Dateline: 20 March 2012
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| Gas industry advocate Frank Henderson (pictured at left) gave the presentation in Niles |
The town board of Niles, N.Y. (right next to Sempronius) unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on hydrofracking back in November of 2011. Last Saturday the board had two gas industry advocates come to Niles and give a presentation.
The Niles town board made a point of inviting Sempronius town board members to the event. I thought that was real nice of them and made sure to be there. One other Sempronius board member was able to make it to the presentation.
The main speaker was Frank Henderson, president of Appalachian Production Services. Henderson came as a representative of the Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA), and was accompanied by Adam Schultz an IOGA attorney. Mr. Henderson began by explaining that the mission of IOGA is to advocate for the gas industry—to present the industry perspective.
Mr. Henderson’s take was very similar to that of Jack Showers, public relations man for Talisman Energy, who spoke at the Sempronius town board meeting last month. You might recall that my report of that meeting was broken into seven parts! Click Here for Part One.
Mr. Henderson said that New York has a long history of gas drilling, going back to the 1800s. He said that since 1950 most gas wells in New York have been hydraulically fractured. Mr. Henderson further stated that there have been no serious problems with the technology and that “hydrofracking is not a risk to drinking water supplies.” He further stated that the gas industry has a “stellar safety record in New York State.”
Mr. Henderson then explained that less than 1% of the fluid used in hydrofracking has chemicals in it, and the chemicals are nothing more toxic than what you would find in household products typically found under your sink. He admitted that there is a lot of truck traffic and industrial activity that comes with hydrofracking, but only for a little while. He said the gas companies would fix the town roads up better than they were to begin with. Furthermore, he stated that a lot of money would come into the local community, and jobs too.
In short, Mr. Henderson spoke very highly of the gas industry. He stated that they can drill for gas “without any risk to the environment and families.” At the end of his presentation, the meeting was opened up for questions.
Judging from the questions that people asked, I think it is safe to say that there were a lot of very concerned and skeptical people in the audience. In fact, only one person in the audience seemed to have no concerns about hydrofracking at all. Instead of asking a question, he spoke in support of hydrofracking. Here is how the Auburn Citizen newspaper reported it the next day:
David Becker, a board member for the town of Sempronius, said three Sempronius board members toured a drilling site in Pennsylvania recently and appreciated what they saw. He said he agreed with Henderson’s presentation. “You’ve got integrity. Your people mean well,” Becker said. “I think we’re missing out on a great opportunity in New York state by fighting this so hard.”
For the record, I was not one of the Sempronius town board members that went to the hydrofracking tour, hosted by Jack Showers, PR man for Talisman Energy. I was invited, and I originally intended to go, but decided against it because I had more pressing things to get done.
David Becker said quite a bit more than the newspaper reported. I think he said the roads were in great shape, the compressors were very quiet, there were no toxic fumes, and everything about the operation was impressive. I was watching the two gas guys when Dave was speaking, and they looked to be very pleased with what he was saying. Perhaps Dave will give a report on the tour at the next Sempronius town board meeting on the 26th of this month.
If you knew nothing about hydrofracking, the IOGA presentation and David Becker’s eyewitness report would leave you feeling like gas drilling in the Finger Lakes region is completely benign, and that it would be the best thing that ever happened to our area.
Personally, I’d like to believe all that. It would, after all, just be a whole lot easier to ignore the other side of this issue. But I never buy a car without looking under the hood, and I’m not about to buy hydrofracking in my town without looking beyond the don’t-worry-be-happy facade that pro-fracking advocates (most of whom are benefiting financially from the gas industry) present.
I’m persuaded that there is ample evidence to justify the serious concerns that a growing number of people have about the safety of hydrofracking technology. I have presented some of that evidence here over the past few weeks.
For example, in This Essay I told you about Bradford County commissioner Mark Smith and his letter to the Governor in which he said, “Well water contamination in Bradford County is a real and serious issue.” He further stated that the impact of natural gas development on his county was “extreme” and “negative.” I wonder why Frank Henderson did not mention that in his presentation?
In This Essay I told you about the Manhattan Institute study that found over a three year period that 1 out of 14 gas wells drilled in Pennsylvania experienced serious environmental accidents.
In This Essay I told you about the obscure Chesapeake Energy SEC prospectus that informs potential investors that the company’s natural gas operations are subject to many environmental risks and hazards (and lists them out). Mr. Henderson neglected to include that in his presentation, just like the land men never told the people in Niles and Sempronius when they bought the leases to their land.
I’ve introduced you to professor Anthony Ingraffea (Click Here) with a Ph.D. in hydrofracking and 30+ years of research into hydrofracking, much of it working for gas companies. Professor Ingraffea is an undisputed authority on the subject of hydrofracking and he does not believe current technology is anywhere near safe enough for use in the Finger Lakes.
And there are the numerous newspaper reports from Pennsylvania (Click Here) that tell us about hydrofracking accidents. The one article states, “Chesapeake was fined a record $1.1 million by state regulators ... for a series of water contamination incidents.”
Huh? What? Hey, that’s not what Frank Henderson says!
I’ve only scratched the surface with reasons to be concerned about the safety of hydrofracking. My point here is that there are serious and legitimate concerns and, that being the case, I’m not about to swallow gas industry claims—hook, line and sinker.
As I’ve said before, my focus as a town board member is the health, safety and general welfare of the many people in Sempronius who have no stake in this gas “play” yet will be impacted by it. I don’t see where any technology with such a clear and compelling track record of harming innocent people is a “great opportunity.”