Meet Another Area 'Blessed' by Fracking
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Want to know some of the blessings fracking could bring to North Carolina and northern Moore County? Look at another place with "north" in its name: North Dakota.
Specifically, consider New Town, N.D., whose population is (or was until recently) 1,500 - a few hundred more souls than now inhabit our own Robbins. And clearly, those souls are growing increasingly traumatized now that big-time, get-rich-quick fracking has descended with a vengeance upon their once laid-back community and on the entire western part of their state.
I've never been to North Dakota, way up there in the upper Great Plains. But I happened to find out what has been happening lately in New Town thanks to NPR, which is in the midst of taking a detailed, pro-and-con look at fracking and the oil-and-gas boom all this week. Daily segments from many locales are airing both on "Morning Edition" and on evening "All Things Considered" broadcasts.
This should be must listening for us back here. You can hear replays or read transcripts by going to npr.org and clicking on "Programs." I'll focus here on Monday morning's session, which compelled me to stop in mid-toothbrushing and listen for five or six minutes.
First the good news. North Dakota, which had formerly fallen on hard times, now has a 3.5 percent unemployment rate. The state government enjoys a million-dollar budget surplus. And it's all because of a major petroleum rush that promises to make North Dakota the third-largest oil state, after Alaska and Texas.
The bad news is that those two billion barrels of recently discovered oil - and accompanying natural gas - can't be extracted in the "easy," old-fashioned way by simply drilling holes into high-pressure underground pools and watching the gushers spew and your bank account grow.
Now you have to create the pressure artificially by pumping untold millions of gallons of water and chemicals deep underground and then setting off charges to blast open shale deposits, forcing them to release trapped gas and oil. This is the complicated, costly and controversial process (I hope I got it halfway right) known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Proponents say fracking will create jobs - or at least temporary ones filled by roughnecks and wildcatters from elsewhere. And that seems to be the case in overwhelmed western North Dakota.
"Imagine you live in a small farming town, worried for years about depopulation," NPR correspondent John McChesney reported from New Town. "And suddenly, overnight, the population doubles, and the newcomers are thousands of young men without families. Imagine you live in a tiny town with one main street that doubles as a state highway. ...
"Today, it's anybody's guess how many people live here. No one knows how many 18-wheelers roll through here every day. They just know it never stops. It seems nearly every big tanker truck in America is on the road here, making tens of thousands of trips a day, hauling water, fracking fluid, wastewater, crude oil - and tearing up the roads."
Residents caught up in the boom complain of constant noise, pollution and $7 gallons of milk. The number of rigs drilling into the Bakken oil field is expected to reach 225 by year's end. Each one brings an estimated 120 jobs with it. Once those wells have been exhausted, the crews move on to others. Within 20 years, incredibly, experts predict that western North Dakota could have as many as 48,000 wells.
The area around New Town, where buffalo once roamed, has always depended heavily on tourism. (Sound familiar?) Now, water systems, sewer systems and employee bases are all being bled dry. Roads are crumbling. Harassed local officials spend their days worrying about nothing else. You get a sense of out-of-control chaos.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry stages parades and events in an effort to make the community feel good - or at least to get it to hold still until the rape is completed.
One of the last people NPR interviewed was a rancher named Donnie Nelson.
"Just about anybody I've talked to that's a neighbor - and some of them are getting wealthy - are sick of it," he said. "And it's never going to be the same in this country. They're starting to realize that we had it kind of good. Even though we weren't number one in oil and we weren't number one economically and everything, we had a good life up here."
Notice that word "had," as in past tense. Pray that we never find ourselves uttering those same poignantly regretful words down here.
Steve Bouser is opinion editor of The Pilot. Contact him at (910) 693-2470 or by email at sbouser@thepilot.com.
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Comments
SH59 1 year ago
Thank you Steve, I hope that more and more people are understanding the irreversible damage and destruction that will be coming to our beautiful state if our legislatures don't take some responsibility and take charge of this industry and how they do their business here. We are a virgin state and our legislatures need to get the stars out of their eyes with the big promise of money and make this industry responsible for their actions. The small print in these contracts are horrific in their blatant lack of responsibility. When something is too good to be true.......
