Jul 18, 2013 3 min read

Maybe it is because of all the talk in the news this month about the Battle of Gettysburg, but Gov. Tom Corbett’s recent letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission made me think of Abraham Lincoln.

In the early years of the Civil War, Lincoln made Gen. George B. McClellan the General-in-Chief of all the Union armies. While McClellan was known for his meticulous planning and preparations, Lincoln found him slow to act. McClellan’s problem, it seemed, was that he constantly overestimated the risks his armies faced from the opposing Confederates.

At one point, Lincoln became so exasperated that he met with his other top generals, ordering them to attack, saying, “If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time.”

Apparently Corbett had similar feelings toward the DRBC when he told the commission that he was writing to convey “a profound sense of frustration and disappointment” at the commission’s failure to adopt natural gas development standards for the areas within the river basin.

The DRBC was formed in 1961 as a regional organization with the force of law to oversee a unified approach to managing the Delaware River system, which covers four states: Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The commission has five members, including the governor of each state and a representative from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

For the past three years, the commission has imposed a moratorium on natural gas development within the basin ostensibly while it developed drilling regulations for the region. Although the DRBC published a draft set of regulations in 2010 and made subsequent revisions after receiving public comment, it has taken no final action – meaning that natural gas drilling in 13 Pennsylvania counties and the rest of the basin are at a standstill. And that is the source of the governor’s exasperation.

Not only has the moratorium prohibited Pennsylvanians who live in the basin from enjoying their property rights, “it has depressed economic growth in the region, discouraged the investment of private capital…and reflected poorly on the DRBC’s ability to function effectively.”

The governor has a point.

Pennsylvania has already adopted stringent yet workable rules for the development of its natural gas reserves, particularly those reserves in formations like the Marcellus, which require horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Where such development is proceeding, jobs are being created, taxes generated, and economic activity apparent everywhere you look. Where it is not, these opportunities for growth and development are being missed.

Corbett correctly reminded the commission that Pennsylvania has already passed, in Act 13, significantly enhanced environmental protection standards for gas drilling that included increased well setback distances, expanded protection of surface and groundwater resources, mandatory disclosure of fracking chemicals, mandatory inspection requirements and more. All this was accomplished by the Pennsylvania General Assembly while the DRBC sits on its hands, waiting for more information, and (in McClellan-like fashion) overestimating the risks.

The governor concludes his letter by noting that even if the DRBC finally adopts rules, no member jurisdiction is compelled to permit drilling. Each state retains the right to determine what, if any, development will occur. Other states may wait, but Pennsylvania, says the governor, is ready to act. He seems to be saying, to paraphrase President Lincoln, “If the DRBC does not want to use the resources of the basin, Pennsylvania would like to borrow them for a time.”

Jeff Kotula is president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.