Hello David
Suddenly I seem to be getting in touch frequently, I hope you don’t mind. I hope you are well and that the recent bad weather that we saw on our TV news was not too bad in your part of the world.
This time it is about the effects of fracking. I know that fracking is widespread in Pennsylvania and wonder how it affects life on a day-to-day basis. Have you had more earthquakes, as reported in Oklahoma? How unsightly are the gas/oil wells? Are there any health/pollution implications? You will be aware that there are plenty of horror stories on youtube etc.
Fracking is just beginning in the UK. It has been banned in France, Germany and a few other countries in Europe. Unfortunately for the frackers, the first time they did it here they started a small earthquake in Blackpool (which they did take responsibility for). As a result of that there was a government moratorium on fracking for a while. Pressure from gas companies has meant that that has been lifted and fracking will start soon. Unfortunately, although we live in a National Park, we are situated over a band of gas bearing shale. Having heard adverse reports of the effects of fracking from the United States, we are concerned about environmental problems and you seem to be close enough to give an opinion. Does it bother you?
On a more business-related point, are the huge amounts of water and sand used in fracking causing shortages for golf courses in the USA? The sand they use seems to be very similar to that used for top dressing golf greens here.
Any comments or first hand experience you may have would be gratefully received!
Best wishes
Robert
On 16/12/2014 13:48, David wrote:
Good to hear from you.
Yes, we are in the midst of one of the deep ( 5000 to 8000 ft.) well drilling hot spots. There is one well pad located about ¾ mile north of us and one just completed ½ mile west of us. The well sites cover 5 to 6 acres when completed, but are not unsightly. A lot of the well sites are out of sight on large tracts of land. There have been no earthquakes reported here in Pennsylvania as a result of fracking. There have been reports of a couple of earthquakes blamed on fracking to the west of us in the eastern part of the state of Ohio. Our state has been very liberal in terms of allowing the oil and gas drillers to go forward with development. On the other hand, New York state has a moratorium on fracking until they determine if it is “safe” to allow it in the state.
Both my wife and I are concerned about the potential issues with water and air pollution as a result of all the gas well development. Basically our township is being transformed from a rural residential area into a more heavy industrialized zone in some respects. This is now being challenged in the court system. When a new well pad was beginning to be developed only ½ mile from the local high school and middle school challenges were made. This is ongoing. It is also hard to predict how the newly elected state governor (a Democrat, former governor was Republican and pro gas drilling) will impact the drilling. He has proposed more taxes on the drillers and oil/gas companies.
In addition, it will be interesting to see how the drop in oil and gas prices on the world market will impact near future development. I believe most people here locally were not concerned about the environmental impact because the initial money paid out in leases and contracts was high and this overshadowed any thoughts on the negatives, pollution, and environmental impact. I am monitoring our water well as we have our own well for our drinking and household water. I am more concerned about potential air quality issues (particularly radioactive contamination going into the air from the well flaring) from the ongoing operations.
The major impact so far has been the tremendous increase in tanker truck and heavy equipment traffic on our local roadways. Trucks hauling water in for fracking is a continual operation day and night for months. I have not heard of any impacts on sand supply or sand costs to the golf courses. There have been a couple of gas well fires and instances of chemical/contaminates spilled at some sites. The well fires received some news coverage, but no long term concerns or issues have gained traction in the news.
Always good to hear from you.
Dave
From: Robert
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 4:20 PM
To: David
Subject: Re: Fracking!!
Hi David
Thank you for your reply and I sense your concern. The things you describe are what we are afraid of - endless convoys of trucks to and from the wells through this beautiful landscape with its tourist industry. We are also concerned about the re-injection of water that has been contaminated by the fracking process which will be also transported by road. I don't know whether they do that with you. I have read that in the USA they have large lagoons where the waste water is allowed to evaporate instead.
What you have written is a very powerful personal account of what could happen to our rural communities. I wonder if you would mind if it were used as part of a campaign against the planned gas wells here. Would you object if excerpts were used with the heading "Letter from Pennsylvania - December 2014" or similar. We would not use your name, address or email address. Incidentally this wasn't why I wrote to you but what you have written is very compelling and could be useful to us here in our fight against the planned wells.
Please let me know what you think.
Robert
Date: / Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:12:12 -0500
From: / David
To: / 'Robert
Robert:
I also failed to mention the noise, 24 hours a day for 6 months that we had to deal with while the one closest well was being drilled. This affected our sleeping at night. All of the wells that have and are being drilled in our area are being connected by pipelines (I didn’t actually measure but they looked to be 24 to 30 inch diameter pipes). These cross all roads (beneath) and terrain connecting the wells. 50 to 75 yard swaths of topsoil are removed and stock piled, a ditch is dug at least 8 feet deep, the pipeline buried, top soil is replaced, and the areas reseeded.
They do a nice job in restoration, but these pipelines cross residential property, agricultural fields, and through forested areas. Sites are disrupted significantly during the pipeline installation process. There is now talk of where compression stations will be installed to move the gas through these lines to processing and distribution plants/terminals that are being planned and constructed. Again the noise factor with the compression stations is a major concern of ours depending on where these will be located.
I don’t mind if you use any of my correspondence in your campaign.
Good luck.
Dave