SH59 1 year ago
We are also a drought state in case anyone has forgotten. We don't have the enormous water resources needed to support this industry and have enough clean water to drink not to mention irrigation for our crops and water for our animals that isn't polluted and destroyed.
SH59 1 year ago
Water is FINITE, we can't get more if we needed it so we had better protect it to begin with.
Toda 1 year ago
Steve ~ could you provide some insight into the 400 + million in revenue to NC as stated in "Still Not the Last Word on Fracking"? Where exactly did those numbers come from and by whom?
SH59 1 year ago
Here's a story just out about families having to leave because the water is contaminated. http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/04/30/residents-fed-up-with-bad-water-flee-shale-drilling-areas/
I'm sorry but putting in county wide public water doesn't make polluting our groundwater ok.
Bflat 1 year ago
When it's all said and done at the tremendous expense of our our community's resources, the gas and oil is sent elsewhere.
bubbasmith 1 year ago
This is why Robbins wants to ban the sales of their water for fracking.
drefleury 1 year ago
Many of you have signed this already, and for that I thank you. But if you haven't, please consider signing this petition and passing it along via Facebook, etc. As you may know, Sen. Bob Rucho, one of our transplant legislators from the northeast, has sponsored the legislation in NC to legalize fracking. Did you know that the bill allows these companies to keep their actions secret for two years? The bill would protect natural gas drilling companies with a 2-year ban on public disclosure of all records, data and other information related to their fracking operations here. Data classified as a trade secret would be shielded forever, an issue of concern to environmental organizations because energy companies in other states have said the chemical cocktails they inject during fracking are trade secrets. Please tell these career politicians that we don't appreciate them ruining our environment for their own profit and re-election prospects. Here is the link to the petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/no-fracking-in-nc
drefleury 1 year ago
If it's so safe, why the secrecy?
drefleury 1 year ago
Even better. Send Senator Rucho an email yourself: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=S&nUserID=11
tarheelborn 1 year ago
My Oh My... Here we go again.
Look, to start with Steve says, "I've never been to North Dakota "". He's starting to sound like the Ole Three Dog Night band way back when they made the song famous, "Well I never been to heaven. But I been to Oklahoma"!
Ok. Well tell us Steve, have you ever been to Pennsylvania? What about Texas or Louisiana? Hum, probably not, but maybe you have and if you have, I'd be willing to wager you never stopped and even looked at a Natural Gas well after the few short weeks it took to drill one...
Now is where the Real Rubber Meets the Road. "NPR" Ha Ha... If we listen to all the news which spews from the mouth of these bunch of tree hugging, don't hurt that butterfly, that is a rare fossil you just found over there and must I go on?
Listen. Here is another angle to consider. There is so much unreliable and plane stupid lies being spread through the "controlled media" such as NPR until it is pathetic! What I happen to know is I have a Personal Friend, been to his home MANY times, has worked his butt off all his life right along with many family members and other friends and they have all made it big in this industry... He tells me that the few raising so much (you know what) are the ones that never had anything in the first place, let alone any Land (REAL PROPERTY) "that's the reason it is called REAL PROPERTY! Everything in between is just "personal property"! These people are so jealous until they can't stand to see a neighbor which OWNS his land and they never had enough since or guts or whatever to take a Risk to purchase something, so they can only set on the sidelines and exercise their "Civil Rights" by way of the hole in the front of their face to do nothing but try and Scare Everyone, Complain about this and that, da, da, da, da DA! They are pitiful people so unhappy because someone Else is automatically placed into a 30+% tax bracket, rather than begging the government for something. I gotta stop here, because I don't own any of this RICH LAND either, but you sure don't hear me out here BASHING everyone and everything the industry does! One last note. The lies that each well uses Millions of Gallons of our Precious Water Every Single Day is an ALL OUT LIE! He said each well only uses MAYBE 1 Million Gallons over the ENTIRE LIFE OF THE WELL! That's like 30--40 YEARS! ! ! Get with the Facts Folks and stop listening to all these jealous nutcases.... TOO FUNNY!
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year ago
@ Tarheelborn
I am not one to complain about exploiting our natural resources for profit and gain, its the American way, and you will usually hear me chant the Drill baby Drill when it comes to off shore drilling, anwar drilling, top coast etc.
