Bradford County, PA, Flood 2011

Towanda Area (PA) Ground Zero For Drilling Boom and its Opponents

Main Street, Towanda, PA
Non-stop traffic compliments of the natural gas industry
Photo: Carol Manuel


 

I have heard from the locals that it often takes upwards of 25 minutes to go about two miles through downtown Towanda these days.  Welcome to Boomtown and the Occupation of the Gas Drilling Industry where gas reigns supreme.  The people who deal with leases have virtually taken over the court house.  Try to find a place to sit down in the hallway these days.  And every eatery is thriving.  You will find roughnecks in most of them. Well, they do deserve a good meal.  But they don't change clothes or boots.  What are they bringing in with them?  Some say drilling chemicals. 

Traffic concerns are many.  Elderly citizens are intimidated by the traffic, both when walking and trying to drive in their cars.  School bus drivers are hampered by heavy traffic and road closings. Emergency vehicles have encountered problems in answering calls for help due to road conditions.

Unemployment has gone down according to Commissioner Mark Smith.  However, Michael Lovegreen, District Manager for the Bradford County Conservation District, recently told me that he has had to let people go in his office because he cannot compete with the pay offered by gas drilling-related jobs.  When the boom is over, the unemployment may very well rise to even greater proportions.  Not only that, but what kind of jobs are currently available?  Are they jobs with decent pay?  I talked with a 31-year-old man in June who is living with his parents because his pay working for a company that prepares well pads (I won't mention the company just in case someone could identify him and cause a problem) doesn't pay enough and the rents have gone sky-high as a result of the influx of gas workers.

As for the gas drilling jobs providing a great  future for our young people, where is the moral outrage in encouraging them to seek jobs in oil and gas?  These are very dangerous jobs in regard to health and mortality.  Constant exposure to toxic chemicals is only one issue.  Wouldn't it be better for all of us if our young people could be trained in green technology jobs which would lead to energy sustainability? 

Read the article in the Rocket-Courier (the fourth in a series of five articles) by Rick Hiduk.

Protest in Towanda (PA) April 22nd

God bless the people of Bradford County and others who stood in solidarity on Friday, Earth Day, across the road from Chesapeake Energy's headquarters in Towanda, PA, to protest the environmental and human costs that they have suffered from the gas industry so far.  We stand with them.

More on this event from The Morning Times (Sayre)....

It's an Occupation: No Room at the Inn in Towanda, PA

Gas drillers literally move in and occupy any area in which they operate.  It is tantamount to a military invasion.  Where once the local people went about their daily lives in peace,  now the roughnecks are in charge.  They are everywhere, in the coffee shops, restaurants, motels, and clogging the highways and little country roads.  There is hardly room for the local residents or tourists or hunters or fishermen who may try to find a place to stay.  It's Boomtown USA.  Great for the merchants for a while, maybe even decades.  But bad for the environment and human beings who reside in the area.  Great for a few landowners who will make some good money.  Bad for everyone else who suffers the consequences with no benefits whatsoever.

http://thedailyreview.com/news/towanda-motel-branches-out-1.1135269

Bradford County USA

Beautiful Bradford County is now an industrial zone.  One of  the saddest sights I have seen ever because my family summer homestead is there on the Susquehanna River.  It won't be long before our family cannot go there anymore.  Worse yet, some family members refuse to accept the dangers of air, water, and soil contamination and plan to continue to visit there as we all have for decades.  Some local people get upset with people like us because we can come and go.  They have to live in this Sacrifice Zone twelve months a year.  What are they supposed to do?  Many have no safe water to drink.  Many have devalued properties which are hard to sell.  Many are low-income and have no means to relocate.  What are they going to do?  Some have signed gas leases; others have not.  All are at risk.   They are considered collateral damage.  Humans and animals are just collateral damage, dispensible, vulnerable.  Lives ruined.  For what?  A few years of un-natural gas energy?  Perhaps it's legal, but is it right?

Gas Drilling in Bradford County, PA

This video was done by TIME magazine.  Listen to Greg Morell who owns two motels in Wysox, PA, say how much he is benefiting from gas drilling.  He recommends gas drilling to everyone.  The addition to his motel (Riverstone Inn) he is now building in Wysox is ALREADY rented 100% by the gas industry.  Our family who has its family reunion in French Azilum every July still can't find rooms.

Listen to Bonnie and Truman Burnett tell about their new home and the spills that have occurred, making it impossible for them to enjoy their once beautiful property.  Two years ago 100,000 gallons of frack water were spilled and ruined their little pond and their well.  Contaminated water from this spill still trickles downhill toward Towanda and the Susquehanna River every time it rains, they say.  Another accident occurred when 300-500 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled onto the ground.

The Johnsons cattle drank frack fluid containing strontium which went to their bones and proved deadly.  Look at the faces of these people as they tell their story.

But for Mr. Morell, it's all fantastic.  He's making money hand over fist.  And that's the name of the game, of course.  MONEY. 

Apartment Rents Soar in Bradford County, PA

If you are looking for an apartment in Bradford County these days, you might have a hard time finding affordable housing. The gas drilling industry has come to town, and they need lots of places for their employees to stay. This has caused rents to skyrocket. Two, three, and even four times as much according to a report by WBNG-TV in Binghamton, NY. A two-bedroom apartment on Main Street in Towanda is renting for a whooping $800 a month these days. Even single rooms in private homes can command $750 a month. This problem is due to the influx of gas drillers who are coming in from Texas and other areas of the country.

Gas companies are considering renting or buying large warehouses as well. A dormitory is planned for Athens to house gas industry workers. Local motels are experiencing a high volume of business, but tourists and other travelers often cannot get rooms. At a recent meeting in Sayre (PA), a Chesapeake Energy spokesperson explained why gas drillers are planning for residential facilities:

One audience member said that Sen. Gene Yaw's office has heard many concerns about the proposed Athens Township residential facility, and has heard people saying that they think Chesapeake is trying to isolate themselves and won't be much support for local businesses.

Grove said that Chesapeake is not trying to isolate their workers by using a housing facility, but they are looking to build the facility because they don't have many places to put their workers. Currently, he said, they have leased the entire Towanda Motel to house their workers.

"The nature of our business requires that we can provide our workers with a good safe place to rest in their off hours," Grove said. "These guys work very hard."

Read more here.