CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Soaring natural gas prices have spurred a land rush for gas drilling rights that has mesmerized much of Pennsylvania. In a time of budget woes, rising unemployment and pinched pocketbooks, increased gas exploration offers a welcomed bit of good economic news.

But unless Pennsylvania acts creatively now, the benefits may be restricted to a few thousand individual landowners and a temporary workforce while the costs will be borne by a much wider community.

Consider the experience of western Colorado, which has witnessed a similar rush to drill beginning in 2003. Gas companies have been drilling wells and laying pipeline to extract the Piceance Basin’s 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. Western Colorado communities are suffering the costs of the drilling boom, but have prepared for a future without industry.

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