When the Giant Environmental "Footprint" of a Marcellus Well Stomps on Your Neighbor
More and more people
are starting to realize the differences between the conventional
shallow, vertical gas well fracking and the high-pressure, slick
water deep horizontal fracking of a Marcellus well. Different mix of
chemicals and ones more toxic than the previous water and foaming
agents used to frack a conventional vertical well. And much bigger
well pads. No longer about 1/4 acre, but rather 5-8 acres of land
for the well pad. And long, long horizontal legs being drilled that
reach out thousands of feet underneath other peoples’ surface land.
When a surface
owner, who happens to also own his minerals, decides to lease his
property for drilling, it's no longer a private matter, when you
think about it. The noise, truck traffic, air pollution, and other
adverse impacts affect an entire community. Other surface owners
living nearby the drill site may be adversely affected. Therefore,
they are stakeholders and sadly, in some cases, become victims.
If a mineral owner
chooses to lease a lot of his properties, and therefore allow a lot
of Marcellus well heads to go down and out in dozens of different
directions, that's a lot of neighbors affected. It's no longer a case
of "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Unlike the
conventional vertical shallow well drilling affecting only the single
property, it's now a community issue.
Steve Beck is the
third generation farmer in western Pennsylvania near the Ohio border,
not too far from Youngstown. He operates a small farm in Pulaski,
PA. He expresses his concerns about the risks associated with
fracking by writing letters in local newspapers and going door to
door to try to educate farmers about the risks and uncertainty that
surround Marcellus drilling. Below is one of his letters which
appeared in the Letter to the Editor published Sun, March 25, 2012 in
"Youngstown Vindicator" newspaper. You can also find it on
the following website link:
Selling true
farmers short
"A shale
industry spokesman at a recent event at Wilmington Area High School
was asked what effect shale gas well drilling will have on our local
agriculture. His response: “All I can say about that is that we’re
going to make a lot of farmers around here rich.” As he leaned
into the microphone and boldly delivered his clever, smug statement,
I sat in the audience and realized that this man did not understand
real farmers at all. To a real farmer, farming is not just an
occupation or a hobby, it is much more. To some true farmers, it is a
way of life — a total life-style. To other authentic farmers,
farming is an inspired passion, and to some others, it is almost a
religion that shapes their moral code.
There is a level
of awareness and joy attained by the farmer who is appreciative of,
and who understands, the beauty he perceives in what he is doing.
Every true farmer can vividly describe some personal aesthetic
experiences that have occurred to him on his farm at one time or
another. These are gentle, joyful memories that visit and comfort him
on his death bed and ease his departure from this life.
I know a farmer who signed a gas lease a few years ago without being made aware of the risks, consequences, and sacrifices that he would have to face and endure. When the heavy equipment that the lease permitted on his land arrived and began to knock down many of his large oak trees, which he had often climbed as a boy, he immediately felt the loss of the goodness that those beautiful trees had generously provided him throughout his life. When he watched the simple, single-file cow path being replaced by a wide, permanent, industrial road across his wild-flowered meadow, his sense of loss was magnified. When the slow seepage entered the aquifer and finally contaminated his and his neighbors’ water wells forever, he was overcome with deep regret for signing that complicated, deceptive gas lease; but it was too late.
We are
conditioned by our greedy, competitive society to try to get as much
money as we can get. People who read their Bibles are warned over and
over again in the pages of this Good Book to resist this temptation.
Yet in our local communities, thousands of hypocrites willingly
signed leases in order to become rich despite all the warnings about
the serious consequences of signing.
In the solitude of his fields, the sensitive farmer concludes that happiness dwells in the beauty of true virtue. Gratitude, simplicity and humility make up the content of his character, and he clearly realizes that he doesn’t need to be given a lot of money to be rich."
-- Steven J. Beck, West Middlesex
Steve Beck is a
person who understands the risks and consequences. He also
understands that a person's greed and ignorance can often harm
others.
The drilling
industry continues to claim that there has never been a documented
case of well water or aquifer contamination from fracking. They can
say that because the Marcellus frenzy hit Washington County and
Bradford County PA by storm, and our own Wetzel County, WV as well.
They are all about five years ahead of us on the Marcellus drilling.
Researchers did not have time to get in there and conduct the
necessary baseline water quality and health assessments prior to the
start of drilling in these other areas because there was such a
drilling frenzy that no one was prepared for it to hit so fast.
Now these
researchers are seeing a sudden influx of allegations coming out of
these heavily drilled areas. People in many different PA communities
suddenly reporting unexplained symptoms and health issues. It has
medical professionals perplexed, but the one common denominator in
each of the cases, is that these people live very close to fracking.
A health clinic, the first of its kind, was opened in south western
PA to treat people who claim to have fracking related health issues.
See web link: http://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/
Dr. Amy Pare, in
treating patients with skin lesions did toxicology tests on their
urine samples and discovered the presence of several chemicals in
their urine that are used in fracking.
Allegations of
livestock illness and death related to fracking are another area of
concern. See link:
Veterinarian and
researchers, Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald published a report
profiling several incidents. Others included that of Terry
Greenwood, a PA farmer, who observed that during 18 years of farming
he would have maybe one still born calf a year. But since drilling
took place around his farm, the following year he had 10 still born
calves and several others had birth defects.
Not very reassuring
things to hear in a county where cattle farming and natural beef
marketing ventures are present. Organic farming may be highly
unlikely in places being fracked.
Of course, whenever
the industry hears reports of water contamination, human or livestock
health issues, and other concerns, the industry frequently responds
with "prove it was us." Lawsuits are often settled with
gag orders.
The industry's
multi-million dollar public relations campaign heard on radio and TV
boast that there has never been a documented case of water
contamination. But that is starting to fall apart for the industry.
In fact, the EPA recently reported that a community in Wyoming may
finally be yielding the evidence that the industry can no longer
dispute.
In the EPA's 121
page draft report released on December 8, 2011 EPA officials stated
that the contamination near the town of Pavilion, Wyoming "had
most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10
compounds known to be used in frack fluids."
See article links:
Doddridge and
surrounding counties in North Central WV are at the front end of
Marcellus drilling and in good position to offer researchers the
opportunity to come here and get those baselines that the industry
touts aren't there. Researchers will be coming to this area soon to
get those baselines. (More on that in coming weeks.)
In the meantime,
ponder the notion that while a person has the right to use and enjoy
their own property as they see fit, others have the right to use and
enjoy their properties also ....and without harm from the other.
And when people are harmed by a person's decision or action, everyone
knows that any decent lawyer would easily be able to turn it into a
liability issue.
No doubt there are
some of those in the legal community who may be waiting on the
sidelines for such opportunity, including some from out of state
wanting to "set up shop" in WV for the benefit of
landowners impacted by the drilling. Things could get very
interesting around these parts in the future.
