Fracking Experiences from “Victory Field”, Wetzel County, WV

On Jan. 9, 2012, a group of Athens residents travelled to Wetzel County, WV to have an eyewitness view of hydraulic fracturing sites run by Chesapeake Energy, a company planning extensive fracking in our county.  We were hosted by the Wetzel County Action Group.  Northern Wetzel County is home to 33 Marcellus Shale gas wells and 3 compressor stations installed by Chesapeake in a 6 square mile area of the county since 2007.  Chesapeake has a total of 140 wells permitted in Wetzel, and many additional wells and permits exist with other companies. What was once miles of bucolic forested and agricultural West Virginia countryside is now a rural industrial petrochemical complex.  We saw numerous ridgetop drill pads and compressor stations, and spoke to several farmers who experienced significant impacts on their water, air, land, livelihoods, property values, personal health and quality of life.

From a sheep farmer’s hilltop, we saw 6 well pads and a compressor station in the surrounding viewscape.  Numerous ridgetops had been cut down, leveled, and populated with drilling equipment and interconnecting pipelines.  We were told that most of the well pads in the county were situated on leveled ridgetops.  All of these facilities seemed surprisingly close to one another, unlike what we expected from horizontal drilling.  We estimated a distance of only 2000 feet between two of the drill pads.  From another landowner’s hilltop, the elevation had been reduced by 18 feet, and a 5 acre drill pad was placed 200 feet from his home, filled with storage tanks containing toxic frack water and volatile condensate, well heads, and various processing equipment.  That was his living environment, with views of more drill pads on the surrounding hillsides.   As we drove around the county, it was common to see ridgetops that had been lopped off by 18-55 feet that were now covered with gas wells, storage tanks, compressor stations, and huge storage ponds (many with slipping dams).  While Wetzel County is higher in elevation, the general topography seemed very similar to the rolling hills of Athens County.  It was disturbingly easy to imagine our area transformed in the same way.

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New Quinnipiac poll: Ohioans strongly oppose hydro-fracking until more study, split on heartbeat bill

Gus Chan, The Plain DealerWorkers operate a drilling rig owned by Chesapeake Energy in Carroll County. Chesapeake is the first to use hydro-fracking, or fracking, on the Utica Shale in Ohio. A new poll of Ohio voters shows 72 percent think the practice should be stopped until more study of it can be done.

A new poll of Ohioans shows that more than seven in ten want the controversial practice of hydro-fracking stopped until more study of it can be done, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released this morning.

The first statewide poll on hydrofracking--the practice of pumping millions of gallons of chemical-laced water into shale deposits to crack open oil and natural gas deposits far below the earth's crust--shows Ohioans anxious about its impact on the environment. By a margin of 72-23, Ohioans say the practice should be stopped until further study.

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Youngstown earthquakes raise issues on oilfield wastes from shale exploration

Out-of-state oilfield fluid waste accounts for nearly 2 million barrels a quarter, which was roughly 57 percent of the total waste dumped into the ground during the third quarter of 2010, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/01/earthquake_raises_issues_on_oi.html

New York Fracking Advocates Say Local Bans Are ‘Kiss of Death’

New York, the third-most-populous state, may become the only one that allows municipalities to ban fracking, West said. So far, 20 towns have done so, said Karen Edelstein, a geographic information-systems consultant in Ithaca.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-17/new-york-fracking-advocates-say-local-bans-are-kiss-of-death-.html

Study on fracking health risks reinforces call for moratorium

In one heard of cows, 60 head were exposed to fracking chemicals in their drinking water. Of those, 21 died and 16 did not reproduce. The remaining 36 cows that were not exposed to the chemicals had no changes in health or reproduction.

http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-35813-study-on-fracking-health-risks-reinforces-call-for-moratorium.html

House hearing at YSU disappoints Rep. Hagan

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, expressed disappointment Tuesday with a House Agriculture and Natural Resources subcommittee hearing in his district.

“The events that unfolded at [Youngstown State University] this morning lacked any substantive analysis or investigation into injection wells and recent earthquakes in Youngstown,” Hagan said in a statement.
“Instead, the hearing amounted to little more than the continuation of the oil and gas industry’s public relations campaign. Instead of thoughtful answers to probing questions, industry representatives were all too eager in seeking greater latitude for their industry to ‘do what they think is right.’

“Well, I remain unconvinced that the community’s questions are being taken seriously. ODNR still has answers to provide regarding seismic activity and injection wells all over the state, including communities like Marietta and Youngstown. It is almost shameful how brazen the industry is in pushing their agenda over public safety.”

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jan/17/house-hearing-at-ysu-disappoints-rep-hag/?nw

Fracking Companies Tap Military Psy Ops and Counterinsurgency Handbook to Make You Like Them

During a forum called “Designing a Media Relations Strategy To Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing,” the communications director with Texas-based Range Resources, Matt Pitzarella, told the crowd his company had hired former military psy ops officers to further their cause in Pennsylvania, where the company has focused most of its fracking attention on the Marcellus shale deposits curving through the state's mid-section.

We have several former psy ops folks that work for us at Range because they’re very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments. Really all they do is spend most of their time helping folks develop local ordinances and things like that. But very much having that understanding of psy ops in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylvania.

If all Range is paying former psy ops folks for is working on local ordinances, they're not getting the right bang for their buck. Psy ops — shorthand for psychological operations — is a select section of the military specializing in mind games; one U.S. Army officer who led a team defined the practice toRolling Stone's Michael Hastings in a February 2011 article as follows: "My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave.”

Hastings' article goes on to state that it's actually illegal for active military personnel to practice the tactics on American citizens.

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