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FACE OFF
Can gas drilling be environmentally-friendly?
NO
By CLIFF WESTFALL
Cliff Westfall is a Damascus homeowner and a member of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc.
When many proponents, critics and elected officials talk about Marcellus shale production, they seem to agree on two vague platitudes: that it will be a boon to the region, and that we can and must “get it right” when it comes to environmental protection. Unfortunately, neither current drilling and fracking methods nor existing regulations will provide this result.
Each well presents planned as well as unplanned but largely inevitable impacts. On one hand are risks that, though they may not happen at every well, occur with alarming frequency, including blowouts and gas migration that contaminate aquifers, and spills of fracking chemicals and toxic wastewater. Multiplied over hundreds of wells, these risks become virtual certainties, with consequences going far beyond one well site – the 9-square mile area in Dimock contaminated by a blown well casing, the 135 homes evacuated in Louisiana last month when drilling encountered unexpected gas, the unreported spill at the Robson Well near Honesdale, and many similar incidents nationwide.
On the other are entirely predictable environmental costs: hundreds of truck trips per well; the need for ancillary facilities such as pipelines and round-the-clock compressor stations; venting, flaring, and leakage; and new roads and drill pads.
Each of these impacts is greatly exacerbated by the sheer scale of drilling. Partly because shale gas is not found in isolated pockets like conventional gas, but instead underlies whole regions, there is no such thing as small-scale shale production. One gets a partial sense of this scale by considering effects on air quality: One study found that drilling in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area produced more emissions than all vehicle traffic there (small wonder that 25% of children there have asthma); sparsely populated drilling areas in the West have air quality on par with large cities. In short, drilling areas become sacrifice zones.
With over 80 percent of Wayne County under lease, we will be next to see forest and field industrialized unless we prevail upon our leaders to stop it. Instead, they are arguing primarily about whether even to tax it.
FACE OFF
Can gas drilling be environmentally-friendly?
YES
By THOMAS J. SHEPSTONE
Thomas J. Shepstone is the owner and operator of Shepstone Management Company in Honesdale.
Natural gas drilling is not only environmentally responsible, but essential to health. There is, despite all the hysterical statements made by opponents, not one example of gas-well fracking polluting a water supply. Opposition to gas drilling is largely speculation and fear-mongering by those who would have the rest us do nothing to improve our lot, while they live off money inherited or made elsewhere.
Gas drilling has tremendous potential to improve our health and quality of life. Nothing is so important to health as having a good job. The California Wellness Foundation notes that “work is central to social status, one of the most powerful predictors of health outcomes” while “unemployment is associated with a large number of health risks” and “inadequate employment is also associated with poor health outcomes.” Gas drilling in this area has the potential to create thousands of good-paying jobs for the unemployed and many under-employed who now live in Wayne County. It will also have ripple effects throughout the entire economy and benefit every citizen, whether they are a landowner or not. This will dramatically improve our lives.
Additionally, gas drilling will preserve the open spaces we now take for granted. It will allow farmers to not only pay their taxes and keep their land in agricultural use, but also provide the opportunity to generate new economic equity to invest in farming. Likewise, there will be fewer incentives to subdivide other vacant property. The potential revenue from gas will, instead, provide a reasons to hold onto the land and perhaps put it to more productive use. Moreover, the wells once drilled are virtually unnoticeable, as is obvious to anyone who has visited an area where drilling has been going on for years.
Therefore, gas drilling is good for us, good for our health and good for the environment we treasure. We cannot save our environment by standing still. It is only responsible development that generates the wealth required to protect resources. Gas drilling is responsible and it will save our environment.
FACE OFF
Can gas drilling be environmentally-friendly?
NO
By CLIFF WESTFALL
Cliff Westfall is a Damascus homeowner and a member of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc.
When many proponents, critics and elected officials talk about Marcellus shale production, they seem to agree on two vague platitudes: that it will be a boon to the region, and that we can and must “get it right” when it comes to environmental protection. Unfortunately, neither current drilling and fracking methods nor existing regulations will provide this result.
Each well presents planned as well as unplanned but largely inevitable impacts. On one hand are risks that, though they may not happen at every well, occur with alarming frequency, including blowouts and gas migration that contaminate aquifers, and spills of fracking chemicals and toxic wastewater. Multiplied over hundreds of wells, these risks become virtual certainties, with consequences going far beyond one well site – the 9-square mile area in Dimock contaminated by a blown well casing, the 135 homes evacuated in Louisiana last month when drilling encountered unexpected gas, the unreported spill at the Robson Well near Honesdale, and many similar incidents nationwide.
On the other are entirely predictable environmental costs: hundreds of truck trips per well; the need for ancillary facilities such as pipelines and round-the-clock compressor stations; venting, flaring, and leakage; and new roads and drill pads.
Each of these impacts is greatly exacerbated by the sheer scale of drilling. Partly because shale gas is not found in isolated pockets like conventional gas, but instead underlies whole regions, there is no such thing as small-scale shale production. One gets a partial sense of this scale by considering effects on air quality: One study found that drilling in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area produced more emissions than all vehicle traffic there (small wonder that 25% of children there have asthma); sparsely populated drilling areas in the West have air quality on par with large cities. In short, drilling areas become sacrifice zones.
With over 80 percent of Wayne County under lease, we will be next to see forest and field industrialized unless we prevail upon our leaders to stop it. Instead, they are arguing primarily about whether even to tax it.
FACE OFF
Can gas drilling be environmentally-friendly?
YES
By THOMAS J. SHEPSTONE
Thomas J. Shepstone is the owner and operator of Shepstone Management Company in Honesdale.
Natural gas drilling is not only environmentally responsible, but essential to health. There is, despite all the hysterical statements made by opponents, not one example of gas-well fracking polluting a water supply. Opposition to gas drilling is largely speculation and fear-mongering by those who would have the rest us do nothing to improve our lot, while they live off money inherited or made elsewhere.
Gas drilling has tremendous potential to improve our health and quality of life. Nothing is so important to health as having a good job. The California Wellness Foundation notes that “work is central to social status, one of the most powerful predictors of health outcomes” while “unemployment is associated with a large number of health risks” and “inadequate employment is also associated with poor health outcomes.” Gas drilling in this area has the potential to create thousands of good-paying jobs for the unemployed and many under-employed who now live in Wayne County. It will also have ripple effects throughout the entire economy and benefit every citizen, whether they are a landowner or not. This will dramatically improve our lives.
Additionally, gas drilling will preserve the open spaces we now take for granted. It will allow farmers to not only pay their taxes and keep their land in agricultural use, but also provide the opportunity to generate new economic equity to invest in farming. Likewise, there will be fewer incentives to subdivide other vacant property. The potential revenue from gas will, instead, provide a reasons to hold onto the land and perhaps put it to more productive use. Moreover, the wells once drilled are virtually unnoticeable, as is obvious to anyone who has visited an area where drilling has been going on for years.
Therefore, gas drilling is good for us, good for our health and good for the environment we treasure. We cannot save our environment by standing still. It is only responsible development that generates the wealth required to protect resources. Gas drilling is responsible and it will save our environment.
