The Marcellus Gas is the future of Clearfield County.We only have to look to our past. Prosperity and wealth for all of our citizens has come from timber and then coal and clay. The towns that were built, the industries that came and went and the ones that still employ today directly or indirectly can attribute their existence to the extraction of natural resources.
The “new economy” did not treat us well, for the most part, it passed us by. No one dropped an Intel plant or Microsoft lab in our back yard. The 80’s, 90’s,and 2000’s, as coal became over-regulated and reserves diminished, have subjected us to levels of unemployment and wage stagnation that if they had occurred on a national level would have brought an unprecedented response from our State and Federal government. While the national “Great Recession” is in it’s third year, our Great Recession has lasted 30.
Finally, Clearfield County gets a break. We get a chance for revitalization, a chance for our children to have a better life and live in our community . Where is our unprecedented response from the State and Federal Government ? How about Cap and Trade. How about a debate about a severance tax that has less to do with our safety and the progression of this industry and more to do with patching holes in Harrisburg’s budget.
Our debate needs to be a constructive one:
1. The funding of facilities employing the best available technologies to reclaim the water after fracking.
2. Standardized engineering standards for well encasement through the water aquifer.
3. World class training for drill site personnel and first responders.( Clearfield County would be an ideal location for these training facilities.)
Cooperation and funding from government and the dispensing of trade secrets on environmental concerns from the drilling industry would be a beginning.
Coal, Timber and Natural Gas are our past and our future. Our children deserve our best efforts.
Joan Robinson McMillen
Clearfield County Commissioner
Joan Robinson McMillen
