John Arway and drilling

[timmyt]

we have no recourse through the political process, unless we want to wait 4 years like you say. They will have the next person paid off by the time he/she gets to office anyway, things like this need to be handled by the people, en masse, and on our own terms. Right now, these drillers or whoever the companies involved are, they have nothing to fear, they are above the law and just do what they want. They need to fear the people and understand that the public isn't going to put up with it...

 

[RyanR]

I'd just like to comment that the poster(s) insinuating or accusing John Arway of being paid off or doing anything untoward or unethical lik that should either produce proof NOW or apologize. A lot of assumptions being made on the decision from some that haven't even read the link for his Straight Talk explaining the decision. One misconception I read here that should be cleared up: no drilling sites are being approved on PFBC property.

It's not selling out either. Despite real funding issues the PFBC is doing all it can (with little real help from DEP) to protect our waterways and try to ensure that this gas extraction is done with some oversight checks and balances. By joining in the overall process, instead of thumbing its nose at inevitability, Arway and the PFBC leadership are trying to have more say and involvement in monitoring and controlling the process as well as gain compensation for use of its resources. That additional income will also allow them to increase its monitoring efforts as well as its abilty to acquire more public waterway land & access. The PGC recently announced it is using large portions of its additional $11 million in income from gas extraction to purchase more State Gamelands properties.

 

[Stone_Fly]

timmyt, it is the nature of the drilling that allows the drillers to drill under the PFBC land. They drill down thousands of feet and then they drill horizontally in a sort of spider web pattern. That is how they get under PFBC land State Forest Land and PGC land, as well as private property.

 

[JF_]

ryanr,
good post....
John

 

[Chaz]

PSH, you actually did suggest personal gain.
"He is taking money from the folks he is supposed to monitor. If nothing else, this is a huge conflict of interest."

 

[PSH]

Chaz - By stating that Arway is taking money from the folks he is supposed to monitor, I mean that he is taking money for the PFBC, not personally. His personal gain is keeping his job, as Arway himself referred to in the article.

RyanR - Is it unethical for a regulatory entity such as the PFBC to engage in a business relationship with the companies it is supposed to regulate? Absolutely.

 

[RyanR]

PSH wrote:
Chaz - By stating that Arway is taking money from the folks he is supposed to monitor, I mean that he is taking money for the PFBC, not personally. His personal gain is keeping his job, as Arway himself referred to in the article.

RyanR - Is it unethical for a regulatory entity such as the PFBC to engage in a business relationship with the companies it is supposed to regulate? Absolutely.

OK, if you feel so strongly about that, I'm curious why you don't seem to criticize the PGC or the DEP? I have no problem saying that from my direct experience with certain DEP mining personnel on the Bushkill Creek that my honest feeling is that they act much more like spokesmen for the very businesses they are supposed to be regulating. I'd also argue the that DEP has much greater regulatory authority over natural gas drilling than the PFBC does.

Agencies and businesses egange in business relationships many times. For instance, private timber companies pay fees to harvest timber on state and national forest land. That harvest is regulated as well. Arway and the PFBC have been careful to disclose this future business relationship to the public. I just don't see the great conflict of interest here, PFBC isn't lobbying on behalf of these companies and will be able to have control over the activities involving PFBC property.

Upon first hearing it, I too was skeptical to say the least, but upon reading Arway's explanation into the decision I found the parameters he laid out to be acceptable.

 

[Stone_Fly]

PSH, Some people just don't get it, read the article!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RLeep2]

>>my honest feeling is that they act much more like spokesmen for the very businesses they are supposed to be regulating.>>

The feeling, in this case, is almost certainly the reality as well. At both the Federal and State levels, there is a revolving door of sorts where depending on who holds political power, a lot of the people who regulate the industries are the same folks who used to work in the industry in question. And vice versa. This makes a certain amount of pragmatic sense, but it also tends to color the regulatory decisions to a degree.

Someone said above that Arway is acting in the manner that his "boss" (ostensibly the Governor) wants him to act. I find this fallacious. The ED of the PF&BC is not a direct report to anybody in Commonwealth government. He is chosen by and is a direct report to and serves at the pleasure of the Commissioners. The governor has the power to set his compensation, but so far as I am aware, he cannot fire him or otherwise exercise the sort of control or discipline that is a normal part of the employee/employer relationship.

Or so my understanding of the thing goes.

In any event, my confidence in John is rooted in having known him for a long time and observing him in the various positions he has held with the Commission. If he is in this for any other reason than what he stated in his Angler column or for personal gain at the expense of PA's aquatic resources, everybody better go out and buy a Kevlar reinforced umbrella because all the flying pigs are going to make it dangerous to be outside, especially at low light periods like when the sun comes up in the West....