History lost to gas drilling

An excavation at a Westmoreland County site once occupied by Monongahela Indians produced abundant evidence of two villages and allowed researchers to piece together the violent end of the later settlement at the hands of invaders who sacked it, massacred its inhabitants, and burned houses and food stores, said William C. Johnson, an adviser to the project.

But when Johnson returned last year to the dig, called the Kirshner site, he was stunned.

"There is a drill rig and catchment basin sitting on half the village," said Johnson, who earned a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and served as senior prehistoric archaeologist for Michael Baker Jr. Engineering Inc. "You have something there - which is better than you get with [excavations of] other villages - that has been destroyed by drilling."

The Kirshner site near West Newton is one of a number of sites damaged or destroyed by natural gas drilling, and those who have turned to state officials seeking help in preserving them have found that Pennsylvania laws offer little or no protection for archaeological resources.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the state agency that oversees historic sites, including areas of archaeological value, has no power to compel investigation or preservation and no money to conduct field investigations that state law requires it to pay for.

Mike Kotz, a Washington County vegetable grower with an interest in the artifacts he has encountered in his work, has sought to protect sites of proven or potential value from destruction by natural gas operations.

The rapid growth of Marcellus Shale drilling has brought a big increase in road building, drilling-site work, construction of compressor stations, pipeline laying, and other activities associated with extracting natural gas from the vast rock formation, which underlies much of Pennsylvania.

"A bulldozer can destroy 9,000 years of history in 15 minutes," Kotz said.

A construction site must be 10 acres or larger before the state History Code, or Title 37, takes effect. Smaller sites are exempt and are subject to no state oversight. Drill pads for Marcellus Shale sites are often less than 10 acres.

But even for the larger sites, legislation passed in 1995 requires the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, rather than the company or permit applicant, to pay for archaeological surveys or fieldwork, under a 120-day deadline.