Marcellus Shale Advisory Board---what a swell bunch of guys, not.

[grntuscarora]

More info on what a sham this advisory council is:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/04/gas_panel_members_rack_up_viol.html

Short notice, but there's a protest against the advisory council scheduled for noon today at the Rachel Carson building in Harrisburg. According to the article, the coalition of 17 different groups, including Clean Water Action, are calling for the governor to disband the commission unless citizens groups are given seats at the table.

[Divernan]

1. Not a single public health or medical group on the commission

And the only academic is a Penn State prof who brings in millions from Big Oil to the university for "research".

[Divernan]

2. 8 representatives' companies had violations last year; contributed $790,000 to Corbett

According to an analysis of violations from the Department of Environmental Protection conducted by Clean Water Action, an environmental group, the companies represented on the governor’s commission accounted for 42 percent of all drilling violations last year — 514 out of a total 1,227.

With 174 violations, Chief Oil & Gas led the state last year; Chief’s vice president of government and regulatory affairs, Terry Bossert, sits on the commission. Attempts to contact Chief for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Chesapeake Energy had the third-highest number of violations at 132; Chesapeake’s vice president of government relations, Dave Spigelmyer, was appointed to the commission, but chose to step off prior to the beginning of its work.

Other companies with violations serving on the commission are: East Resources (74 violations), Exxon Mobil (66), Range Resources (32), Chevron (16), EQT (15) and Consol (5).