Dateline: 16 June 2012
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| The original "I Love NY" logo and the whole "I Love NY" campaign celebrated the beautiful natural resources, history, and cultural diversity of our state. This graphic, made by pro-fracking advocates, conveys a much different message. To them, New York is all about natural gas and the opportunity to make a lot of money from extracting that gas. Of course, the gas industry loves hydrofracking Pennsylvania too, but not everyone in PA loves the gas industry, especially those who have suffered harm from the exploiters, as discussed in the following report.... |
It was clear from the presentation that the gas companies often offer lucrative sign-on bonuses, but they also employ different kinds of misinformation and chicanery to acquire gas leases. They take advantage of landowners who trust them to tell the whole truth. And the average personal attorney is not well equipped to protect the best interests of landowners when it comes to dealing with gas company contracts.
Closely related to the money involved in gas leases is the matter of jobs that are created when hydrofracking comes into a community. According to Carol & Carolyn, most of the jobs created are for truck drivers. So if someone is a truck driver or owns a trucking company, they will benefit from hydrofracking. Carol’s stepson drives a water truck.
The other job most in demand is rig hands. Being a rig hand is a job for younger men, and it is transient work. Rig hands go where the drilling rigs go. Many rig hands are from Texas, Oklahoma, and South America.
There are, of course, also several local businesses that do well when a community is hydrofracked. Restaurants, jewelers and attorneys were mentioned. But such trickle-down prosperity, like the job of a rig hand, is transient.... here today and gone tomorrow.
Along with the jobs comes an incredible amount of truck traffic on town roads. The two women told of how a trip that used to take them 5 minutes ended up taking 45 minutes because of the increased truck traffic. It was more traffic than the roads were made to handle, and the roads were ruined as a result. There was considerable diesel-fume-pollution from all the trucks too.
Carol & Carolyn showed pictures of “sand clouds” coming off a well pad. The sand is silica. I don’t know the purpose of the silica. The women told of the respiratory damage that affected animals and people downwind of the silica clouds.
According to Carol, Bradford County statistics showed an increase in crime after hydrofracking came. Rapes were up significantly during the height of gas drilling activity. Divorces have also happened as a result of hydrofracking coming into the area.
The point is, a community that is “fracked” is a community that experiences significant changes. The ladies explained that no one can really understand the changes that come to a community when it is hydrofracked unless they have lived through it.
But the worst thing of all is what happens to the drinking water. There are numerous homes with ruined water wells in Bradford County. The homeowners now have expensive-to-install-and-maintain water treatment systems (that don’t always work that well), and/or they have water trucked in and stored in big plastic water tanks called “water buffalos.”
Carol brought a sample of water from her well. It was milky white. She said people are getting water of all different colors out of their wells, and with unknown chemicals in it. She expressed frustration with Pennsylvania politicians who, when confronted with contaminated water samples from Bradford County residents, insist that no wells in Bradford County have been contaminated by hydrofracking.
Carol said that she used to believe that elected officials and government agencies would protect her and her family from harm. But she has come to realize that the government is protecting the gas company interests more than they are protecting those who are suffering from the effects of hydrofracking activity.
Carol told the story of her daughter getting sick with flu-like symptoms. Her condition worsened to the point that they took her to the hospital. The hospital sent her home with some antibiotic for a urinary infection. But the sickness persisted. The hospital didn’t know what was wrong. This sort of thing has happened to numerous people in Bradford County since hydrofracking came. Carol’s daughter moved to Tennessee and her medical condition has improved.
Carol told of the red rash she has on her body and held out her arm to show the red blotches. She doesn’t drink or cook with the contaminated water from her well, but her dairy cows drink it. And the cows have skin ailments too. Carol says the state of PA does not test the milk for chemicals that might be in her milk. She sells it and it goes into the grocery stores. “You’re drinking it,” she said to the audience.
Carolyn said that property values are down 80% to 90% on real estate where the water wells have been ruined, and they gave several examples.
Once the aboveground value of a property is destroyed, the major value becomes the rights to what is under the ground. But it turns out that some gas companies, when they need money, mortgage the underground value of their leased properties (it’s referred to as an “open end mortgage”). Homeowners have no say in the matter and their property is virtually worthless to them as a result.
Much more was discussed at the presentation but the gist of it all is that hydrofracking is not harmless. It can be ugly, destructive, and dangerous.
The question that every town needs to ask itself is if it is worth it. With that thought in mind, I’m persuaded that the potential risks that come with hydrofracking far outweigh the potential benefits.
I’m not a gambler, and I’m especially not a gambler when it comes to protecting the health, safety and general welfare of the community I represent as an elected town board member.
As reported in an earlier post to this web site, another Sempronius town board member publicly stated that I will never be elected to the board again in Sempronius because of my objection to hydrofracking. Well, if I am not elected because I’ve put my responsibilities to protect the people I represent, over and above my own self interests, I can live with that. My conscience will be clear.
The responsibility for protecting innocent people in our town from harm by scheming gas companies with their dangerous drilling technology rests entirely on the town board. I consider it a sacred trust and responsibility to protect the health, safety and general welfare of my town. Until the gas companies have a proven track record of safety, I would never consider allowing them in this town. I only wish all my fellow board members felt the same way.
For the record: I did not create the controversy surrounding hydrofracking in Sempronius. A group of concerned citizens came to our town board and asked for a moratorium. I took their concerns seriously and investigated the matter. What I’ve found (as reported on this web site) has alarmed and concerned me.
Natural gas will still be under Sempronius years from now—when or if the gas industry comes up with a safer technology for extracting it. Until then, I’m against hydrofracking in Sempronius just like I’m against rabid dogs, larceny and mass murderers.