PennFuture Responds To Walker's Forest Comments

More environmentalist outrage over Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Alan Walker’s call for increased drilling in state forests. PennFuture president and CEO suggests it “may be the most irresponsible proposal by a public official in decades,” in the following press release.
Harrisburg, PA (August 16, 2011) – Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) called on Governor Tom Corbett to repudiate the comments by Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker, who, in an interview with Capitolwire, called for increased Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania’s state forests, claiming the leases would bring in $60 billon and “solve just about every economic problem we have.”
“This may be the most irresponsible proposal by a public official in decades,” said Jan Jarrett, PennFuture’s president and CEO. “It would destroy our forests, converting them into large industrial wastelands. It would destroy our forest economy, which is responsible for 3,000 companies across the state employing 90,000 Pennsylvanians, meeting the $5 billion demand for our state-certified sustainably grown timber. And it would gut our $33 billion tourism economy. We might as well change the name of the state from Pennsylvania to Pennswasteland.

“Nearly half of the state forests overlaying the Marcellus Shale formation is already being leased, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources two-year study reported that any more leases would jeopardize the ecological integrity of the forests,” continued Jarrett. “Walker’s plan would mean destruction of the forests for decades or even centuries. Pennsylvania did that once with massive clear cutting that benefited only the timber industry – we simply cannot repeat that history to enrich the multi-national oil and gas industry.
“Last week, Governor Corbett took a well publicized three-day kayak ride and tour of our Endless Mountains region, praising the natural beauty and urging tourists to visit our forests and streams,” continued Jarrett. “But if his DCED Secretary has his way, tourists will only find massive industrial operations — well pads, roads and gathering lines and pipelines and compressor stations , staging areas for equipment, water impoundments of several acres or more. We are calling on Governor Corbett to immediately repudiate the comments by his appointee, and take all necessary action to make sure that this devastating proposal is buried once and for all.”

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