In 1930, my greatgrandparents purchased a beautiful farm in Bradford County, PA, in a little hamlet called French Azilum. In the summer, we spent time there, resting, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the wild flowers, the bright stars and planets on a clear moonlit night, and swimming in the Susquehanna River. If gas drilling is allowed to continue, Bradford County and all of Pennsylvania will be forever changed, ruined beyond repair.
Showing posts with label Chesapeake Appalachia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chesapeake Appalachia. Show all posts
You have to admire companies that give gifts out of the goodness of their hearts. Or do you? Chesapeake Energy, a major player in PA's natural gas industry, and thus one of PA's destroyers, has seen fit to donate a big gas guzzling SUV to an agency serving the people of Bradford, Sullivan, and Tioga counties in NE PA. But this vehicle, a Ford Escape, is not a new model. It is vintage 2005. Couldn't they have at least sprung for a 2009 vehicle? Just another example of throwing a little bone to people to make them think Chesapeake cares about them. Actually this agency which provides mental health services and drug and alcohol treatment will need more and more help as the area takes on boomtown qualities and the need for services expands by leaps and bounds.
The police chief of Towanda Borough, Bradford County, PA, told the borough council on Monday night that gas drilling has caused an increase in crime in the area. Responding to questions from borough council member Bob McLinko, Police Chief Mitch Osman said that police calls have gone up, especially the severity of the calls. Drinking at the bars in Towanda seems to be contributing to this problem. There used to be some predictably quiet nights in town, but not anymore. The borough recently applied for a federal grant to hire an additional full-time officer but was turned down. The request will automatically be re-considered in the future. Chief Osman says Towanda could actually use two more officers.
Alcohol and drug use has been reported as a significant problem in other areas of the country that have experienced gas drilling. The work is very hard. Fatigue is omnipresent. Loneliness may be a big factor since many of the drillers are far away from home and family. However, Towanda will now have to deal with this problem at taxpayers' expense. Along with a higher crime rate comes the need for more jail space, more staff to process people, and even more worrisome, more danger to the citizens of the community. Why is Chesapeake Appalachia, a self-described advocate of good community relations, not offering to pay for these additional expenses? It would be unconscionable for the natural gas industry to ignore these social problems. Bradford County deserves compensation from the private gas drilling corporations whose employees are causing trouble, no matter how small a percentage of the gas drilling workforce is involved.
Read the full article in the Towanda Daily Review here.
DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY! ASK THE GAS DRILLERS TO PAY FOR MORE POLICE!
UPDATE: Yesterday the Bradford County Prison Board decided to begin housing inmates from Sullivan County at the Bradford County Jail. Sullivan County has no jail and has used the Wyoming County jail which is now full. Bradford County Jail has 198 beds and is not currently full. Until now, Bradford County has not housed inmates from other counties. It costs Bradford County $51 per day to house its own inmates, but, since the county would not be responsible for the medical costs and transporting inmates to court, the cost for inmates from other counties might be less.
In light of this news, and taking into account the rise in crime in Bradford County as described by its Chief of Police, it may be wise to plan ahead for Bradford County and all area counties where gas drilling is in progress. Future needs may require more and more sharing of resources for county correctional facilities. Take note also that Bradford County pays. not only for food and a jail cell for its inmates. It also pays for any medical treatment that may be necessary during incarceration.
Read the full article in the Towanda Daily Review here.
My family owns property in French Azilum Township, Bradford County, PA. Since July of 2008, our family corporation, which has about 150 members, has been engaged in debate about gas drilling. The gas industry has arrived in our valley, the Susquehanna River valley. Cousins, aunts, and uncles who used to be glad to see each other now dread the sight of one another. Our summer home we call Camp used to be a place of refreshment, peace, and tranquility. It has become a battleground, a war zone. I hope some people who specialize in social implications of gas drilling will do research and publish their findings. Family dynamics and neighbor-to-neighbor relationships are becoming more and more strained as gas drilling moves in. Here is a letter written by a family member which may cast some light on the complexities that many families face. The names have been changed to protect the innocent!