Having said that, I have researched fracking alot, mostly because they are considering it in this area. The plain truth is that fracking IS dangerous. I happen to have a "personal friend" actually he is my best friend, he is a Geologist. Guess what he does for a living. He works for a Global company who goes around after fracking operations to clean the water table. See the chemical compounds that they use to create the artificial pressure required to bring the oil and gas to the surface are very toxic, chemicals such as 2-Butoxyethanol, chemicals such as benzene, and phenols(human carcinogens) acetone, toluene, naphthalene as well as diesel fuels.
The process to clean the water is very time consuming, extreamly expensive, and the worst part is, its not all that effective, in fact my buddy tells me that the only real way to clean the water is to set it on fire. Now how exactly you set an underground water aquifer on fire I could not tell you, however I gather it is extremely dangerous.
While I will agree with you that NPR is not the best source for information, your rant about property owners is not a valid argument for or against fracking, as a matter of fact, it is that kind of illogical argument that makes conservatives look like evil greedy people. Use science, the science is clear, until we have a better way of getting resources from shale we should not be doing it. We have plenty of other places we can drill for oil where this process would not be required, of the coast of NC for example.
JD 1 year ago
Fracking is ridiculous and selfish. It is linked to minor earthquakes and sink holes in Ohio, poisoned ground water, and explosions. Ask if you really want that in the area? Ask if you want yourself, your family and neighbors exposed to those dangers?
SH59 1 year ago
tarheelborn, Fracking can be very profitable to the land owners but you neglect to realize the residual affects the industry has on the whole community. Steve's mention of 18 wheelers going up and down the back roads all day long bringing with them a huge transient community of workers is very real. Aside from the chemicals being injected into the ground to perform the fracking process, the erosion of our roads, the noise and air pollution are all issues that will affect us all.
It is irresponsible to allow an industry to come to our state without putting some control on their behavior. Why should they be allowed to pollute the occasional well without taking full responsibility for cleaning it up? Why are there clauses in contracts prohibiting doctors from reporting illnesses they find related to the water people are drinking? Why do they demand secrecy and loop holes to do their business?
We have laws to protect our citizens but for some reason the Gas industry is allowed to come here and do whatever they want without accountability. That's wrong.
Bflat 1 year ago
We can debate it and talk and talk. The media prints volumes about it. Meanwhile the politicians have already decided what they're going to do. Otherwise the subject would never have been brought up. Just watch for it coming at a location near you.
alladat1 1 year ago
Tarheelborn - you were spot on with your comments about expanding the library and then proceed to flip to clueless when it comes to fracking. Fracking is just another get rich quick scheme.
Toda 1 year ago
tarheelborn => no one has to leave the comfort of their own computer to read studies about fracking; regardless of where the drilling takes place in this country. The August 3, 2003 Pilot article by Clark Cox is evident that politics has become front and center of the financial gains for supporters in our General Assembly.
Once that environmental toxic genie has settled underground, he may remain there for decades to come and in the mean time, a startling increase in cancer may puzzle scientists, while gas companies stand back twiddling their thumbs appearing to be naive about a discussion about toxic ground water and the harmful effects,
tarheelborn 1 year ago
Ok Everybody... The Lone Ranger to the Rescue. What about the fact my friend said the oil and gas company pays for "ALL HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE"! They even do a better job than the State! So that is one issue RESOLVED. The roadways are BETTER than they ever were... @ anonymusProfit. I am well aware of all these different chemicals you are mentioning. Where the heck do you think they all come from anyway? They are in the earth ALREADY! ""Use science, the science is clear, until we have a better way of getting resources from shale we should not be doing it."" There IS a BETTER way, and the State of North Carolina will be allowing, let me rephrase, not allowing but MANDATING a NEW Method of Technology, discovered RIGHT HERE In The State of North Carolina. for REMOVING 97% if not 100% of these By-Products used in the process. I don't want to be sounding like some know it all Smart_ _ _, but North Carolina is so far out front of any other State in this until it's not even questionable... @Bflat. "the politicians have already decided what they're going to do. Otherwise the subject would never have been brought up. Just watch for it coming at a location near you." You better believe it baby! It is HERE and NOW and nothing will stop or get in the way of PROGRESS and JOBS! That is why we elected these people. To REPRESENT US, because the LARGEST portion of us ALL don't have the pee-ion of a Brain to get out of the Rain! I am GLAD to know, HELP IS IN SIGHT for our Unemployed, which desperately need to FEED THEIR FAMILIES! Everyone posting and reading this online version of the paper can say of do whatever you want, but when it comes down to LOSING your HOME after working and paying the loan balance down to only 1/4th of what it once was, Only to hear the BANK you have been so Faithful for decades say, Say SORRY Bud, but GET OUT, because WE WANT OUR MONEY, but YOUR HOUSE MORE, because GUESS WHAT? Ole Uncle Sam GUARANTEE'S WE GET OUR MONEY AND YOU HOUSE, YOU STUPID DUMMY! That is just what we as AMERICANS ARE. Please Follow a very Important post of mine up next.....
