Response to a Misinformed Pro-fracker

Gary Neely's July 29 Letter to the Butler Eagle (Don't Blame Fracking) contains many easily refutable claims with which I will dispense forthwith.

I have written about the Woodlands water situation several times in the past, but since the pertinent facts seem to have escaped Neely's grasp, I shall here reiterate...

1. Despite Neely's claim that “the Woodlands water was never any good,” the residents whose water suddenly turned every color of the rainbow and made them and their pets ill after fracking commenced in the area claim to have had good water for at least 10 years prior to the onset of fracking. Many impacted families had their water tested and certified clean and healthy before drilling started for reasons such as mortgage requirements.
   
   
2. According to an Associated Press 2012 file review of PA DEP records, man-made industrial chemicals were found in Woodlands residents' water samples post-fracking that were not there previously. Fracking is the only industry currently present in the Woodlands area.
   
   
3. The Associated Press also uncovered previously undisclosed problems with cement seals on gas wells in the Woodlands via a DEP file review. Although not “officially” linked to Woodlands water problems, faulty cement casings have been linked to polluted aquifers in other areas.
   
   
4. Former DEP employees testifying in a Washington County court case have stated that the DEP in recent years has routinely generated incomplete water testing results statewide that have exonerated drillers in Marcellus Shale water complaint cases. A file review conducted by a Pittsburgh newspaper revealed that Woodlands water test results were among those flagged with the “Suite Code 942” designation.
   
   
5. In the past nine months, every new round of fracking has resulted in more families having their water go bad. Coincidence?
   

Neely's thoughts then ranged to the people of western New York, whom, he claims, are unhappy with that state's moratorium on drilling that denies them this multi-billion dollar industry. Actually, many residents in western New York are concerned about fracking's negative effects on the lucrative industries they already have, such as tourism and agriculture, as well as its effects on their health and the health of their children and grandchildren. That's why many communities in western New York have actually gone beyond the state's moratorium and enacted total bans on unconventional drilling and hydraulic fracturing. And in instances where these bans have been subject to lawsuits, the New York Supreme Court has upheld these land-use ordinances that prohibit fracking.

Lastly, Neely credits the fossil fuel industry for having created the American middle class. If that is so, then the current global culture of corporate greed is certainly bringing about its demise. Make no mistake: the drillers in your back yard are part of a multinational conglomerate, despite their attempts to create a warm and fuzzy “local” feeling. And the shale gas they frack from under your feet will be sold to the highest bidder on the global market. And, brothers and sisters, that ain't you and that ain't me.

Not that any of this will deter Neely and others like him from continuing to worship at the altar of fossil fuels. But the wave of renewable energy is fast approaching. It has to happen. As Bob Dylan once said: “Your old road is rapidly aging. So get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand, for the times, they are a-changing...”  


j.p.m.