Luzerne County Zoning Board Approves 5 New Frack Wells

Everybody knew, going in, that Encana would triumph but we showed up anyway.

It was an overflow crowd mostly because the hearing was held in a relatively small room.  At least half of the people present were put outside the door in rows of metal folding chairs.  We couldn't hear anything.  And even after sunshine law concerns (by the board solicitor's own admission) prompted officials to usher us in, it bothered me that arrangements had been made to keep us out.

Encana had a slide show.  The presentation was made by a chirpy girl in too cute little sun dress.   She showed us photos of model well pads surrounded by wide expanses of flawless emerald green grass and bulleted lists of agencies who had rubber stamped the drilling so far.  The information provided was designed to make the wells appear safe and attractive.

A few members of the public were prepared.  They had read the zoning laws and had come up very valid objections.  Others talked about safety even though it was not on the table.

The county zoning board, told us that they had no real power in regard to gas and oil extraction.  They can deal with issues such as dust, odor, and noise, they maintained, but just about everything else is somebody else's responsibility.  I won't say that our officials don't care because I'm pretty sure that a few of them do.  But how deep does their commitment to the public trust run?

The county, state, and municipal response to every move the gas companies make is the same.  They can't stop it, they tell us - their power is restricted to little more than an increment.  But each increment takes us closer to looming disaster.  Each person who moves fracking forward acts against the people of Pennsylvania and the state as a whole.

Luzerne Co: First Frack Gas Well Grand Opening

Quote and photo from today's CV.  Little commentary is needed: 

"Drilling is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation, and Wiedenbeck said Encana's estimate is it will take about 30 days to finish.  People essential to the operation - the "company men," officially known as the rig supervisor and the tool pusher - will stay on the site around-the-clock in personnel trailers. The rest of the crew will stay at local hotels, Wiedenbeck said. They will work in shifts: 12 hours on, 12 off, she said.

The first step in drilling is to set the casings. These are steel pipes about 30 feet to 40 feet long with cement poured around them. The rig drove the pipes into the ground, one after another.  After the well is drilled 800 feet deep, it will be cased, and drilling will continue to 2,500 feet and another layer of cement will be added, Wiedenbeck said.  "It's like a casing within a casing," Bender said.

The casing will go about 50 feet deeper than the aquifer, or water table, and is intended to keep water from getting into the well or well contents from getting into the groundwater."

The safe operation of this well is dependent on technology from our friends at Haluburtin.   Look it up.

NEPA is NOT Texas

Response to comments on Corbett's blog:

There will be a lot more debt if Huntsville Dam is contaminated.  Residents of Dimock can't give their land away and this is a direct quote from a Susquehanna land owner about her property (testimony at a recent almost unpublicized PUC meeting). Another resident speaking at that hearing compared his region to a old west ghost town.  It can happen in Kingston or Pittson as well.

The aquifers that transport our water cross state lines.  Don't be fooled.  Wells sunk 5 miles away or 50 will effect us in the event of an explosion and ultimately even without one!  It is all the same water. There are many more Frack Gas well accidents than made public and millions of gallons of contaminated Frack water leeches into our drinking water even when corporations do business as usual.  These chemicals are carcinogenic and just plain poison.  Long-term health problems and birth defects result. Our lives are their cost of doing business.  Law suits even when successful will put a small dent in their profits - and don't think you will win against corporate attorney's.

If you don't have the time or inclination to do your homework before forming an opinion, please seek out someone who has.  A lot of good info in the public interest is given out on WILK and there is a wealth of info available at local GDAC meetings in Dallas.

Public meeting times will be posted in the Citizen's voice in the near future and will hopefully be broadcast here.  Ask yourself, who is motivated and what are they motivated by?  Encana and the other out of state corporations are motivated by money. PA residents who have profited from land leases are motivated by money.  Concerned citizen's are motivated by love for our state!  I live in Kingston and I am concerned for my family.

Maybe TX is better off because it is the Frack Gas Corporations base of operations (and home to most of stockholders) but there are towns without water there as well.  These guys will pull up stakes and leave once they get what they want and - long or short term - cost to the state of PA will be substantial.

I'll check back and post more info on GDAC.  Their only agenda is the safety of our water supply!  As an aside - in Dimock Cabot employees flew a Texas flag from THEIR gas rig.