hotels, the hotel industry, is just booming, and those hospitality jobs are great jobs. In Clinton County, closer to my hometown, we have international companies that are relocating to rural Pennsylvania. International companies relocating and creating a significant amount of jobs. It's a very exciting opportunity that we're blessed with today.
I want to talk about heating costs, another benefit. This was two winters ago when the Marcellus was just starting to take off. You know, today, natural gas prices are somewhere in the neighborhood of about
$2.60 for 1,000 cubic feet. Just 3 or 4 years ago, back when we didn't produce domestic natural gas--we imported it all from other countries--
natural gas was somewhere from $12 to $13 per 1,000 cubic feet, or more. And today, it's like $2.60 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Two or three winters ago, the utility in Philadelphia, about as far in Pennsylvania as you can get from where we drill natural gas, reported that the communities in Philadelphia, their home heating costs were at an all-time low. I would argue this winter, if we look in New York and Pennsylvania and all of the areas where, because of natural gas prices today, being domestically produced, those citizens who benefit from heating their homes and cooking with natural gas, their costs in a difficult economy are at an all-time low. That's something that everybody can benefit from.
In fact, one of the projects that I'm trying to work on, I think it is very important, I would like to see how we get those distribution lines for natural gas into more of our communities. My hometown doesn't have natural gas. I would love to be able to heat my home with natural gas, and I would like to at least see what Federal regulations are standing in the way of making that happen. I'm sure there's something out there that's a roadblock that we could work on.
The opportunities that we have today in terms of the benefits from natural gas are significant. They span a lot of different areas. I'm sure there are things that I haven't covered. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for hosting this forum where we're talking about the benefits. These are really benefits that every American can experience as a result of accessing a resource that God has blessed us with.
Mr. REED. I appreciate my colleague from Pennsylvania for joining us here this evening. If I could continue this conversation with you, I'm sure you've done what I have done on numerous times. When I have traveled home, up state Route 15, right through the heart of your district on the way home to Corning, just over the Pennsylvania border, oftentimes I would take a few moments and get off the road and kind of go into the local communities there as we filled up the car or we got a cup of coffee. Most of the time I drive with a staff member who lives in the district, and I'd say: Let's go off road a couple of miles and see what's going on. I could tell you, every time I have pulled into a gas station there, I have been reminded of the benefits of what this can be to a community in that the parking lots are full. I had to wait in line to fill up the car because there's a lot of trucks. There's a lot of workers. There are a lot of folks coming and going out of those convenient marts.
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And some of the most compelling stories I had, I can remember two vividly, coming down the road, pulling off at one of these gas stations and one of these convenience marts and talking to the lady behind the counter. And we did it twice. I can remember vividly saying, what does this mean to you? What's going on here? What's causing all this? Kind of playing dumb, obviously, I had an idea of what was causing it. But in both circumstances, the response was amazing. Yeah, it's not the same community. What they would say is that it wasn't the same community as when I grew up here, but, boy, everyone seems to be doing well. Everybody seems to be happy. And one lady, she expressed the conversation because she was working a side job and her husband was a contractor. And she said, my husband used to get up at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning until this came along, and they were receiving a small check, not a retirement size check as a result of this, but a nice, stable source of additional income coming into their household. And she looked at me and she said, it just kind of takes the edge off. It just kind of took the edge off at the end of the month having to pick and choose what bill they may be able to pay that month and which one they may have to put off for another 30 days.
We've all been there. I know growing up in that type of family and when we first started in our private sector life, my wife and I putting our family business together and struggling. There's a lot of stress at the end of the month. Probably that's why I lost my hair and maybe why you lost your hair. But it was amazing to look that one lady in the eye who said, I just appreciate the fact that he doesn't have to get up at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning anymore, and we've got a little side income that's going to take care of their kids.
That conversation you're not having in America right now in many places, but we're having it in your district. And not so much in our district in the sense because we don't have the natural gas going right now, but we've seen the positive impacts like that. And I don't know if my colleague has any similar stories to those two young ladies that I refer to.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I do. Let me talk about, just out of fairness and equity, two young men, and this was actually published in the local paper. And they were doing a coverage of the Marcellus shale. And I was very impressed with this article because it was two young men who had just graduated from a local high school, actually in Clinton County, not too far off over the line from where I live. And they had decided they were going to go for a little technical training. They were going to go to a community college setting, get a certificate program, basically for driving a truck. And they did that, and then they secured jobs with someone who I assume was hauling sand or hauling water for the Marcellus operations around the area. These young men I have no doubts are today, and fairly fresh out of high school, are earning somewhere in the neighborhood of over $60,000 a year, and probably with overtime a little more. That's a pretty incredible start for a young person.
Because I have to believe that my district, the 22 percent of the landmass of Pennsylvania that I serve is probably a lot like your district that our number one export for many years has been our young people. We educate them, and I like to think we do a good job of that, and they go to where there's opportunity. And there has not been opportunity in our economies, and our areas have been somewhat depressed economically for some time. And today, opportunity has returned. That is what this has been.
And there are jobs sitting open now of all types. And that's the exciting part. When I hear about people that are unemployed--and we have had folks protesting about not having jobs. Well, come to the Fifth District of Pennsylvania. You don't have to work in the natural gas industry, because the natural gas industry they've kind of taken, they've been able to recruit some really good folks out of other positions. Some of those have been retail positions, service positions and manufacturing positions, but now those jobs are sitting open. And that's the effect that this kind of an economic opportunity has.
Mr. REED. And I so appreciate my colleague, and it is the sentiment, and I know our time is winding up. But one thing that also touched me. I've done a few tours in the northern tier of Pennsylvania in your district, and I've gone back on my own to go and verify information that has been presented to me. And I came back at the last, over the recess, over the holiday, I came back, and one thing struck me as I was driving home, and that's when talking about having the ability to educate their grandchildren and the children from these family farms, and I know you've had those conversations, I've had those conversations, we down here in Washington have spent billions if not trillions of dollars of public taxpayer money to try to lift people up out of despair; through the welfare society, entitlement society we have invested billions, trillions of dollars here. And look what happened based on private economic opportunity and development in the northern tier of Pennsylvania. You have generations of families that are now lifting themselves out of poverty and out of conditions that we are spending billions down here, they're doing it on their own, and I think it makes them a stronger individual in our society and it unites families for generations, and it empowers families for generations to control their own destiny. That's what the American Dream is all about.
So I appreciate my colleague joining me this evening and having this conversation. And I so appreciate the invite coming to your district and your coming to my district and our continuing the efforts to educate the American people on the benefits of natural gas development in America, the benefits of Marcellus shale and through the Marcellus Shale Caucus getting the best science and information out to the American people.
With that, I thank my colleague, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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