http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/washnews/04-11-2010-Mayor-Tillman-s-visit
4/11/2010 3:35 AM
Advice on gas drilling coming
By Christie Campbell Staff writer
Mention Calvin Tillman's name to someone in the gas drilling industry
and listen to the groans. But Tillman has his fans, too - those who are
opposed to gas drilling or who want it more regulated.
Love him or hate him, Tillman has experience dealing with the gas
drilling that much of the local area has yet to experience. The mayor
of DISH, Texas, Tillman will discuss potential health risks and
community impacts during his presentation as part of the second round
of a northeast tour that includes stops at Cooper Union in New York
City, Temple University in Philadelphia, Clearville and Duquesne
University. While the gas industry claims Tillman is supported by
anti-drilling groups, he says he does not accept any type of funding
from them.
He speaks at 4 p.m. April 18 in Midway Community Center, 304 Noblestown Road.
Travis Windle, spokesman for Energy in Depth, a coalition of
independent gas producers, said Tillman has an agenda and his rhetoric
doesn't match up with the facts. Windle questions his close ties to the
Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which, he says, is a well-funded
group who are "not friends of fossil fuels."
Tillman believes Pennsylvania needs to begin taxing the extraction of
gas. Only this state and New York do not have a severance tax, he said.
"They are paying it in 32 states, and they will pay it there. You need
that to pay for your roads, your environmental protection and your
regulators," he said. "If they don't want to pay it there, tell them to
go away. They'll come back."
New York doesn't have an extraction tax because there is currently no
shale gas production in the state, said Windle, but Gov. David A.
Paterson has plans to include the tax in his budget.
"The drillers here are fairly decent," Tillman said recently in a
telephone interview. "The compressor stations are what's caused us a
lot of our heartburn."
Tillman moved to the town of 180 residents in 2003. He first served as
a town commissioner and became vocal about noise associated with the
compressing stations. The town has a total of 11 compressors, three
metering stations and 20 pipelines.
"They can be hideously loud," he said, noting that those compressing
stations within town limits are subject to noise abatements and
aesthetic changes such as vegetation.
The greatest controversy involving DISH (the town was formerly Clark
but changed its name when DISH Network provided every resident with a
satellite dish in 2005; Tillman was not mayor then), was an air quality
test. The firm that conducted the test claimed to find toxic emissions,
but its findings have been debunked by the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality while others have claimed the firm was not
qualified to conduct such a survey.
Either way, Tillman said the town will soon have its own permanent air
monitor installed so anyone can check the town's air quality from his
or her computer.
Once that happens he believes there will be greater pressure to clean the
surrounding air.
"Basically there's a better way to do it, and they need to do it that way," he
said.
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