Aug 31, 2016 4 min read

Some folks from Mt. Pleasant Township wrote here, on Aug. 10, to sing the praises of a group called PennFuture. These four correspondents said PennFuture had “responded to our request for assistance because we are concerned about the effects of drilling on our community, and want a serious discussion about how we intend to regulate it.”

Seems reasonable. Particularly in a community where NPR and others have reported the land is 95 percent leased for drilling. Also reasonable in a community that has already invested countless sums of money (thanks in part to gas drilling impact fees) in developing a comprehensive zoning plan.

But unlike PennFuture, I admit that I’m not from Mt. Pleasant. I have done consulting work in Washington County, though. Also, as a land use planner, I know something about zoning and how best to coordinate with stakeholders to balance community needs and character. And, I know PennFuture from their activities elsewhere. Depending on this organization for independent help is risky and costly business.

PennFuture is anything but what it claims. They’re funded by groups who join their call to end all gas drilling in Pennsylvania if they could. Moreover, it’s specifically targeting communities such as Mt. Pleasant with legal challenges, even though the community is taking very deliberate steps to ensure its zoning is balanced and protective.

No further proof is needed than the words of PennFuture’s attorney George Jugovic. StateImpactPA reports Jugovic said, back in June, that Mt. Pleasant “was chosen for the new legal effort because, as the location of Pennsylvania’s first Marcellus Shale gas well, it was symbolic.” They went on to indicate this strategy was to “test” the authority of local communities.

It’s never good when someone admits their strategy is to make a symbolic point at your expense. Likewise, when someone demands no gas wells be allowed where residences are permitted, you know there’s a bigger agenda. Residences are traditionally allowed in nearly all districts. Penn Future’s practical aim is to outlaw gas drilling everywhere, and Mt. Pleasant is being violated in the worst way as part of this special-interest legal strategy – a strategy that comes at the expense of local taxpayers.

PennFuture also has a less-than-savory history in other regards. What should be of particular interest to the letter writers, who express concerns about schoolchildren, is that PennFuture was forced to return taxpayer dollars for contract violations. Those violations were due to work they were supposed to do for – of all things – school districts. PennFuture “repurposed” half of the money they received and failed to notify the state. That led to Jan Jarrett, their executive director, resigning.

The group was, also, directly involved in the resignation of their former employee John Quigley. He was forced out of DEP after he sent a controversial, expletive-laced email from a private account to PennFuture (and others) asking them to get involved in gas-drilling politics.

Worse yet, a Commonwealth Foundation white-paper indicates “PennFuture for years failed to disclose to the IRS its lobbying and grassroots activities on behalf of the alternative energy industry … PennFuture received nearly $1 million from alternative energy companies over a five-year period while it lobbied heavily for tax breaks and subsidies for wind and solar projects.”

Revealingly, PennFuture likes to brag how it’s mission is to “fight dirty energy.” They’re certainly allowed to do that, but not as the charity they claim to be. Moreover, it’s hardly the tone of an organization simply seeking to uphold the Constitution, is it? As an out-of-towner myself, let me be so bold as to tell Mt. Pleasant Township voters they are not only dealing with a carpetbagger but a very wealthy one in PennFuture. It has no interests but its own.

Thomas J. Shepstone

Honesdale

Editor’s note: Thomas Shepstone is a planner and publisher of the NaturalGasNOW.org blog.