More public notice demanded for gas leases

WASILLA -- Some who arrived at Teeland Middle School Wednesday to kick off the first of four public workshops discussing issues related to shallow-gas development didn't expect to be writing up suggestions for changes to current regulations they'd never read before. And a few admitted they thought it a little strange to be asked to divide into groups according to the month of their birth.

Richard LeFebvre, acting deputy commissioner for the Department of Natural Resources, said he's used the birth-month method to create working groups at public meetings in the past, and it has worked well. At Wednesday's meeting, it resulted in 12 tables full of about 10 people each, with a couple tables of just two or three, and there was a fairly broad range of people at each table, both geographically and philosophically.

At the meeting, about 130 people, plus staff from several state agencies, gathered to discuss the first topic in a series of four workshops on coal-bed methane development in the Mat-Su.

In a speech kicking off the workshop, Division of Oil and Gas director Mark Myers called the event an opportunity for participants to "provide really meaningful input."

After a few introductory words by other DNR officials, acting moderator Nancy Welch, of DNR's division of oil and gas, explained a few ground rules and handed out sheets of paper listing regulations DNR is operating under currently, along with regulations DNR staff have proposed, and a worksheet for each participant to list suggestions for changes to the old or proposed regulations.

That's where participants first balked.

"I'm supposed to read this dictionary before I comment tonight?" asked one participant. He referred to eight pages of existing and proposed standards for public notice and public information standards DNR staff had just handed out. Although participants were asked to work together in groups and come up with suggestions at that meeting, Welch pointed out that individuals could take the worksheets home and turn them in at a later date. Welch mentioned that the standards proposed are also available prior to the public workshops at the division's Web site, www.dog.dnr.state.ak.us/oil.

Before splitting into groups, several participants had questions about how the information gathered would be used by the division. And, as some participants pointed out, DNR may have little overriding authority over shallow-gas leases in Alaska.

"What percentage are managed by DNR?" one participant asked.

"We don't keep track of privately owned land -- and the state owns less than 50 percent," Myers said.

The frustrations touched on prior to and at the beginning of the meeting were elaborated on when people sat down to discuss changes to the proposed public notice standards.

"There should be public hearings for every lease offering."

"Give property owners a first right to lease subsurface rights."

"I think they're just trying to pacify us."

"The only input I want to give is to keep them out. DNR will accept [their leases] -- there's nobody on my side, and if they ruin my property, I have to come up with attorney's fees."

Participants at one table asked Myers to describe how the department would complete a best-interest finding to determine whether or not to allow a company to lease subsurface rights.

"The public interest is not going to be denied because [land] value deteriorates in a neighborhood," Myers said. "If the borough had zoning, arguably they could put in zoning that would restrict development. There's not a best-interest finding for shallow gas, other than it would benefit the residents of Alaska."

When participants were asked to read their suggestions, for DNR staff to write onto large tablets at the front of the room, several suggestions came forward. Many had to do with the area of public notice -- some believed public notices should be mailed to landowners within a half or full mile of the proposed subsurface lease, while others suggested extending the range to 25 miles, within bioregions, or within watersheds. But all agreed, landowners within a leased area should all receive public notice -- by mail -- from the state. There was another common thread to the discussions -- nearly everyone speaking seemed to share the sentiment that the state had fouled up the public process, if not the whole process. Participants at one table, who were careful to note that their comments represented only 80 percent of the group, said the minority voices -- those who supported drilling -- did not appear to have a voice through the way the groups were divided.

"Minority members were not represented," one participant said.