Dear Family, Inspite of strong denials that we will ever be offered a gas lease of any kind, and inspite of strong assurances from Steve and Mona that there is no lease to consider (even though there was one offered last fall which has never been seen), and, if there were a lease, the Board of Directors, which now has complete control over any gas-related decisions, would likely not sign it for Camp, I remain concerned. Why? Because since the family meeting I have heard talk of consulting a high-powered attorney from Williamsport should we have a lease to consider. I guess I am supposed to be pleased about that, but I am not. Why? Because consulting a lawyer begs the question, "Should we even be considering doing this in the first place?" A lawyer, especially one who deals with gas leases for a living, is only going to look over a lease to make sure everything is supposedly in there that should be and advise some deletions, etc. But a lawyer is not necessarily going to counsel us on the rightness or wrongness of signing a lease. A lawyer is not going to make ethical or moral decisions for our family. We have to make those decisions first before we would ever go to a lawyer. We have to know what questions to ask. Otherwise we will open ourselves up for legal entanglements which will require many hours on the part of someone in our family to sort things out. Who will that person be?
So while Steve and others still adamantly claim that they are not necessarily in favor of signing a lease, nevertheless, their discussion of finding a lawyer indicates that the idea of a lease is still alive and well. I do not think that going to a lawyer comes close to doing our homework first. Just running a lease by a lawyer before signing may give some people a sense of security, but it is a false sense of security at best. Have any of you read about people who have signed great leases and still had major problems with gas companies? There is a myth going around our family which I have heard quite often that the only way we can cover ourselves against damage from gas drilling is to have a lease. This really has not worked well for a lot of people who thought a lease protects a landowner. It really protects the gas company first and foremost. Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, for example, can declare bankruptcy and skip town if the going gets rough, and its parent company Chesapeake Energy is not liable. The first thing a gas company does is deny responsibility for anything no matter what it is. Then a long process of legal proceedings ensues. The DEP has been known to come out of the gate talking tough, but then backs down. Some litigation I've read about has gone on for a decade or more. So perhaps a lease could eventually cover us down the road, but who in the Sam Hill is going to be around to collect the money? And in the meantime, if it involves water, who is going to fight to get a water supply put in at Camp? Gas companies have supplied water to some people after trying to avoid doing that, but it is not automatic, and it can take months to actually get a tank put in (which has to be maintained and filled up frequently). Talk to the people in Dimock just a few miles from Camp. They will tell you how their lives have turned into nightmares and things continue to get worse there as I write. I encourage anyone who would even consider any lease with any gas company to go to well sites locally in French Azilum (there are quite a few to choose from) or go to Dimock which is probably in the shape we will be in a few years from now, but they are already there. Nothing can compare with actually seeing what gas drilling really is and what it really looks like. Before any lease is signed, go see for yourself.
Frenchtown will be unitized soon (a unit is 640 acres). Your board will most likely be approached when this happens. So decisions will have to be made in the near future. There are agreements for wells, pipelines, rights of way for above ground water pipes, seismic testing, even compressors, meter stations, injection wells, all sorts of things which come with gas drilling. This is only the beginning. I, as probably everyone knows by now unless you have been living under a rock, am not interested in signing a lease or any agreement with a gas company. For one thing, we don't have to do it. And secondly, I want Camp to remain unattached to such an industry. Any money we would get, and there are no guarantees, would probably not make us more solvent in the future, at least long term. All we can do is protect Camp from the industry and make the drillers go around us. It is not good, no matter how you look at it, but at least we can say to our children and grandchildren, "We did everything we could to save and protect Camp from harm and destruction. "
Love to all, Evelyn
August 14, 2009
IS YOUR FAMILY SUFFERING FROM THE GAS DRILLING INDUSTRY? DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
The Wyalusing (PA) Borough Council monthly meeting last month opened with a presentation by Anson Belcort of Mason Dixon Energy. His company is busy securing agreements with local landowners to install a gas pipeline for Chesapeake Appalachia. It will run right through Wyalusing Township. However, there was a problem, Belcort said. They need about 12 miles of pipeline, and one landowner was dragging his feet. Pipelines need 50-60 feet width. (The pipe is buried 3-5 feet, or beneath the frostline.)
We've got a deadline, said Belcourt. If we had you guys signed up, we could go ahead and go around Chadwick.
When asked if there was big problem with negotiations, Belcourt assured the Council that there was no big issue or concern with the private landowner. It was just a matter of timing. Mason Dixon needed the right of way right away! Several members of the Council, including President George Anderson, were prepared to vote yes, but toward the end of the meeting before a vote could be taken, Mayor Joan Cashin cautioned the group:
Doing this without consultation with an attorney is, I think, irresponsible.
It was agreed that an attorney should be consulted.
Hats off to the Wyalusing Borough Council for exercising caution rather than giving the gas industry the green light. There are things that local governing bodies can do to at least slow down the process. This is not just an effort to make trouble. It is the smart, responsible thing to do when so much is at stake for local citizens. It is their environment, health, and well-being that may hang in the balance. The gas companies don't live in Wyalusing.
