Seismic testing in Hookstown... HELP ?

We had a man  come to our farm  today and wanted us to sign papers to let them do Seismic testing on our farm.  The mans name was Mike Allstead from SEITEL, out of Monaca, PA. He offered us $5.00 per acre on our 76 acre farm. They want to dig 40 3 inch round holes , 30 ft. deep, put blasting powder in the holes . ( My Husband talked to the man, I was not here)  He told the man he needs to talk with me. I am to call him and set up a time after the Holidays to sign the papers. The man needs to come back and draw where the buildings and ponds are, on our property.  Has anyone else been aproached by this  company ? ANY information would be appreciated ! Not sure what to do ? Confused..... Many Thanks in advance for your information !

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Permalink Reply by WVU78 on December 28, 2012 at 7:50am
Nancy, this is a decision that only you can make. The DEP in Greensburg PA has a blasting inspector that can answer your questions. He is very good and reputable. I can't answer your issues on livestock but I do not believe that the detonation will affect your buildings or your water well in any way. Also, the above you tube video is anti drilling propaganda. I have worked in this industry for over 35 years and understand the fears that misinformation brings. Once again, look out for yourself and your property, but make an informed decision using good information. Not the rantings of the anti drilling side.
Permalink Reply by Scott Cannon on December 28, 2012 at 9:18am

 WVU78, The videos above are real people's stories about what has happened to them. Nothing is embellished. There are hundreds of these stories everywhere fracking is taking place. Only a fool would ignore them.  I'm not paid to make the videos, but you make a living of gas, kinda like a cigarette salesman. Watch the most recent, #10 video about people living next to a dehydration station and tell me that is propaganda. 

Permalink Reply by WVU78 on December 30, 2012 at 6:30am

In my career, I worked for over 20 years for DEP inspecting the drilling, producing and operating side of this industry. I have responded to every type of complaint that you show on your videos.  There is a big difference in a 3 minute video of a complainant and doing an inspection and investigation of actual issues concerning drilling of gas wells. I'm sure there is noise now involved with the dehy plant, but those issues with pressure release valves popping off, although annoying, have probably been worked out and I doubt very much that it goes on continuously as your videos try to portray. I also noticed what appears to be a highway very near this plant so I am sure that there are noises involved with that also. Did you interview the person that owns the land that the plant is on?  What about his/her property rights? No one wants change in their life, but you or I cannot stop someone from legally using their land as they want. Drilling for oil and gas has been going on in PA for over 150 years, you are probably to young to remember the last boom in the 1970's and 80's.  Yes the drilling, pipelines and compressor stations may be somewhat new in the NE part of the state but, this is a true boon to the Commonwealth and to this nation. I hope one day that we can use solar and wind to power this country, but there is no way the technology is there yet. Until then natural gas is the energy of today.  Cheap, clean and right here in Pennsylvania.

Permalink Reply by Trapper on December 30, 2012 at 7:38am

Thank you WVU78 for bringing TRUTH and FACTUAL EXPERIENCE to this discussion. We grow weary of the carpetbaggers trolling this site promoting the "anti anything good for the country/common man" mentality.

Thanks again!

Glenn

Permalink Reply by Scott Cannon on December 30, 2012 at 9:45am

Nancy now has the information from both sides so she can do more research or sign on the dotted line. It is up to her. As for Glenn, I am for pro "anything good for the country/common man". You are just on the "What about me" side of the fence. I make no money making these videos. I come from an area of coal mining, and we are still paying for the cleanup. What I see in fracking is far worse than coal mining. Your name calling is childish.

Permalink Reply by 0llbnp780fs53 on December 30, 2012 at 4:20pm

Are you really comparing highway noise (actually, not busy 4 lane, but a basic 2 lane noise) to the noise of being only a few hundred feet away from a 50+foot gas flair?  You have to have been on sites that were in the midst of a flair.  There is NO comparison, you'd have to line up a fleet of trucks, bumper to bumper all using their jake brake to come even close.

I think the videos could contain more factual information (like I would like to see testing to tell me what level of vibration is being experienced how far from the plant)... also some elements are not relevant (e.g. I'm pretty sure you could jiggle my septic forever and it wouldn't affect the effectiveness unless you jiggle it hard enough to crack a cement tank - low level vibration wouldn't do that and if the vibrations are that hard... there will be a lot more falling apart)

There needs to be objective information provided.  It was clear on the video that the unplanned flairs happened at least twice... at least once it was in the middle of the night.  Had that happened at the right time, it is possible that the people living nearby could actually loose livestock from injuries or aborted off spring or what ever (anyone who'd allow an 17mo unprotected near a horse at anytime is stupid... so that guy was huffing...) but it doesn't mean that adults couldn't be trampled.  Then there is the threat of it going off again at some unplanned time in the future.

IT would be nice if the activists actually got some air quality testing completed instead of having people complain about what may have been a fog for all we know.

Clearly the gas industry has bad actors and if the industry doesn't want to police itself and be good neighbors, that just allows the few incidents that happen out there to be used to fight for stronger regulations.  And they will be regulations that the industry deserves because they didn't police themselves in the first place and because they have shown no interest in making things right when they screw up.  The industry is bringing this on themselves and if they get regulated into a straight jacket... they will deserve it.

I know a guy working the pipelines... just his team alone has busted out of three hillsides this year (2012)... that is just one crew.  Of course, those environmental events don't get recorded against the O&G operator... they get recorded against the subcontractor (who will eventually close up their name and reopen under a new 'clean' name). 

