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Corbett Administration Still "Considering" Additional Forest Leasing

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

A drilling rig in the Tioga State Forest


Earlier this month, we took a look at drilling in state forests, and whether or not the Corbett Administration would expand drilling’s footprint beyond the 700,000 acres of state-owned land already leased out for natural gas exploration.
In today’s Tribune-Review, a spokesman for the Governor Corbett says the Republican is still weighing the idea.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration in Harrisburg is considering leasing more state land, though there are no firm plans at the moment, said Corbett spokesman Eric Shirk.

“The January 2010 lease sale under former Sec. (John) Quigley included 18,000 acres of ecologically sensitive wild and natural areas which can only be accessed underground and which brought in $128 million for taxpayers,” wrote Patrick Henderson, Gov. Corbett’s energy executive, in e-mailed comments. “Done correctly, it is possible to develop our commonwealth’s natural resources while ensuring the protection of our public lands.”

This summer, Corbett’s Community and Economic Development Secretary, Alan Walker, suggested additional leasing would “solve just about every economic problem [Pennylvania has.]”

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