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Drilling Bills Move Closer To Passage

March 21st, 2012 by WCBC Radio

Maryland wants to set a gold standard for safety to drill for natural gas in western Maryland’s Marcellus shale deposits, which could start as soon as August 2014. The House moved two drilling-related bills closer to passage Monday night. One funds an impact study and the other provides legal recourse to Marylanders if health and property are adversely affected by drilling.  Drilling companies must prove they are innocent if contamination occurs within in a certain time frame and within a certain distance from a drilling rig. The second bill funds a study by the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission paid for by a one-time fee of $15 per acre for leases that were signed between Jan. 1, 2007 and Aug. 1, 2014, when drilling is expected to be approved.  Local officials, state and county, have strongly opposed such delays. They believe that the delays are being pushed for by the extreme element of environmentalists- and is costing the region several years in accessing perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Allegany County Commissioner Creade Brodie dismisses critics who say the water would be contaminated by way of fracking, or drilling…





One Response to “Drilling Bills Move Closer To Passage”

  1. March 21, 2012 at 12:27 pm, Susan Thomas said:

    The “extreme element of environmentalists” that our local officials are referring to are nearly 65% of the population of Garrett/Allegany counties, according to a recent survey. Our local officials continue to misrepresent their constituents in regards to this issue.

    Reply

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