DUBOIS – Trout Unlimited Allegheny Mountain Chapter #036 held their general membership meeting at the YMCA in Dubois Wednesday evening to discuss potential threats to local water quality due to Marcellus Shale gas well drilling. They hosted James Clark from the Penn State Cooperative Extension, McKean County, to speak about water related issues stemming from gas drilling. The meeting was open to members and the general public.
George Kutskel from Trout Unlimited Allegheny Mountain Chapter told the audience, “We are not here to stop it. We know it’s going to happen. We just want to make sure when it happens that we’re not left with the same legacy some of us know from 30-35 years ago. So, we want to make sure it’s done correctly. We know accidents happen but we want to make sure there are funds set aside to clean them up.”
He said that a lot of the mine problems are that there is no money to clean them up.
Clark began by saying that what Marcellus Shale will do for Pennsylvania is going to be impressive. He gave the audience a map that showed the scale of this project, not just for Pennsylvania, but nationwide. In Texas, who has an estimated basin area in square miles of 5,000 square miles, 113,000 jobs were created to support gas drilling. Pennsylvania has 95,000 square miles of estimated basin area. Clark did not say how many jobs would be created for Pennsylvania.
Clark said, “There is no positive environmental benefit because you decide to drill a natural gas well. There’s only minimizing risks.” He said that natural gas is a fossil fuel and that it is the cleanest fossil fuel, but it is still fossil fuel and not an alternative energy.
He primarily spoke about the waste water that is created when drilling for natural gas occurs. Clark said that waste water is the cause for what is slowing down drilling. There are water treatment centers in western, but not eastern, Pennsylvania. Drilling sites in eastern Pennsylvania have to transport by tanker trucks the waste water to the treatment facilities.
Reverse osmosis would be a good alternative to treating the waste water, however, the volume of water that needs to be treated typically scares away companies who might be able to do that. The first actual facility that could be built would not be complete until 2013. Publicly operated treatment facilities are typically unable to handle the waste water either.
Clark gave an example of how large the Marcellus Shale project has grown. In 2008, Clearfield County gave eight permits for wells. Out of those eight, four were drilled. In 2009, 64 permits were issued and 26 were drilled.
It was explained that West Virginia and Pennsylvania opened their doors to the natural gas drilling in order to open jobs and stimulate the economy. New York was not as quick to open it’s doors. New York first wanted to research the effects of drilling on the environment. They will soon publish an 800 page document that gives the details of what natural gas drilling does to the environment. Clark said New York was probably doing things in the right order by researching first and then proceeding with drilling based on the results of that research.
The jobs that Marcellus Shale will open to Pennsylvania will be many. One member of the audience asked how many years these jobs will be around and was told probably 10-15 years. It is thought that the drilling jobs will leave ghost towns just as mining did 30 years ago. Another question posed by a person in the audience related to whether or not there was a way for citizens to track how many jobs were available to local residents as opposed to out-of-state workers brought in by the company. At this time there is not a tracking system.
Members of the audience were encouraged to engage their legislators if they have questions and are seeking specific answers. Clark gave an example of being asked whether he would rather be cold or thirsty. He said that the drilling is coming and that there is simply too much money involved for it not to.
Clark and Kutskel told the audience that vigilance is of the utmost importance in order to protect our land and our waterways. Kutskel said, “if you see a stream that used to run clear and now runs brown, you need to report it immediately.”
To report any pollution violations please contact:
Department of Environmental Protection
1-800-541- 2050
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
814-359-5250
Pennsylvania Game Commission
570-389-4744