alladat1 1 year ago
Duh - Thanks Tarheelborn - us dumb pee brains are awaiting you enlightening post.
alladat1 1 year ago
Sorry Tarheelborn - I missed the part where you quoted your highly respected source: What about the fact my friend said the oil and gas company pays for "ALL HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE"
tarheelborn 1 year ago
Sorry, but I didn't want to run out of space in my last post. It DO AGREE that our Elected Politicians CAN AND SHOULD do a BETTER job of PROTECTING us. However, PROTECTION from our BANKS and LENDERS! They are the ones HARMING every hard working citizen out here! What the Average hard working person out here don't understand is (are you ready for this)? When a bank or LENDER as I shall state, decides to Loan you money to buy or build a home, (used to be and I'm certain it still is) they The BANK is required to place into an account, I'll use a hypothetical figure, say $150,000.00..... The Bank must MATCH those funds in an account JUST IN CASE WE/YOU Default on the Loan. USED TO BE, you could Go to the Bank, Work out a Deal for a Reduced amount, (maybe you still can), but the Bank would say OK. We will let you take possession of the property, because it has already had a birthday. ONE YEAR Vacated (EMPTY), if you give us $25,000.00 of the OUTSTANDING Balance of $$75,000.00. WOW, Thank you Mr. Banker for Looking out for Poor Little Ole ME! HA HA, DUMB ME! The Bank isn't looking out for ME. They are looking out for THEMSELVES, because as soon as that foreclosed on House/Loan/Mortgage, whatever you want to call it, WHEN IT IS TAKEN OFF THE BANK BOOKS, Then The BANK can get their GREEDY little hands back on the $150,000.00 IN RESERVE which they were required to place on Hold, until that loan is CLEARED! NOW, unless that has changed, recently, they not only get the $150K, But Uncle Sam FEDERALLY BACKS THE LOAN, so the Bank CANNOT LOSE, ONLY US IGNORANT Hard Working 9 to 5er's!
Talk about a Stacked Deck of cards in a High Roller Poker Game, and I think you can figure it out, or maybe you can't. I don't know, but that is why the bank this week fired those employees for GAMBLING AWAY OUR MONEY STOLEN FROM US IN THE FIRST PLACE.... However, they SHOULD have FIRED THE TOP CEO and PRESIDENT, not the FALL GUY'S! They were ONLY doing what they WERE ORDERED to Do, BY THE CEO/PRESIDENT!!!!!!! That's another problem. They Need TWO PEOPLE running the show, rather than just ONE holding Both Positions.... Oh No, we can't CONTROL as well then... Ha HA!
"And da beat goes ONNNNN, and do beat goes onnnnnn".....
tarheelborn 1 year ago
@alladat1. Just ask the lady from Pa. (COMPLAINING) which has been at ALL the meetings, (I have attended), in Sanford and Ch. Hill... Even in all her Bashing the Industry, she at least admitted the Oil and Gas company PAYS FOR ALL THE ROADWAY PAVING and does a BETTER JOB AT IT than the State of Pa., ... But heck, maybe she is Lying about that too... Who the Heck knows, unless you have a friend as I, which lives there and he said the Very Same Thing... That's part of the deal Pa. cut with the Oil and Gas Company....
tarheelborn 1 year ago
@sh59. I agree, if it is true about the secrecy and loopholes, etc. That is EXACTLY why the state is saying it will be 2014 before they will allow it to happen here. Believe me Our State is Way Out in FRONT and doing everything they can to see WE are an Example from hence forth, NOT ANOTHER STATISTIC!
