Nonsurface drilling on state lands in Pennsylvania could spur hundreds of millions in royalties

By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square

HARRISBURG, PA – A Pennsylvania House Republican wants to end the state’s moratorium on oil and natural gas leases on state-owned land, as a matter of foreign policy and of solving some of the state’s economic issues.
“I’m looking for ways to say, ‘Hey, what can we do in Pennsylvania to stop buying gas from people who absolutely hate us?’” said Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro.

Owlett’s proposed HB2461 would allow oil and natural gas development on state forest and park property for nonsurface drilling. Essentially, well sites outside state-owned land could drill horizontally for natural resources without building new well pads on state property, subject to approval from the secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The secretary would have 60 days to approve or deny a lease.

Owlett argued that allowing drilling would be more environmentally friendly than in the past, given better data and technological improvements.

“We’ve learned a lot since 2010 and we know where the gas is at – the technology has gone in an amazing way that we can access vast amounts of those resources without even touching foot on state property,” Owlett said.

Initial lease payments from expanding nonsurfacing drilling, Owlett said, could be as much as tens of millions of dollars, and royalties over a decade could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. That money could fund DCNR projects, such as stream bank restoration, he said.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has been opposed to expansion. In 2015, he signed an executive order placing a moratorium on new leases. During budget hearings, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources dismissed the idea of more leases as unnecessary and said a majority of land already permitted has not been developed.

Owlett acknowledged the administration’s stance, but argued that the change would be strategic and limited.
“I tried to check so many boxes in this legislation to try to get the governor to be a yes,” he said. “There’s not a lot of land, but there’s definitely acres out there that would make a whole lot of sense to do that to right now.”