Democrats square off over call for fracking moratorium in Pennsylvania

natural gas extraction

A worker connects a hose to a truck to collect foam from a drill pit used in a Rice Energy Marcellus Shale drilling rig in Lone Pine, Pa.

(AP File Photo )

An internal party disagreement over fracking is bubbling up and pitting the Pennsylvania Democratic state committee against many of its own elected officials – and possibly even President Barack Obama.

Battle lines were drawn in June when the state committee passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking until health and environmental concerns in the state are more clearly addressed. Though the resolution was little more than a position statement, debate over it was intense and emotional.

Opponents of the Democratic state committee resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking say the proponents were environmentalists from the southeastern part of the state - far from where shale drilling is taking place.

But the 115-81 vote didn't put an end to the debate, and emotions continued to run high among commonwealth Democrats.

Two of the seven declared Democratic gubernatorial candidates – U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz and former Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty – criticized the moratorium.

Another gubernatorial candidate and former DEP Secretary John Hanger conditionally opposed it, saying state forests, parks and public lands should be exempt from fracking.

Even former Gov. Ed Rendell, one of the nation's preeminent Democrats, condemned the resolution as "very ill-advised."

Inter-party dissension over the controversial vote continued last month with 19 state House Democrats – many of whom from the fracking region – signing a letter to state party Chairman Jim Burn that called the resolution “short sighted.”

And earlier this month eight Senate Democrats weighed in with their own letter to Burn saying they were “dumfounded” by the resolution and urged him to “re-examine” the issue.

Tim Solobay, a Washington County state senator who helped draft the Senate letter, worried that the resolution sent the wrong message about Democrats.

“It says to the industry that Democrats as a whole are opposed to everything that's going on and that's not true,” Solobay said.

“I'd like to see that [a repeal of the resolution] happen,” he added, though not a state committee member. “I don't know if it'd be too little too late. But it was upsetting to a lot of the folks that understand the industry and know that some of the basis of their vote was not accurate.”

A state party spokesman said Burn acknowledges the “contentious” nature of the issue. But rather than address the debate, the chairman sought to deflect responsibility of the internal Democratic dispute to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett – a strong proponent of fracking.

“We will continue to hear input from all sides,” Burn said in the statement. “One thing is for certain, these actions are a direct result of Gov. Tom Corbett looking out for his donors instead of the people of Pennsylvania.”

Burn will next preside over a state committee meeting Sept. 27 in Valley Forge.

But the divisive party squabble may garner greater significance before commonwealth Democrats can take it up again.

President Obama, who has talked up natural gas in recent weeks, will visit Scranton Friday.

"We've got to tap into this natural gas revolution that's bringing energy costs down in this country," he said in a July 25 address in Jacksonville, Fla.

The president used similar language during his State of the Union address in February.

“The natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence,” he said before Congress. “We need to encourage that. And that’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That’s got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan.”

Any such references during his bus tour through the state would place the leader of the Democratic Party in direct opposition to the Pennsylvania state committee. And that has some Democrats concerned.

“It would be wrong for us to be in opposition to our president who is trying very hard to lead this country out of the biggest economic crisis since the Depression,” said Dauphin County party Chairwoman Marilyn Levin, who voted against the resolution.

“We [Democrats] don't walk lockstep, but the president has the finest minds in the country studying this and advising him more than we have here, and I would take his lead on this issue,” Levin added.

York County Chairman Bob Kefauver, who also voted against the resolution, said the ongoing disagreement has left the state committee in “a very awkward situation.”

“The party was overstepping its' place because it puts us at odds with some of our own elected officials,” Kefauver said of the resolution. “In my mind that's not why a party organization exists.”

State Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, signed the House letter to Burn, but was not concerned that the public difference would damage the party.

“We're Democrats, you know,” Sturla said before also slighting Republicans.

“But all those [Democrat] positions are more reasonable than 'Hey, come take our gas and by the way, we don't care if you don't clean things up,' which has pretty much been the Republican take on this,” he added.

Other Democrats acknowledged that the rift could provide ammunition to their political rivals.

“Taking a stand in an area like this where the state party and the [House] members are so divided certainly creates some confusion among the public, and that's something that we need to try to avoid,” said state Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-Beaver County.

Added state Rep. Marc Gergely, D- Allegheny County: “They [Republicans] could use it as ammunition if they saw fit, but I don't think they have any room to.”

None of the lawmakers quoted in this report said they'd been contacted by Burn regarding the letters.

But most said any settlement of the flap will have to address a regional and ideological schism in the party that was manifested in the moratorium vote.

The push for the resolution came from environmentalists in the southeastern part of the state, moratorium opponents said, while many of the state committee members who argued against the resolution were from the fracking region.

Gergely, who was the principle author of the House letter, said the disagreement could grow larger if party leaders don't address the regional and ideological rift.

“It is a big issue for many of us and it will continue to grow if this is the direction they [the party's environmentalist wing] try to take our party,” he said. “It's pretty disappointing that the southeast would use the weight of their vote tell us what to do and push through this vote.”

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