Effects Of Fracking Laid Out: Pa. Farmers Speak During SP Meeting

As of Saturday, November 12, 2011

Two dairy farmers from Pennsylvania put a face on the international fracking debate Thursday by describing the personal, community and business risks they say are associated with the controversial natural gas extraction method.

“We have seen our communities become divided,” said Carol French, whose family leased the mineral rights under its farmland to gas companies for five years. “People believe it’s a black-and-white issue. They’re not exploring the gray areas. That’s what we’re here to do.”

French and Carolyn Knapp, who described themselves as neither pro- nor anti-fracking, spent almost two hours outlining the environmental, health and social impacts during a presentation at the Days Inn in Southern Pines that was sponsored by Save Our Sandhills, a nonprofit environmental group.

The global boom in fracking over the past decade may soon be germain to northern Moore County, which lies atop the Deep River basin, where state geologists believe a 40-year supply of natural gas exists.

Fracking is illegal in North Carolina — for now — but legislation passed earlier this year by the General Assembly has moved the state closer to shale gas development. House Bill 242 calls for completion of a fracking study by three state agencies before May 1.

There is a contentious worldwide debate over whether fracking is safe, with little scientific evidence to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks.

French and Knapp, who operate conventional and organic dairy farms, respectively, provided an eyewitness account of how they say fracking has changed the landscape in Bradford County, Pa.

“It’s very difficult for me to sit there and watch the land being destroyed,” Knapp said. “The only power we have to change this is through making our voices heard, because all the decisions being made right now are based on money.”

For example, politicians are lobbied by an industry that touts natural gas as the ideal interim energy source, or “bridge” fuel, in the transition away from coal and oil toward renewable energy.

“But the politicians are experiencing financial gains and gifts to keep regulations lax,” Knapp said. “They’re selling out the public.”

While shale gas production through tax revenue and new jobs could have a profound economic impact in North Carolina, there are a plethora of environmental, legal, regulatory and policy concerns, especially since fracking is exempt from most federal regulations.

Knapp cautioned that the economic benefits are often overhyped.

“Most of the jobs being created (in Pennsylvania) are of a temporary nature, and the majority are in trucking. These jobs are transient jobs, and that’s what people do not understand,” Knapp said. “The gas companies tend to overestimate how long the gas supply will last because they want you to get excited and sign a lease. But they can’t even assure you if the gas will ever be sold or whether it will stay in the country. They say, ‘We’re going to sell it to the highest bidder.’ It’s just business.”

‘Lied to and Cheated’

Knapp has let one of her leases expire while the other is in litigation. Meanwhile, the industry goes on around her.

“I’ve been lied to and cheated too many times,” she said. “Between 300 and 500 trucks go by my house every day. This industry works 24/7. There is a lot of stress due to the noise created by round-the-clock drilling and trucking.”

Knapp said the increase in traffic volume has torn up roads, hampered emergency responders and lengthened commutes.

“It used to take five minutes to travel between two towns near where I live that are five miles apart,” she said. “Today, it takes about 45 minutes.”

French noted that the crime rate, especially the number of rapes, and the divorce rate have increased since fracking became prevalent in Bradford County because 70 percent of the full-time workers hired by the gas companies are imported from other states.

“They work two weeks on, two weeks off, and the gas companies fly them back and forth,” French said. “Their basic requirements when they’re on the job are a place to stay that has Internet and cable TV access as well as laundry service. But they obviously spend their down-time in other pursuits.”

There is no model state for North Carolina to follow because even the best state-level efforts to monitor the rapidly growing industry are not matched by adequate enforcement. And officials in states where drilling is allowed admit that keeping up with the industry is an enormous struggle.

‘No Benefit’

“The development of new and better technology has far outpaced regulatory program protections,” said Hope Taylor, a research scientist and executive director of Clean Water for North Carolina. “It’s also clear that any penalties are being absorbed by the gas companies as a cost of doing business.”

After a well is dug vertically and then turned horizontally, fracking involves forcibly pumping 2 million to 8 million gallons of water at great pressure to effectively shatter the shale, thereby allowing the gas to escape and be captured.