tarheelborn 1 year ago
@alladat1. Sorry if you don't OWN any land, (just as I don't) to Get Rich. However, I'm ALWAYS glad when I see and hear about someone WINNING THE LOTTO! But YOU are probably one of those which Voted AGAINST it in the First place!
tarheelborn 1 year ago
@toda. I agree with so much of everything you post on these stories. Sometimes I disagree, but that is only Healthy Debate as I see it.... I'd be willing to wager the State of N.C. will see we (our health) are taken care of better than any other state, (if that helps)...
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year ago
@ Tarheelborn
Please provide us with information which shows that North Carolina has processes which make fracking less dangerous.
Yes some of those chemicals came out of the ground, you know what else came out of the ground? U-234, guess what happens when we use that in some applications.
Allowing fracking at this point is like letting someone clusterbomb your property with the hope that your house does not get hit.
alladat1 1 year ago
Tarheelborn - I apologize - I didn't know that your source was "the lady from Pa.",
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year ago
LOL @ alladat1, you no I try not to quote "friends" as sources, I used my buddy the geologist just because of the content of this article.
Sorry Tarheel, we need cold hard printed verified fact, until then we say NO! I have a small farm, a few horses a few dogs, a little bit of produce, its heaven on earth, your not screwing my wells up just cause you want to see some cash.
drefleury 1 year ago
Amen AP...
SH59 1 year ago
tarheelborn, once something like this is started, there's no going back. I don't agree that it's ok to allow a business to come here and do what they want without any accountability. It's up to our legislatures to protect the people of this state and to allow them to come here without any regulations put on them as to how they do business is just wrong. We don't let any other business to do what they're doing and there's a lot of reason for caution. I don't agree with your uninformed attitude, there's too much valid information out there to remain passive about this.
teufelhunden 1 year ago
We need to preserve what we have. The money is just not worth the risks.
BigE 1 year ago
Natural gas stocks are off big time. Wells are shutting down because the market price is too low. We, the people, are getting what in return for our risk? Our taxes and cost of living are low here relative lots of other parts of the country. We don't need this tax revenue with all its potential catastrophic downsides. What is the justification for taking a risk of this magnitude?
JRowerdink 1 year ago
Steve, your article is disappointingly one-sided.
Early on in the article, you acknowledge that you have never been to North Dakota. Well, I was born and raised there and have family members who still live there. I can assure you that there is another whole side of this story that your article doesn’t even touch. What about the thousands of North Dakotans who were struggling with no job or a poor job and are now making the best money of their lives? What about the huge benefits to our national economy and security resulting from the reduction in foreign oil imports? There are downsides to every story but your article presents only the downsides and none of the upsides. It seems that the sole source of your article is NPR, that paragon of balanced reporting. You seem to have made little attempt to understand how hydraulic fracturing actually works and then you brush it off by saying “you hope you got it halfway right”.
I realize this is the Opinion section of the paper but don’t your readers have a right to expect you to base your opinions on at least a little fact-finding?
John Rowerdink
MikeNC 1 year ago
The Bakkan area, is unique in that it is such a vass area of oil deposits. Doubtful our area would see anything close to that activity. I totally agree, there would have to be some serious "safety assurances" in place to protect our water and enivronment and roads, before fracking began.
Bottom dollar: almost every form of energy comes with a price tag right down to a wind farm. I have If plans for a 1,000 acre wind farm were on the table for Moore Co, it would be met with the same amount of scrunity, "not in my backyard." Diane
JimJefferson 1 year ago
This whole editorial was a piece of journalistic malfeasance. Listing NPR as the source of information is laughable, even for an employee of the "Dusty Rhodes (almost) Daily. Mr. Bouser didn't even do some simple internet research prior to wasting a good piece of paper. He might know, if he did, that the US has over a half million oil/gas wells, many states (Texas and Ohio, to name a few) have more than North Dakota will ever have. Oh, and oil wells aren't drilled and abandoned two weeks later. Some last ten years some last much longer. I could wax on but there isn't time to educate the writer on how the gasoline he uses gets to the gas pump.