Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Allen on July 11, 2011 at 2:59pm

is this open to the public?

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 12, 2011 at 4:16am

Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear. It's a public meeting.  No RSVP required.  No fees to attend.  Just walk in.  There will be time to answer questions too.

Permalink Reply by Steven Gardner on July 12, 2011 at 2:28pm

I'm in Guernsey Co but wanted to chime in here.. I signed up with the Williams group last month after going to all the other meetings, gathering info I could find on the web & talking to people since last winter. I received their draft lease last week and it is a very good lease... an ALOV variant. Bill is very knowledgble and knows both the industry and landowner sides of the issues. No matter where you are in this process I would recommend attending their presentation .. It was very informative.

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on July 12, 2011 at 2:53pm

That film is more propaganda than documentary.

Permalink Reply by Nate on July 12, 2011 at 4:09pm

Can't echo this enough.

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 13, 2011 at 4:24am

Katherine,

 

It's not that those people in Gasland weren't having real problems.  What is wrong with the movie (well, one of the things wrong with it) is that it takes those problems and draws the conclusion that the technology of hydraulic fracturing is responsible for their problems, which has been proven not to be true.  And then it goes a step further by giving the impression that fracing will most likely cause those problems every time that it is used, which is just not true.  The refutations against the claims made in the movie are readily available from many government and private sources.

  

That is not to say that the gas and oil industry has perfectly clean hands either.  There have been cases of negligence in well installations that have led to water contamination, but they are rare.  These cases have had nothing to do with horizontal drilling or fracing, but with how the vertical part of the well is cased with cement.

  

There have also been cases of geologists misreading or misunderstanding the geology.  This article (click here) describes how in northeastern PA they have had 35 cases of methane getting into water wells.  It turns out that the geology of that area is such that naturally occurring methane is trapped in shallow sandstone layers, and that there are a lot of fracture and fault lines in these layers that can help transport the methane into the aquifer.  Low-level methane has always been present, but if the layers are disturbed by drilling through them, higher amounts of methane can be released and that is apparently what has happened there.  With  an understanding of this special geology and taking extra precautions, drilling can probably still be accomplished, but the point is that these problems have nothing to do with fracing technology, and the contamination is not from fracwater nor from the gas being extracted, but from natural methane in layers much nearer to the surface.

  

Gasland is a classic propaganda piece. There is not an objective piece of reporting in it. Producer Josh Fox has an agenda, and he only reports the facts that support it, while omitting others. There are some facts and truth sprinkled through the film, but every fact is twisted, and he makes connections and associations to serve his agenda, which are connections he has no business making, since they don't agree with official findings and investigations performed regarding damage to the water wells highlighted in the movie.

  

The movie also paints a picture of conspiring government officials and greedy corporations who want to rape the land for the money they can make, and that any landowner who is supportive of drilling and signs a lease is making a deal with the devil.  While there are inevitably evil greedy people involved in any enterprise that involves a lot of money, there are plenty of people involved in the O & G industry in both the public and private sector who are clear-headed people who understand that it is possible to develop this resource in an environmentally friendly way, and are working to make that happen.  In the vast majority of cases it is happening, contrary to Gasland's reporting.

  

As a landowner and Harrison County resident, I want to make sure that in our county we have expert geologists who thoroughly understand what is going on under our feet, responsible contractors drilling and casing and fracing the wells, state inspectors who are engaged and thorough, fracwater handlers who are conscientious, honest, and professional, and Lessees who treat their Lessors fairly.  That's a lot of things to fall into place, but I know that it can be done.

Permalink Reply by Paul Martinelli on July 13, 2011 at 10:58am

Amen!  I agree

Permalink Reply by JT on July 13, 2011 at 11:35am

Deception has just enough truth to make it believable!

Permalink Reply by Nate on July 13, 2011 at 12:39pm

Kathy you bring up the Gasland link about every 3 months, and we have the following discussion below every time. It seems that you have your mind made up on this, which is totally fine and good. I challenge you to take in the whole picture and look at how Oil and Gas drilling/producing works and not from the mind as a self described "son of hippies," as Josh Fox says in his first minute of the film, (after the obligatory Dick Cheney is the devil jab).

 

Everyone with questions how Hydraulic Fracturing is regulated and impacts the environment should check out this link:  

http://www.strongerinc.org/documents/Final%20Report%20of%202011%20O...

 

It's called the STRONGER report. Which was a group of state/federal regulators such as Ohio EPA, DMRM. Industry representatives, and advocacy groups such as the head of the Northeastern Ohio Oil & Gas Accountability project (NEOGAP). They examined how fracing, is done in Ohio and how the state regulates and manages it.

 

This is also the most concise presentation on how fracing is done and their observation is we are doing a good job managing it.

Permalink Reply by william on July 13, 2011 at 3:03pm

I believe nothing the media has to present. Pandering to sensationalism has wrecked this country. Look at what's going on with Rupert Murdoch's jounalistic geniuses. When I see these propaganda pieces I want to throw up just to feel better.

I will put more faith in good old common sense and sound engineering principles. The media can cover Hollywood and all their eccentricities but please don't sell us some left wing garbage. I swear anyone with a camcorder can do a documentary these days and call it the truth. Get some facts! Maybe Ralph Nader will show up to tell us why we should be socialists.

Permalink Reply by Nate on July 13, 2011 at 3:54pm

I thought the EPA was the all knowing and all caring Oracle over Oil & Gas development and the authority on what fracing does. Only when their opinion is the right opinion it seems...

 

Riddle me this Kat, why would an industry steam roll themselves out of business by leaving chaos in their wake as they pollute every area they touch. The sensational reporting of the anti-development crowd has done it's job. Their microphone is loud and everyone likes watching a train wreck so hearing about all these "toxic soups" O&G producers are putting in the ground and contaminating ground water with, get traction by an uneducated populous unfortunately. I know my water comes from 300 feet but if you're getting your drinking water from 5000+ feet Kathy, we need to get you  a new water well!

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on July 13, 2011 at 5:00pm

In my day job I have a customer in the drilling business. He tells me the hype coming from the anti-fracing crowd about 750 chemicals being pumped down a well for fracing is TOTAL BS. A typical frac job uses a mix of a dozen or so chemicals, a boatload of water, and sand. Each company that does fracing has their own recipes that are proprietary in that they protect the recipes they use because they think theirs are better than what the competition uses. They do have to declare what chemicals they use and keep good records of them.   Its kind of like the Coke vs Pepsi thing, you can find out what the ingredients are, but they the amounts of each ingredient that make the actual recipe are proprietary.

The 750 number the anti-drilling crowd quotes so often is a just a lie. Across the whole nation, for all producers who frac wells, a combined total of about 750 different chemicals have been used over the years. He tells me that at each well site, they must declare to the EPA what chemicals they use in their frac fluid. They also must have available on-site, the MSDS sheets for those chemicals used at that site so that in the event of an accident, first responders can immediately assess what they are dealing with. They are not going to tell Joe Schmoe off the street what their recipe is, but regulatory agencies have ready access to what is being used at each well.

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