Apr 18, 2013 4 min read

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MEADOW LANDS – Congressman Tim Murphy took an environmental message to his audience April 5, despite the fact that it included employees and supply chain partners of one of the country’s prominent energy producers.

Speaking before more than 200 people attending Consol Energy Inc.’s 2013 Core Values Summit at the Doubletree Hotel on Racetrack Road, Murphy stressed that energy companies like Consol must practice zero tolerance for mistakes or accidents that could impair or even end their ability to do business.

The summit provides an opportunity for the company, which produces coal and natural gas, to provide an overview of market conditions, and allow for a candid exchange of ideas and suggestions for improvement in safety, compliance and continuous improvement from the service providers and the end users.

Murphy, R-18th District, who is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the natural gas caucus, applauded the company for driving home its messages on safety and continuous improvement but focused his talk on compliance and the necessity for everyone involved to work for the total elimination of mistakes where regulatory compliance is concerned.

The reason, he said, is that while companies can control or adjust to factors like product competition or market saturation, when it comes to government and policies, “it’s out of your control.”

When it comes to drilling for natural gas, he said, drillers can’t dump fracking water into water treatment facilities or put bad seals on drill casings, not just because the actions are regulated, but also because by failing to comply, they run the risk of causing more regulations to be written or even to lose the ability to produce natural gas.

“What (needs to happen) on a mine or drill site is the goal of zero mistakes,” he said, because “what you do that becomes a critical mistake or an accident might be part of what ends the industry.

“Please make sure all of your employees understand … you have to articulate the highest standards of anybody else,” he added.

To drive home his point, Murphy described how negative publicity from accidents and mistakes is impacting the thinking of European countries that have discovered their own shale gas reserves but are reluctant to tap into them.

He noted that Ireland, which has been struggling economically, has shale reserves, “but I don’t know if they’re going to go for it because of the problems they’ve seen in the Marcellus Shale.”

He noted that in a recent meeting he and other congressmen had with members of Germany’s Bundestag, the German lawmakers said they didn’t want to tap shale reserves “because they said it would set water on fire.”

When the members of Congess asked where the German lawmakers had heard about it, Murphy said their response was they had seen it on YouTube.

Murphy said he supports new regulations and rules in the natural resources extraction industry if they are based on scientific fact.

“I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. I want to know it all,” he said.

But often, those in government who are charged with providing information that goes into policy-making “are polling for votes versus trolling for facts,” he said.

Following his remarks, Murphy told a reporter that he supports the recent announcement by the newly formed Center for Sustainable Shale Development to create certification procedures for drilling companies working in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

The certification procedures were drafted by representatives of major environmental groups and natural gas drilling companies, including Consol, Shell and Chevron.

Murphy said he had recommended a similar initiative for the industry several years ago after seeing a similar effort by the nuclear industry.