The fluid used in fracking is about 99.5 percent water, with sand and chemicals constituting the rest of the mixture.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a comprehensive research study to investigate the potential adverse impact that fracking may have on water quality and public health. Preliminary results are expected next year, with the final report due in 2014.

Experts say decisions regarding the extent to which natural gas extraction should be regulated must balance public health and safety, energy needs, and the inevitable bureaucracy that regulation brings.

In short, both the promise and peril of fracking appear to be substantial, and the debate will be heated.

“The gas companies did not fully disclose their risks to me before I signed my leases, and there is a lack of regulatory agencies to help us out,” Knapp said. “They keep saying they’ll do it safely, but they haven’t gotten 100 percent right yet.”

Which is why Taylor believes that there is “really no benefit” for Moore Countians to sign a mineral rights lease right now.

“We hope that folks won’t compromise themselves,” she said. “This is something the county needs to think about very seriously.”

More like this story

Zippy 1 year, 6 months ago

When all is said and done, what do you want to bet that Moore county will become another victim of fracking. Do you doubt it? How could you when its obvious that we are destroying the earth every day and taking no responsibility for it, except that Mother Nature will wreak an awful vengeance, its happening already with every kind of cataclysmic weather event and will continue to happen increasingly. All the arguments for fracking are based on worn out paradigms of overuse economies that are run away. The only thing that will stop the insanity will be nature itself. The situation is hopeless so enjoy yourself because we're all going to die anyway.

SallyLarson 1 year, 6 months ago

It's so important that we learn everything we can about this fracking and listen to others who have been through this. Moore County is such a special and unique community drawing people here for the golf, equestrian enjoyment, and peaceful retirement; do we want to change everything for the sake of gas? We already have road and traffic issues, I can't imagine 500 trucks driving up and down 211, 15-501 or 705 to Robbins. Not to mention the noise and pollution impact on top of the land clearing. The face of Moore County will be changed forever if we don't try and get involved.

drefleury 1 year, 6 months ago

Wonder why this happens to be a hot topic the year the GOP takes power in NC? Sen. Richard Burr received $71,800 of the donations from such companies as Chesapeake Energy, DTE Energy, Halliburton, Anadarko and Chevron. Burr achieved notoriety earlier this year when he introduced a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/10/2764233/pennsylvania-farmers-warn-against.html#ixzz1dLgdRYXh

drefleury 1 year, 6 months ago

Fracking is a classic example of short term gain without regard for future generations. We only get one source of water in the ground - for people and animals, and we need to tell Energy companies we are't going to allow them to exploit our area for their profits. I hope our citizens resist the temptation to sell leases to these companies, even if the legislation goes through. The GOP is ramrodding it through with wholly inadequate research, in the name of job creation and prosperity. So sad. One professor at the UNC school of law (Don Hornstein), is trying to get some public awareness, but the GOP is not interested in any answers but "go forward."

Roorke 1 year, 6 months ago

Fracking is being heavily invested in by the BP Corporation. "BP made its entry into U.S. shale gas in 2008 when it acquired 90,000 acres of the Arkoma Basin Woodford Shale play and 135,000 acres of the Fayetteville shale from Chesapeake Energy for $2.85 billion in cash." BP Deal to Expand US Shale-Gas Operations, Herron, James, Womack Jason, and Ordonez Isabel , Rigzone | Dow Jones Newswire, (2010)

Obama was top recipient of BP-related dollars in 2008. http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-05/politics/bp.lobbying_1_bp-center-for-responsive-politics-house-energy?_s=PM:POLITICS

Please notice the dates in both articles of money spent and money given.: 2008.

