COMMUNITY CONSIDERATIONS

Hello neighbors,

 

My family lives in Jewett and in the surrounding communities. It has come to my attention that many people are interested in drilling for natural gas on their property and have sought surrounding property owners to do the same. While it is an exciting prospect for landowners in the area to make money during these economic times and I can certainly understand the interest, I am posting here to request that you consider ALL aspects and potential ramifications.

 

I assure you I am typically all for SMALL GOVERNMENT and also FOR exploration of various energies, but when an industry fights as hard as this industry has to ensure minimum regulation and disclosure-avoidance of the actual toxins used in their processes, I have to begin to wonder why that may be the case.   I have been following this industry for quite some time now. While the companies appear to be open and free with information, I assure you there is bias in their answers (akin to a politician running for office).  

 

The process that these companies use for the Marcellus Shale is called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" and is currently highly under-regulated (indeed not at all regulated on a federal level), and is not held to clean drinking water standards under the Clean Drinking Water Act.    There have been NUMEROUS documented incidents regarding freshwater/groundwater contamination as a result of this process across many different states and many different companies.   From my research, one major player in this industry had an incident occur on average every 2.5 days and a fineable infraction (regarding groundwater contamination and/or gas well leaks) occur once almost every 2 weeks in PA last year.  That doesn't seem to be a very good track record. 

 

We have now seen firsthand the obviously VOLATILE and unregulated nature of the process most recently with the horrific explosion in Avella, PA just recently.  

 

The lack of regulation has created a burden on us the landowners and the communities in which they seek to operate to ensure STANDARDS and PROCESSES are in place prior to exposing our communities at-large to this experiment in Harrison County.  For these reasons, may I suggest the true neighborly and community-conscious thing to do prior to welcoming this to the community would be any (preferably all) of the following:

 

1) Wait to sign the lease until the FRAC Act is passed. This is currently sitting in the Senate and it will assure the proper federal regulations that will protect the clean drinking water and also require these companies to disclose the chemicals used in the fracking mixture (something that is currently kept under wraps as a "trade secret").

 

2) Ensure the lease protects the community you are in by MANDATING the proper training and providing the proper equipment for battling major natural gas explosions and fireballs to ALL Volunteer Fire Departments in a 100 mile radius BEFORE the well sites are built. Better still, require the companies to provide the money for a full-time firefighting department.  

 

3) Ensure the communities where your leased lands are found understand the heightened traffic of major rigs with toxic chemicals that will be on our beautifully curvy and narrow country roads and to increase their level of caution when driving.   Signs should be erected immediately near your properties. 

 

In addition, the communities should also be trained (or at least given pamphlets and appropriate protective gear) in the event one of these rigs tips over and a toxic spill occurs near their homes. For those whose homes are within a certain radius of the site itself, evacuation processes and routes should also be in place for when an explosion, gas fire, or any other catastrophic failure at the site occurs.

 

4) Ensure visitors to your property know that natural gas rigs are on the property and the potential for exposure to chemicals, the probability of an explosion or other event due to volatility, and ensure a proper area surrounding the well sites are cordoned off from your visitors, the general public, your livestock, and the local wildlife.

 

If you are also a landowner kind enough to provide passage of ATV riders through your fields, provide alternative routes to keep them at a safe distance from the well sites.

 

5) Ensure the companies (or you) will provide freshwater to the communities or at least the households near you in the event the process itself interrupts the water table at-large in the community. This will include shipping in all the fresh water required for drinking, bathing, watering crops, and tending to livestock.    

 

If the Companies themselves are not willing to provide you or the community with the information above, then may I suggest you speak with an attorney or reconsider signing a lease altogether until they are able to provide these very basic safeguards to our small communities. 

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Knapp on March 3, 2011 at 5:14am

no worries.

 

KSM, here's an excellent breakdown of what is in frackwater and some of the other things those "toxic chemicals" are in.  Many of them are found in household items you come into contact with every day. 

 

http://www.energyindepth.org/frac-fluid.pdf

Permalink Reply by KSM on March 3, 2011 at 7:58am

Yes, very interesting! Do you know how much of this fracking compound is used at any one site?  i've heard it takes one rig to bring the fracking fluid in so that already sounds like a LOT more cleaning supplies than I've ever had on my property on one time before.  Are you able to put it into absolute figures rather than percentages for one typical drilling site?

