August 16, 2011 01:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time 

HARRISBURG, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) called on Governor Tom
Corbett to repudiate the comments by Department of Community and
Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker, who, in an interview with Capitolwire,
called for increased Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania’s state
forests, claiming the leases would bring in $ 60 billion and “solve just
about every economic problem we have.”

“Last week, Governor Corbett took a well publicized three-day kayak ride
and tour of our Endless Mountains region, praising the natural beauty
and urging tourists to visit our forests and streams”

“This may be the most irresponsible proposal by a public official in
decades,” said Jan Jarrett, PennFuture’s president and CEO. “It would
destroy our forests, converting them into large industrial wastelands.
It would destroy our forest economy, which is responsible for 3,000
companies across the state employing 90,000 Pennsylvanians, meeting the
$ 5 billion demand for our state-certified sustainably grown timber. And
it would gut our $ 33 billion tourism economy. We might as well change
the name of the state from Pennsylvania to Pennswasteland.

“Nearly half of the state forests overlaying the Marcellus Shale
formation is already being leased, and the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources’ two-year study reported that any more leases
would jeopardize the ecological integrity of the forests,” continued
Jarrett. “Walker’s plan would mean destruction of the forests for
decades or even centuries. Pennsylvania did that once with massive clear
cutting that benefited only the timber industry – we simply cannot
repeat that history to enrich the multi-national oil and gas industry.

“Last week, Governor Corbett took a well publicized three-day kayak ride
and tour of our Endless Mountains region, praising the natural beauty
and urging tourists to visit our forests and streams,” continued
Jarrett. “But if his DCED Secretary has his way, tourists will only find
massive industrial operations — well pads, roads and gathering lines and
pipelines and compressor stations, and staging areas for equipment,
water impoundments of several acres or more. We are calling on Governor
Corbett to immediately repudiate the comments by his appointee, and take
all necessary action to make sure that this devastating proposal is
buried once and for all.”

PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization,
founded in 1998. PennFuture’s activities include litigating cases before
regulatory bodies and in local, state and federal courts, advocating and
advancing legislative action on a state and federal level, public
education and assisting citizens in public advocacy.

Working from the premise that “Every environmental victory grows the
economy,” PennFuture has successfully advocated for landmark
environmental legislation, including passage of the largest-ever
environmental funding bond, public investment in green energy and energy
savings programs, passage of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards
Act, adoption of the Clean Vehicles Program and adoption of a regulation
that protects Pennsylvania’s babies by restricting mercury pollution
from coal-fired power plants. PennFuture has staff throughout the state,
in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Wilkes-Barre. The
Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the “state’s leading
environmental advocacy organization,” and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named
the organization “one of the ten most influential groups on the issue of
natural gas drilling.”

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