Seismic Testing in Colorado: A Personal Story

This blog received a message just a day or two ago from Charles C whose well water has been ruined after seismic testing (by Geokinetics) in December 2012.  Here is the blogpost containing his story and my response (scroll down!). 

In case you need the actual link, here it is:  http://dearsusquehanna.blogspot.com/2009/07/personal-testimony-seismic-testing.html

Charles lives in South Western Weld County in Colorado.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Orange Bag Drops From the Sky: Seismic Testing

A 700-pound bag of electronic equipment dropped on to a woman's deck recently.  I would say this could have done a lot of damage to the house or to her and her granddaughter.  I guess accidents do happen.  However, this one could have been avoided with a little more brain work in my opinion.  Read more....

The woman is a gas drilling proponent.

No Seismic Testing Sign

Click the sign to enlarge.

This sign is by law, a binding and sufficient legal notice that will hold up in court. If you don't want seismic testing contucted on, or under, your property, post it. Never be afraid to stand up for your rights.

If you've signed a seismic testing letter and no longer wish them to do this testing on your property just contact the company.

It is also recommended that you post signs on your property that prohibit seismic testing so there is no error by Geokinetics or any other company as to your wishes.

Seismic Testing: This Is What Happens

Seismic Mapping in Dimock, PA from Debbra Nagle on Vimeo.

The person who narrates this video does not seem to mind the idea of testing. This is an interesting video, showing a lot of the seismic testing process. This kind of testing is being done in many, many areas right now. When a landowner signs a permit to allow this testing, the workers feel free to come on the property and do their job unannounced unless the landowner requests a phone call. I tried this on a property in PA but was never contacted.

Here is an account of one resident of PA when a worker entered a property this week where she keeps her horses and her cow:

I was sitting out on the grass with a few friends today on Post Pond Road at a friend's house where I keep my horses and cow and on walks a seismic tester surveyor; one lone man with his ribbons and stakes and walked past us, up the driveway and opened the gate to the barn and proceeded to tie ribbons on the gate and fence and walked past the barn and into the field and did his dirty deed without saying a word to us or acknowledging us at all, like we didn't exist.

A very surreal, strange experience and I felt pissed off and angry, wanting to kick his ass off the property; the property is leased and the owner signed the permit for this nonsense and felt he had to because of how his lease was written. But to see this guy walk on the property and ignore us and do his thing, was disturbing--I had to take some breaths and cool down.

This is my (Peacegirl's) personal story: Last summer seismic testing was done on our family property in PA against my wishes, but another relative signed the permit. Geokinetics came on our property, driving all over the plce with their little Caterpillar vehicles, trampeling areas of our woods, and putting in dynamite right next to a little brook that I have crossed over for years in the summertime. They left there equipment on our property for several weeks. Blue, orange, and yellow ribbons were ominously tied on trees. When other family members were gathered there for a weekend later, men appeared walking on our property, unannounced. Reportedly, they were foreign, did not speak English, and did not interact with my family. (This is not to say that these men were anything but good people just doing their jobs.) However, it is just a bad feeling to encounter these things in a place that has felt safe and quiet for decades. Welcome to the new era of gas drilling.

A Letter to My Family: Where Do We Go From 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!

A Personal Testimony: Seismic Testing

Here is a personal story told by a member of a family from French Azilum, PA, which tells of her dismay about seismic testing on her family property, lovingly referred to as "Camp."

"Permission was given by a family member last November for Geokinetics to do seismic testing on Camp property. The family received $5 per acre. These tests are not connected with any gas company. They are done by an independent company which hopes to cash in big time on the gas drilling frenzy, which undoubtedly they are. The testing, in which dynamite is buried 20 feet down and then detonated, is all set to begin on our property in the next two weeks or so. Workers have been all over our property marking with ribbons, orange, pink, blue, and white. Big tire vehicles have trampled down vegetation and left big tire tracks in the mud on our path to the river.

It gave me a sick feeling to walk down that beautiful path and see the evidence of newcomers who do not know they walk on sacred land.

They do not know the animals and the flowers and trees that live there and will soon be traumatized by earth-shattering blasts. Here is a little information that we probably should have found out about before we agreed to have this done. Also, if we are not thinking about leasing, WHY DO WE NEED TO HAVE TESTING DONE?" [Read my comments at the end of this post.]

Seismic Exploration—Issues and Impacts
• Survey stakes for mapping out the exploration area should be wooden, and not wire pin flags, because farming activities like making silage or hay can shred the wire flags. The resultant metal bits can kill livestock that eat the feed. Also, all stakes and markers should be removed after exploration is completed, because livestock and wildlife can die from eating ribbons or flags.