Permalink Reply by Mike Knapp on March 3, 2011 at 8:32am
it takes a lot more than one load to get the water in.  Most frack impoundments hold 2 -3 million gallons.   Every company has a different formula, and that formula changes on every well, so it's kinda tough to give an exact number.
Permalink Reply by KSM on March 3, 2011 at 8:36am
you are way better than google, Mike.  =)
Permalink Reply by Barbara on September 29, 2011 at 10:40am
so the chemicals in question are how much per gal x three million gals.......a whole lot more than is in my kitchen......
Permalink Reply by KSM on March 3, 2011 at 7:20am

 Good god, I don't want to be viewed as extremist regarding any topic!!  You are right in that the news of the day does start to freak a person out a little bit, even if you were relatively neutral on the idea before (as I was).   I don't think I ever said the industry was UNregulated, rather I said it's UNDERregulated.  The lack of regulation really should have said lack of regulations that actually incent change in behaviors.   I can understand why because even the EPA can't say too much about it because it *does* burn cleaner than anything else going right now.  So by under-regulated I mean the fines they are given appear to be slaps on the wrist, even for dumping fracing fluids in nonpermitted spots.  Someone said it's because those were all water spills, but come on.  A water spill doesn't make all the aquatic life in a stream die off.  

I have indeed seen some reports on the chemical disclosures.  I know Halliburton was refusing to share theirs and had to be subpoenaed (i'm not sure if they've disclosed it yet or not).  When you get down to it, It's really these kinds of secretive/admit-nothing behaviors from the industry players themselves that has public going, "huh?".   I'm happy to be in this thing with you, just let me know what's going into the ground back there in the fields, ok?  You'd think with Halliburton's reputation woes, they wouldn't be pulling that kind of stuff -- or maybe they figure they have nothing to lose at this point, so public be damned!  Crazy.

Full disclosure here -- I'm am financially invested in o/g right now -- but through the side door  -- the water treatment and storage industry -- because I see some things are going to be inevitable (they are already happening) -- so really, if anything I should be here rooting for absolutely NO regulations and asking that everyone please turn a blind eye if you see something out of sorts in your remote towns because MY play will pay off even more!  It's already up.  How sick is THAT?!!!!  I am gambling on the fact that water will become the next great commodity in America.  Hey, even the Bushes bought a huge ranch atop a freshwater aquifer in Paraguay - talk about hedging your bets!  I just hope I don't have to argue with any crazy anti-water extremists when the time comes. 

Thanks for the exchange Sherry. 

Permalink Reply by Mike Knapp on March 8, 2011 at 4:02am

The industry is paying attention.  Just yesterday the Marcellus Shale Coalition set up a $100,000 fund to further water quality studies. 

 

Permalink Reply by Sherry on March 8, 2011 at 4:36am

If I could please, Katherine, address your last paragraph.  Drilling is only a "loose and ambiguous term" when mistakenly used to cover the entire spectrum of the "gas extraction process".  The drilling part is just that - drilling into the ground to insert the casing and pour the concrete.  After that comes the hydraulic fracturing phase, when the water, sand and chemicals are used to release the gas.  However, many people also misuse "fracing" to cover the entire process as well.  Whether purposefully or not, they are both different phases used for the end purpose to extract the natural gas from the shale.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Reed on March 8, 2011 at 5:47am
I will add to this and say that not all drilling is the same. N while most people here maybe aware of that fact drive by readers may not understand the difference betweenthe many types of drilling. 1 accident happen in exploration and drilling un related to the current shale play they are easily lumped into the drilling category. 4 example a recent accident on a truck rig was reported in local papers is a drilling accident. When the accident had nothing to do with shale gas.
Permalink Reply by Sherry on March 8, 2011 at 10:25am
Katherine, my apologies, I misunderstood.  Has anyone here asked an O&G operator about the leases or consulted an attorney... or are they part of a coalition?  I KNOW there are landowners who have received land/water protection language added to their leases.  And yes, having the water tested is a must.  In PA, state regs state the water must be tested 1,000 feet (I believe) from a proposed well site.  However, many of the larger gascoes are testing it up to 2,500 feet away.  It's just as worthwhile protection for them to have the results up front and before drilling as it is for the landowner and his/her neighbors.  Among the lessons learned from Dimock was that one.

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