Forum on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Extraction Comments

Gas Drilling

Forum on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Extraction Comments

By admin ⋅ January 22, 2010 ⋅

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Tags: contamination, fracking, Gas Drilling, Marcellus shale, water

Jay Sweeney’s synopsis from attending the forum (from his blog post and dvslist):

The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania decided to study and discuss all facets of the Marcellus Shale issue and reach consensus on the role of state and local governments on this volatile issue. The League believes it is essential to look at all sides of an issue before reaching consensus and speaking out. Toward that end, the LWV will hold meetings until March 26, 2010.

On Wednesday, January 20, the LWV of Lackawanna County in conjunction with the University of Scranton’s Task Force for Sustainability held a Forum on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Extraction. Pearn Auditorium was filled beyond capacity and the crowd was vocal.

Bless the LWV for their last minute addition of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability Co-founder Pat Carullo to the panel. Mr. Carullo added the activist perspective to the otherwise staid commentary from the industry, DEP and Penn Future.

Wendy Straatmann, a vice president for Exco Resources, began the presentation. She noted the jobs that would be created from exploiting the 500 trillion cubic foot Marcellus gas play. The shale has been there for millions of years, but, it is now economically feasible to extract it with the hydrofrackturing process. She claimed hydrofrackturing has been done since the 40s and 50s.

Matt Sheppard, the senior director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy, demonstrated the concentric rings of steel casing used to protect the water table in the drilling process.

Pam Fedrock from Penn Future described her organization as “mainstream” and not an environmental group per se. Penn Future supports a severance tax , responsible drilling and the FRAC Act. The FRAC Act would require industry to disclose the chemicals used in the hydrofracturing process which have been been labeled “proprietary”.

Fedrock raised the question where is flowback water treated? This water often referred to as brine is saltier that ocean water and has been found to contain the radioactive isotopes Radium 226 and 228. She also mentioned a proposal to take the wastewater to the Chesapeake Bay region and disposing it in saltier water.

Jennifer Means from Department of Environmental Protection’s Eastern Oil & Gas region Williamsport office stated that fracking is unlikely to cause water problems due to the 5,000’ to 8,000’ depth of the shale. DEP has been responding mostly to complaints of onsite spills and gas migration issues. The Eastern Region has issued 1200 drilling permits.

Pat Carullo, co founder of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, started his presentation by declaring we are here because we are addicted to fossil fuels. He went on to point out the dangers from hydrofracking to our water resources especially the Delaware River which provides drinking water to Philadelphia. Carullo flew over the region and detected a line of defoliated trees near the corner of a drilling pad. Testing revealed some indication of chemical contaminant. Shortly thereafter, the soil was mounded and removed. He concluded by playing an audio clip from a man from Southwest Pennsylvania who’s water was affected after drilling in the Marcellus Shale near his home. An independent test revealed volatile organic compounds in the water.

A panel discussion and question and answer period followed. These were quite contentious. There were shouts of “liar” from the audience after answers from the industry were not accepted. Carullo refuted the industry and regulatory agencies from the panel. A representative from the League of Women Voters took the mic and stated that the forum was being taped for broadcast on local public access TV and the crowd response would not be audible. Only those that had a microphone would be heard.
The forum ended shortly thereafter. The LWV will post answers to questions submitted by the audience on their website.

Jay Sweeney
http://www.jaysweeney.org/
http://www.lwvlackawanna.org/
http://www.damascuscitizens.org/
http://nepagasaction.org/
http://www.gpofpa.org/

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