• Seismic lines will destroy vegetation and may cause erosion, which could lead to sediment entering surface waters.

• 3-D tests tend to cause greater surface disturbance and companies use your land for longer periods of time than with two-dimensional surveys.

• If dynamite is used during exploration, the "shot" holes may intercept the water table, and water may begin to flow or seep to the surface. These flowing holes have caused problems for some landowners, e.g., by making the land so wet that farmers were unable to cut hay. These holes need to be plugged from bottom to top. Ensure that the company properly plugs and abandons these holes.

• Seismic work crews may generate different types of waste (plastic, paper, containers, fuel leaks/spills, food and human wastes).

Seismic Exploration—Tips for Landowners
• Prior to any exploration, it is advisable to ask the company to show you, on a map and on an aerial photograph of your property, where they intend to conduct their seismic operations. [WAS THIS DONE?]To minimize damage, try to ensure that work is conducted as far away from surface waters as possible. Ask companies to avoid steep slopes, as this could lead to erosion. As well, request that the company avoid any areas of ecological sensitivity or importance to your use of your land. [WHAT ABOUT WILD FLOWERS ON OUR PATH?]

• Landowners may want to negotiate more payment and negotiate stronger surface-damage provisions if they consent to 3-D seismic tests, due to a greater degree of surface disturbance caused by this type of testing.

• It is advisable to get water wells tested before and after seismic testing, because seismic shot holes can provide a path for surface contaminants to come into direct contact with groundwater. The seismic explosions may also create pathways for water to flow to the surface, which could decrease pressure in the reservoir and affect water quantity in water wells. You can request that the company pay for these water quality and quantity tests.

• After the company leaves, do some ground-truthing: ensure that holes have been properly filled; that no flags, pins or trash are left around to endanger livestock or wildlife; and that water is not flowing into or from any holes. [WILL THIS BE DONE?]

• Review the state regulations governing exploration (contact state agencies to obtain copies of any regulations pertaining to exploration). There will likely be a number of things that the company is required by law to do (e.g., plugging of seismic holes; notification of exploration; posting a bond to cover potential surface damages, etc.). The more you know, the more you can ensure that the company is acting responsibly. For example, if notification is required before a company can enter your property, you may want to use the opportunity to make some requests of the company, e.g., negotiate a surface damage agreement, or right-of-way (access) agreement.

It should be stressed that geophysical techniques and remote sensing cannot identify oil or gas accumulations directly; they can only indicate the potential for reserves. The presence of oil and gas can only be confirmed by actual drilling. So, if the preliminary tests indicate a high likelihood of oil and gas, the company may decide to drill an exploratory well.

THERE HAS DEFINITELY BEEN SURFACE DAMAGE ON OUR PROPERTY. WAS THAT ADDRESSED WITH GEOKINETICS? WERE THEY ASKED TO NOTIFY US WHEN THE TESTS WOULD BE DONE? I DO NOT BELIEVE SO. WERE WE AWARE OF WHAT SHOULD BE DONE BY THE COMPANY AFTER THE TESTS ARE COMPLETED? I DO NOT THINK SO. DID WE KNOW WHERE THE DYNAMITE WOULD BE BURIED? I DO NOT THINK SO. WAS THERE A COMPELLING REASON TO HAVE THIS DONE ON OUR PROPERTY IN THE FIRST PLACE? I DON'T THINK SO. DO I WISH OUR FAMILY REPRESENTATIVE HAD BEEN MORE RESPONSIBLE AND DONE RESEARCH BEFORE AGREEING TO THIS TESTING? YES!

MY HEARTFELT APOLOGY TO ALL THE CREATURES WHO LIVE ON OUR PROPERTY AND WHOSE HABITAT WILL BE BLASTED OR SHAKEN DURING THESE NEEDLESS TESTS.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Seismic Testing Could Cause Hidden Problems

The manager of the Bradford County (PA) Sanitation Committee (BCSC), Mary Neiley, warns land owners to communicate with gas companies and let them know where their sewer is located. Tell them to keep their distance. She says there is no feedback yet about how seismic testing might cause damage to sewer systems. To repair or replace a damaged sewer system will cost between $6,000 and $20,000. What's more, it might be hard to prove that damage was caused by seismic testing, and it might take months for a problem to surface in the first place.

I would personally bet that it would be virtually impossible to prevail in a lawsuit about damage caused by seismic testing.

Read more here in The Rocket Courier.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!