Heaping praise on a corporation which is bringing air, water, and soil pollution, health hazards, deforestation, road deterioration, and habitat depletion to the county is questionable. Thanking Chesapeake Energy Corporation for a paltry $6,000 donation for Partners in Education is like thanking your executioner for cooking your last meal steak to perfection. We all realize, do we not, that $6,000 to Chesapeake Energy, which reported a top line income of 1.67 billion this past June, is imperceptible and only given to create the illusion of community support. Why do some Bradford County citizens feel they must be grateful and appreciative for this little manipulative "gift?" Isn't it obvious that they are being led down a rosy path that leads to a gravel road and a toxic well pad? Make that hundreds of well pads. Some gifts carry a heavy price.
Photo by David Keeler It is interesting what people spend their time worrying about. For instance, the view from Wyalusing Rocks (PA) has been a highlight of my visits to the area since childhood. Looking down from there, and with the aid of my binoculars, I can see my family summer home on the banks of the Susquehanna River. A white steeple can be seen through trees. That's what I call "The Little White Church," otherwise known as French Azilum United Methodist Church. My great grandparents attended there faithfully every Sunday in the summer months years ago, starting around 1930, and are now buried in the old adjacent cemetery.
In a recent article in the Wyalusing Rocket-Courier, David Keeler laments the overgrown sumac trees that block the spectacular view of the Susquehanna River and French Azilum below.
Beneath those famous rocks, the future is being changed irreversibly by the day. Almost every land owner in French Azilum, except for my family, has signed a gas lease, mostly with Chesapeake Appalachia. And before long drill pads will begin to show up on this beautiful landscape. Frenchtown, as I call it, will be an industrial zone in a year or two. Maybe sooner. The view from these rocks will reveal the future of our family's land. There will be no future. There will be well pads everywhere you look. No more floating down the river in inner tubes, no more sitting on the cottage porch enjoying the rain or the full moon and stars, the brightest stars on the planet. No more family gatherings. No more introducing our grandchildren to "Camp," as we call it. No more walking down the country road to that Little White Church for Sunday worship. No more skipping flat round stones from the river bank. No more peace and quiet and fresh country air. It will be gone soon. The dangers of living in a toxic chemical area with its air, soil, and water pollution, will make it an unsuitable place to come in the summer.
Sumac can be cut back. Well pads cannot be erased. After the gas is gone from these wells, the land will never be able to support crops, animals, or people, at least not for decades, and probably never again. These areas will be Superfund sites. I understand why it is easier to worry about sumac. Sumac is a problem that can be solved. Gas drilling is a problem that will outlast all of us and will ruin our children's and grandchildren's future in the Susquehanna Valley in Bradford County.
At a recent meeting held at Broome Community College (NY), several speakers gave their testimony about the effects of gas drilling on public health and family economic stability. This video is about 18 minutes. There are a few introductory remarks prior to Mr. Williams' and Ms. Mingins' talks. Glenn Williams, Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coaltion (BRSC)
Mr. Williams isaffiliatedwith the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition(BRSC). His story is an eyeopener. Hetells of discovering that the DEC has not ever collected data about problems with gas drilling. Therefore people can say there is no evidence of any problems with gas drilling. He tells of the 300 chemicals in fracking fluid, 65 of which have been identified as carcinogenic or causing endocrine disruption. He reports that Lebanon, NY, which has 55 wells drilled, ran up a bill of $300,000 for road repair due to heavy traffic from gas drillers and were compensated only $12,000 by the gas drillers. He says a landowner will be taxed 42% on profits (federal and state) and possibly face law suits from neighbors for damages done to adjacent properties. He questions how much money can actually be made by landowners.He explains how a company like Chesapeake Appalachia, a limited liability corporation, can just walk away from any harm they have done and declare bankruptcy while the larger corporation, Chesapeake Energy cannot be held responsible. He believes firmly that gas companies must pay for well testing before, during, and after drilling, pay for replacement loss of home values, and replace the water they take from aquifers. Candace Mingins, farmer, Van Etten, NY
Ms. Mingins lives with her husband and three children on their family farm in Van Etten near Ithaca, NY. They have an orchard which is in its 34th garden year. A well was drilled on their property in 2006 on the Trenton Black River formation. In 2008, she helped organize Shaleshock Citizens Action Coalition. Listen to Candace as she tells what it is like to deal with a multi-national gas corporation. Hear what it is really like to sign a lease and then have to live with the consequences. It will shock you.
A big truck barrels down a country road.