GJohn 1 year, 6 months ago

Citizens, please follow this issue. Moore County residents will only be hurt by fracking. Please look beyond the surface and into the future a few years. You should have heard these ladies speak about the devastation brought about by fracking in their community. Don't let it happen here. I can't believe that more people aren't up in arms.

jr27356 1 year, 6 months ago

It's going to happen , Check into who has buying up land in the county's involved !!*

temperanceprudence 1 year, 6 months ago

In reading up on this issue, working to learn more about the good/bad so I can make an informed decision, it may be that the bigger issue is surface water contamination rather than ground water contamination. Seems that the process generates a significant amount of 'waste' water due to the volume of water used and the additives. Most of the wells and injections sites are in rural areas that do not have city or county sewers to transport the water to a facility like the one at Addor for treatment and spills of this waste water have been common in some areas though not in all areas. It will be interesting to follow this thread given the impact that could ( I stress 'could' as it may prove to be a non-issue) result should contamination to Drowning Creek in the Southern flank of the County, Little River in the Central/Eastern areas of the County, or Deep River/Bear Creek in the Northern flank of the County occur due to this process. Moore is not a water-rich County so loss of use of any of it would not be a good thing long-term.

Roorke 1 year, 6 months ago

Concerning water contamination, the amounts of water used to drill the well is 65,000 to 650,000 gallons. . "Fracking a typical Chesapeake horizontal deep shale natural gas or oil well requires an average of 5 million gallons per well." http://www.hydraulicfracturing.com/Water-Usage/Pages/Information.aspx That is a lot of water. Some drilling operations are recycling the water, but all of this water is removed from somewhere, trucked in, and used. That is a lot of trucks as a average tanker truck holds about 10,000 to 12000 gallons. On the WRAL story a well drilling site was shown and it was fairly small looking, I could not imagine over five million gallons of water used in an area about the average size of a homesite. Who will pay to clean-up as we all know there will be accidents? What about when prices fall for natural gas if there is a glut, and fracking businesses go under? The people responsible will just move on as has been the case in past history, leaving the problem for someone else to deal with. Once the water is fouled, thats basically it.

drefleury 1 year, 6 months ago

The surface water contamination has been a problem in some of the states with deep wells... It is believed to be compounded by the relatively shallow depths at which one has to drill to extract NC's reserves. It is far too important to preserve our water supply than to give some gas/oil companies a 1% bump in AGR. What do you think they'll do when the gas runs out? Return the land to it's previous condition? Or take the least expensive exit strategy to roll the assets in place over to the next venture? I assure you it's the latter, and that has been proven time and time again. This is why we have over 27,000 abandoned oil rigs in the Gulf. How many of those are leaking oil? Nobody is willing to spend the resources needed to find out.

LongleafLarry 1 year, 6 months ago

Everyone of you better turn down your thermostats this winter to 58, and prepare to be cold. I guess that the US will be sending more money overseas to buy our natural gas instead of using our own. I hope that when your plug in cars cease to work because natural gas is used to boost electricity production in the summer and winter when demand peaks that you enjoy walking. Conservation is great but you still need a baseline way to generate power. I guess now it will be ok by everyone here that we continue to rip apart our scenic mountains here on the East Coast to dig more coal. The coal industry says "Thank You"

ps Go Nuclear Power

GJohn 1 year, 6 months ago

Are you aware that one of the "selling points" these ladies were handed was "Don't you want to do your patriotic duty and help produce gas here in the U.S.?" THEN, the frackers turn around and sell the gas OVERSEAS!!

clbvpm 1 year, 6 months ago

@drefleury ~ Took only a few seconds to pull up this, only one of several. Both parties are receiving donatons from energy interest groups. This is just the latest, it is today's Washington Examiner.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2011/08/energy-company-gives-250k-group-headed-omalley

LongleafLarry 1 year, 6 months ago

Interesting you mention those three countries - even with the damage from the earthquake Japan produces large amounts of its power needs from nuclear power. China is building more nuclear power plants to reduce its dependence on using its dirty high sulfur coal deposits, and Germany is in for an Energy shock when it starts to close down its own nuclear power plants. The Answer is you need a blended source of energy. You cannot be dependent on only one source for you energy needs. Solar is great, but what do you do at night? Wind is great - but it doesn't always blow. You need a stable way to generate a baseline power then you need a way to quickly increase your power generating needs when demand spikes. Gas is perfect for that purpose - And that is why power companies love their gas turbines. You can spin them up quickly and take them down almost as fast.
The alternative is lets turn off our computers, you need to park your Harley and I need to park my car and start walking. Also if you are a property owner in that area then do not sell your mining rights. It is your choice.

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