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Permalink Reply by Nancy Famiola on April 9, 2010 at 3:12am

Can the administrator (Keith) take this title off so people don't think this is actually the truth? It's just another example of anything bad happening being blamed on fracking.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Famiola on April 9, 2010 at 7:21am

MMM yes you are right - There is the issue of dealing with the subsurface effects of fracking - then there is the surficial effects. The overwhelming majority of people have issues with the subsurface effects (can the fluid flow upwards). This was a surficial issue which I think people are fairly comfortable with - as these unfortunate events are very VERY rare. Add the fact that there had been vandalism on this site, who know what/who could have caused this fire. Im not downplaying the severity of this event - however this is a very rare occurrence in the grand scheme of things which doesn't really contribute to the "debate" of whether hydraulic fratcuring is safe in the subsurface.

The vandalism on this site they noted was interesting.. It could have been started by those people in west virginia who hung a dummy on a noose from a tree with a shirt on that said something like "go away drillers or you will die"

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/535521.html?nav...

I believe Range had some questions about one of their lines being damaged by activists in Washington as well.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Famiola on April 9, 2010 at 7:21am

Oh, and Ruby, that 14k/acre does not include current production... strictly Marcellus development.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on April 18, 2010 at 7:54am

Nancy-- I'm not sure if it was activists to blame or possibly a disgruntled former employee, but there was a previous instance of alleged vandalism last June in Range's Cross Creek Park operation. --Tom

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Permalink Reply by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on April 13, 2010 at 5:10am

This is a cause for concern - "Mr. Lengauer said he contacted a hotline for the state DEP, but was unable to reach agency officials because their voicemail boxes were full. "I tried to call them for three days straight," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "

This is one of the stupidest comments to date - "Pennsylvania Green Party spokesman Jay Sweeney commented that shale gas drilling is as bad as mountaintop removal: "fracking is essentially mountaintop removal underground."

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Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on April 18, 2010 at 8:28am

Perhaps Mr. Sweeney has forgotten his basic chemistry or else he would remember that 50-100% of coal is carbon, by mass versus natgat whose chemical formula is CH(4)--one carbon atom to four hydrogen--not to mention all the other noxious chemicals emitted from burning the former. --Tom

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Permalink Reply by Gene Water Recycler aka.PPC on May 12, 2010 at 8:51am

Mike,

It seems you have some very good replies to consider. It is unfortunate but security is a necessary evil in many locations. I notice the story does not say open pit or containers, perhaps 6 to 8, 21 thousand gal tanks linked together with pipes and valves to the tanks. Ignition of flowback water is more likely man made, not a natural occurrence. Tanks also have cross-contamination, who knows what is being on site unless you plan and test, demand service from your subcontractors, ie, proper cleaning.

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