![[photo, Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/14doe/images/1198-1-651.jpg)
David A. Vanko, Ph.D., Chair (appointed by Secretary of the Environment & Secretary of Natural Resources)
Appointed by Secretary of the Environment & Secretary of Natural Resources: Shawn Bender; Ann R. Bristow, Ph.D.; Stephen M. Bunker; George C. Edwards; Margaret J. (Peggy) Jamison; Jeffrey F. Kupfer, Esq.; Clifford S. Mitchell, M.D.; James M. Raley; Paul Roberts; William R. Valentine; Nicholas Weber, Ph.D.; Harry Weiss, Esq.; two vacancies.
Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, February 2004. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
c/o Department of the Environment
Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 537-3537
e-mail: jeffrey.fretwell@maryland.gov
web: www.mde.state.md.us/programs/land/mining/marcellus/pages/index.aspx
In June 2011, the Governor created the Marcellus Shale Safe-Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission (Executive Order 01.01.2011.11).
With the Department of the Environment and the Department of Natural Resources, the Commission studied the short-term, long-term and cumulative effects of producing natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation. This formation underlies portions of Western Maryland: Allegany and Garrett counties being the only parts of the State with natural gas reserves in Marcellus Shale. Drilling for natural gas from the Marcellus shale involves a process called hydraulic fracturing. This requires very deep wells with long horizontal sections through which pressurized water, sand, and chemicals are blasted to crack rock and release the natural gas.
Authorization for the Commission ended May 1, 2015.
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