Marcellu$ $hale Is What We See
Washington, PA Observer-Reporter
2 October 2009
A couple of weeks ago, a Texas gas-leasing company, J. Howard Bass
& Associates, held several public meetings about the possibility of
drilling gas wells in the City of Washington. Hundreds of people
attended, not to oppose the concept but rather out of curiosity and the
possibility of unexpected income.
The same company is planning meetings for residents of North Strabane
Township. Meanwhile, Washington County commissioners are considering
expansion of gas-well drilling at Cross Creek County Park after
receiving royalty checks totaling $186,249 for the months of March
through June. And a couple of miles from the city, water is being
pumped out of No. 4 Dam to fracture Marcellus Shale more than a mile
beneath new wells on Amwell Township farms. The state, too, is ready to
plug holes in its budget by opening up state parks and gamelands to
drilling.
We are at the heart of Marcellus drilling, which stretches from West
Virginia deep into New York state. Wells are being drilled all around
us, tapping natural gas that may well supply a good percentage of our
nation's energy needs for the next half century. But we fear the vision
of that future may be obstructed by dollar signs in the eyes.
Those dollar signs make it difficult to see the damage that has already
been done to streams and water supplies by the leaking or dumping of
wastewater from the drilling process. The West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection recently blamed the massive fish kill in
Dunkard Creek in Greene County on an algae bloom, but suspicions are
high that conditions for the algae could have been created only by
poisonous water from gas extraction. There is fear that chemicals used
to fracture the shale, as well as dangerous substances brought up from
underground could contaminate the water table.
In 2005, Congress exempted gas and oil operations from the Clean Water
Act provisions for sediment and erosion control, as long as they are
under five acres. Pennsylvania has bent over backward to invite
drilling operations, fast-tracking permit applications and declining to
impose a severance tax on gas. In 2008, Pennsylvania issued 471 permits
for gas wells; 476 were issued in the first half of this year alone.
Imagine what this area might be like if the price of natural gas were
not so depressed. As it is, we're still in the middle of a Gas Rush.
Some folks in Washington and Greene counties have expressed the idea
that there should be no Marcellus Shale gas wells, that the process is
too dirty and dangerous. We disagree; this is too rich a resource not
to be exploited. But extracting this gas must be done right, and done
legally. And in Pennsylvania, our government must be bending over
backward not to encourage drilling but to make sure that our other
valuable resources are protected as it is being done.
We must remember that it is so much more possible, and much less
expensive, to protect the environment from harm than to try to restore
it after it has been destroyed.