Claiming that we've been drilling for 150 years is a canard.  You should know darn well that horizontal drilling is less than a decade old... the use of slickwater is also less than a decade old.  They have no real geology to tell them where there are vertical faults that can provide a pathway from the fracked plain to the surface.  MOST of this style of drilling is less than a decade old and much of it is one big fat experiment.

There are significant risks associated with this industry.  Yes, activists are capitalizing (bad word) on the few incidents and the growing number of people who are victimized by the companies' reluctance to fix what they've messed up.  I try to hold that in a balanced view, until I see people who minimize their damages as ... oh, 1 in 100 or something like that... "I've worked in this industry for 20 years"... Well, when YOU become that 1 in 100... then suddenly it isn't such a minimal issue when it is in your face everyday. Do you know what it takes to haul 300 gallons of water per day for livestock?  I don't ever want to know what that takes.

The people on these videos have the smell and the potential of another 'blow up' right in their front yard.  NOW, had that land owner where the processing plant sits put in a trash dump, yes he would have been regulated... even for odor emissions and even in the country and even near farm lands... so no, the land owner does not have a right to do ANYTHING he wants on his land.

My hope is that this area (Western PA, OH) is kept safe from the screw ups that we're seeing in the eastern end of PA. IF the companies don't want to take responsibility... then I will gladly vote in anyone and everyone who will regulate them into taking responsibility.

Permalink Reply by Bill F. on January 4, 2013 at 5:57am

Thanks for a clear response on this NG industry .Bradford county ,PA. has been turned into a gas field .Gathering lines are or will be every where soon.I glad there are people willing to speak up against this heavy industrial process that has NO industrial zoning or regulation.People need to know money isn't everything if you love the area you live in ,because it WILL change from this drilling process .....

Permalink Reply by 0llbnp780fs53 on December 28, 2012 at 12:07pm

I've watched about the first 6 videos posted by that group.  I don't see them as fear mongering at all.  They are presenting the negative side of the gas industry as told by the people who are dealing with the negative fall out of bad decisions or bad actions made by companies in the gas industry. 

Had those companies been more concerned with their public image, they could have easily avoided much of what is being presented in those video tapes.  After all, how much does it really take to get to the bottom of a well contamination issue?  Where they'd purchased a trailer park to re-purpose to a water takeout facility, had they set up a better process to aid those people in relocating, none of them would be on video complaining about the gas company. 

I will admit that some of the stories (like the guy who died earlier this year) are stated in imprecise terms and don't provide objective numbers (e.g. just how much uranium was shown in his water?) or locations (what was the address of the home and was it near any other mining activities).  But, they are --after all-- an activist organization. 

Instead of crying foul and 'anti-drilling propaganda' maybe people interested in an objective truth could hunt down and publish 'the rest of the story'.  That would serve the members of this site better than blindly protecting companies that may or may not operate in a safe manner. Because it certainly makes me wonder how a guy can buy 5 acres of land in Feb 2010, then he and his companion both become ill with bad blood tests and bad water tests (including extremely high "radiation" in the water?), then the man is dead in Jan 2012.  Certainly something happened there and how much is a result of actions by gas companies is not clear.

Permalink Reply by Nancy LeNau on December 28, 2012 at 10:19pm

Dear WVU78,  Thank you for the information. I will call the DEP in Greensburg and talk with them. There was a lawsuit in Texas with the company that wants to do the testing.  They lost their water well but all has been corrected. I am a bit nervous about being between a new well that is being drilled (really more like a triangle) and a NUC. Plant (Shippingport)  I read about the Earthquakes in Youngstown. I think this Nat. gas is a good thing for our country but Regulations need to be a bit better. Trying to learn all I can..... I just want to keep all the animals safe and water safe.  I have MUCH to learn......  Thank you ever so much for your time and advice !   God Bless, Nancy

Permalink Reply by Bill F. on January 4, 2013 at 5:50am

WVU78 ....if you are as stated for 35 years then you surely know issues have happened with this NG drilling process of High Volume Hydro Fracking .I have been involved here near me in Bradford county for 3 + years and have seen plenty of problems with NG drilling .I don't believe you should advise anyone that there are no issues when if you truly are a professional you know they exist .From seismic testing ,pad building ,impoundment pounds ,truck diesel fumes and traffic,spills,leaks,flaring,silica sand dust plumes ,noise ,disruption ,compressors stations ,compressor venting and emissions (that effect regions not only local areas) and single source permitting of all facilities that will create an accumulative effect on our region and state air quality .I am not just a environmental nut ,but have become one due to the NG drilling around my area.This is a heavy industrial operation that is being done in agricultural and even residential areas across PA. People need to know what really comes from this and money won't fix the issues it brings .

Permalink Reply by WVU78 on January 5, 2013 at 5:30am

I have worked for both exploration and production companies and the regulatory agency here in PA. Yes there are always issues with any industry, including agriculture, waste water facilities, mining , etc. Oil and gas is not the evil industry that you are making it out to be. This is the most regulated industry in the commonwealth and to say other wise is just not true.

I do have over 35 years experience, am a professional geologist, and have been involved with just about every type of drilling incident that you could ever think of. I know that the anti drilling campaign in this state is wrong on most counts and are just using the internet and scare tactics about health and safety issues to scare folks that have no real experience in this industry.

Permalink Reply by Boa on December 28, 2012 at 1:07pm
Great thoughts Kbrooks. You have the" AntiFrackers" and the "I wish gas prices would go uppers." Need a middle pad.

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