ALTOONA —
The growth of the Marcellus Shale industry in the region is coming about so rapidly it is becoming difficult to keep track, said Brad Beigay, executive director of the Cambria County Planning Commission.
Officials of the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission agree, and hope their latest initiative will help Beigay, planners from Somerset and others, to stay ahead of the natural gas exploration.
“This Marcellus Shale is kind of like a moving target and it’s moving faster every time we look at it,” Beigay said.
The idea is to work with the six-county planning commissions to develop a broad outline of an energy component to the Southern Alleghenies regional comprehensive plans, said Edward Silvetti, executive director of Southern Alleghenies.
While the component would address all forms of energy, the primary focus will be on the natural gas buried deep in the Marcellus Shale.
“This model could then be tailored on a county specific basis and would better enable a locally-driven response to impacts as a result of Marcellus Shale activities, as well as other growing energy-related industries,” Silvetti said.
The ultimate shape of the component will be discussed Friday, when planning directors will be briefed during a session of the planning advisory committee at the Southern Alleghenies headquarters in Altoona.
“We have some money, and maybe we can bring someone on that everyone can use,” Silvetti said.
While the region has a small number of wells in comparison to the numbers in the southwest, northeast and northwest, the activity locally is growing and is bringing with it planning challenges, Silvetti said.
“What are the impacts, especially those that are not so favorable,” he said.
The northern tier of the state has lost much of its Section 8 federally subsidized housing, the result of a sharp demand for housing by people willing to pay two to three times the normal rental.
“There also are issues of water quality and road issues. You have all these local impacts,” Silvetti said.
Somerset County Planning Commission Executive Director Brad Zearfoss said his county has attempted to stay ahead of the Marcellus boom with a countywide task force formed last year.
“But there is an impact on housing, schools; the whole human services element is something you really don’t think about,” Zearfoss said.
Marcellus growth is certain to bring growth and impact in many segments, said Tom Murphy, co-director of Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.
“We’re seeing a need for expansion of existing infrastructure,” Murphy said this week at a Marcellus Shale summit sponsored by the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal.
Citing one example, Murphy said the northeast counties are seeing an increased need for short line railroads to transport drilling and site supplies such as sand and shale.
Silvetti said he has been in touch with Lycoming County officials in the hopes of determining what the regional commission can do “that will actually be of some benefit.”
The idea of a Southern Alleghenies energy component is part of a statewide push.
“We want to develop a broad outline and tailor it to the needs of the individual counties,” Silvetti said.
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