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At the monthly meeting of the Pike County Planning Commission Oct. 26, Assistant County Planning Director Mike Mrozinski unveiled a GIS map that reveals all the gas leases in effect in counties adjoining Pike.
The new map, he explained, is a collaborative effort by Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Sullivan Counties in New York, Sussex County in New Jersey, Common Waters and the Upper Delaware River Roundtable aimed at achieving a regionalized viewpoint on gas exploration activities in the Upper Delaware watershed.
“We already have a map like this in the County, but it stopped at the County boundaries. Now we can have a regional outlook,” Mrozinski explained. This is important, since a watershed does not respect political boundaries, and needs to be monitored cooperatively by everyone in it.
“It used to be that in the three states — and sometimes even between counties — there was a big stumbling block because there were different platforms for this kind of information.” Mrozinski commented, “Now with GIS technology, we can develop things like this that are interoperable between various agencies, counties, and states.”
Still under development, the map has yet to be released to the public, but was complete enough for Mrozinski to show off a few of its bells and whistles for the benefit of the planning board.
Mrozinski said he and the rest of the group have worked closely with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) professionals from the Counties involved to develop the map, which comes complete with a hydrological layer depicting rivers, lakes and streams in addition to the base layer showing shaded areas where there are gas leases currently.
The map identifies leased parcels in terms of their geographic location, but not by tax information or anything else that might identify individual leaseholders.
Projecting the map onto the far wall of the conference room for all to see, Mrozinski zoomed out to the regional level to show gas lease densities around the area. There were only four grey blobs in Pike County, while Wayne County looked like a patchwork quilt.
In subsequent discussion about the slow progression of gas leasing into the County and possible environmental concerns, Pike County Commissioner and Planning Board member Rich Caridi referenced a recent conversation he had with a resident of Wyoming County — where gas drilling is already underway — who had “nothing good to say” about the environmental impacts of drilling. “We don’t know much about what the (environmental) impacts will be when drilling gets underway here,” he said, “But we need to take the initiative and be prepared. Drilling will come into this County, that much is sure, but we need to make sure its done right.”
At the monthly meeting of the Pike County Planning Commission Oct. 26, Assistant County Planning Director Mike Mrozinski unveiled a GIS map that reveals all the gas leases in effect in counties adjoining Pike.
The new map, he explained, is a collaborative effort by Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Sullivan Counties in New York, Sussex County in New Jersey, Common Waters and the Upper Delaware River Roundtable aimed at achieving a regionalized viewpoint on gas exploration activities in the Upper Delaware watershed.
“We already have a map like this in the County, but it stopped at the County boundaries. Now we can have a regional outlook,” Mrozinski explained. This is important, since a watershed does not respect political boundaries, and needs to be monitored cooperatively by everyone in it.
“It used to be that in the three states — and sometimes even between counties — there was a big stumbling block because there were different platforms for this kind of information.” Mrozinski commented, “Now with GIS technology, we can develop things like this that are interoperable between various agencies, counties, and states.”
Still under development, the map has yet to be released to the public, but was complete enough for Mrozinski to show off a few of its bells and whistles for the benefit of the planning board.
Mrozinski said he and the rest of the group have worked closely with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) professionals from the Counties involved to develop the map, which comes complete with a hydrological layer depicting rivers, lakes and streams in addition to the base layer showing shaded areas where there are gas leases currently.
The map identifies leased parcels in terms of their geographic location, but not by tax information or anything else that might identify individual leaseholders.
Projecting the map onto the far wall of the conference room for all to see, Mrozinski zoomed out to the regional level to show gas lease densities around the area. There were only four grey blobs in Pike County, while Wayne County looked like a patchwork quilt.
In subsequent discussion about the slow progression of gas leasing into the County and possible environmental concerns, Pike County Commissioner and Planning Board member Rich Caridi referenced a recent conversation he had with a resident of Wyoming County — where gas drilling is already underway — who had “nothing good to say” about the environmental impacts of drilling. “We don’t know much about what the (environmental) impacts will be when drilling gets underway here,” he said, “But we need to take the initiative and be prepared. Drilling will come into this County, that much is sure, but we need to make sure its done right.”
Caridi also mentioned the possibility of a task force being developed that might be able to better monitor gas extraction operations in the county.
When asked to expand on the idea, Caridi said, “We (the Pike County Commissioners) are just starting to meet with department heads to begin putting flesh on the bones of this idea. We haven’t had a chance to caucus with officials in Wayne County or other counties yet, but I hope to be able to include industry people and other stakeholders at some point to form a body that could guide this type of development in our area.”
