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From Clearville Times, who blogs at http://clearville.wordpress.com/

Clearville, PA  like DISH, Texas: “pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which from the gas storage owner’s point of view, made it the perfect place”

Clearville had five production wells drilled by PGE gas drilling company,  which produced about two years in  the Oriskany formation.    Wells suddenly stopped production on the same day and were sold to a gas storage company from somewhere in Texas, known as  Spectra Energy or maybe known as a “Spin off of Duke Energy?” from a gas storage operator’s  point of view,  Clearville, PA made it the perfect place”  known as the  ” Steckman Ridge Gas  Storage Project.”

In Pennsylvania, gas is stored in the Oriskany formation, the source rock for the Oriskany is the Marcellus Shale.

In the middle of nowhere, there seems to be a trend for gas storage fields in the Oriskany formation located  near the Marcellus Shale.   There is a  gas storage field located a few miles down the road from the Steckman Ridge’s  underground gas storage field known as the Columbia Gas Storage field, in Artemas, PA.    Columbia gas storage field is also located in the middle of nowhere but has been the perfect place since the early 1940′s .  Columbia gas has been storing gas in the  Oriskany formation where the Marcellus Shale is the source rock.

There is a big difference,   between then and now’s,  when it comes to gas storage project acquisitions, at least up until 2005.    Columbia Gas Storage got off to an easier start  in the 1940′s.   At that period in time, most all gas production leases gave away gas storage rights  in gas production leases.

Landowners over the years with the advent of the internet, became more savvy and placed no gas storage clauses in their gas production leases.   Soon these gas leases became known as obstacles in the market place which needed a  removal tool.     Someone,  somewhere,  came up  with the perfect legal tool to remove these obstacles in the market place for gas storage projects.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney used legal legislative laws as the best use obstacle removal tool  in EPACT of 2005. At that time,    Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney likely knew  a little about the gas market,  heard about obstacles in the market place, and knew a solution was needed for the problem.     Minds of genius noted for acquisitions developed and signed a law which classified depleted gas wells which can be taken legally for underground gas storage projects because they are now considered public utilities.    This  law is broad and can take land which has no gas leases.  This law will take any land and  give it to a private company for profit once they eye your land as the perfect place for a federally backed underground gas storage field.

Clearville, PA was eyed as the perfect place.   Landowners watched Halliburton and Schlumberger legally use exempted fracking chemicals from the SDWA.  They watched as horizontal gas storage wells were drilled into the Oriskany sandstone formation. This was a federally backed gas storage project with all the amenities.

Remember:  “There is no way to save your land from the laws of a federally backed gas storage project.  If someone, somewhere, spots your land  as the perfect place,  you can kiss it goodbye.”

Clearville, PA;  the Oriskany formation;  the Marcellus Shale is  the Oriskany source rock;   in the middle of nowhere;   all goes somewhere; from a gas storage operator’s  point of view;  Clearville was another perfect place.

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“Canadian pipeline companies are considering requests from U.S. producers to reverse the flow of their export lines to bring natural gas from the prolific Marcellus shale into Ontario, displacing some Alberta suppliers who have dominated the Central Canadian market for half a century.” -  U.S. Gas Producers Eye Ontario Market

This isn’t “misinformation. ”
It’s not “misrepresenting the facts”
about “responsible gas exploration.”
It’s just what’s already actually happening in and to Wetzel County, WestVirginia.

The following post is copied with permission from

http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/15049.html

_______________________________________________________________

Wetzel County

We’ve seen and heard a presentation by Ray Renaud of the Wetzel County Action Group about what’s happening in north Wetzel County in northern West Virginia (just below the panhandle) where there’s a tremendous amount of drilling activity taking place. Right now the wells being drilled are for Marcellus shale but other companies are getting ready to move in including CNX which is an operator specializing in coalbed methane.

This is a very rural area with only a few roads and those are narrow, about 10 feet wide. Because of all the drilling there is a lot of traffic as equipment and materials are hauled to and from sites. Twenty-four hours a day, as many as 47 trucks an hour.

The well sites are huge with pads covering acres and pits just about as large. Multiple horizontal wells are being drilled and fractured on each pad before the operator moves to a new site. Fracturing requires large amounts of water and sand.

The scale of everything and its effect on the community and environment is hard to imagine. A copy of the presentation as a PowerPoint document is available online but it is a large download, almost 50 MB.  http://www.sendspace.com/file/hlpich

Ray said we could use some of the photos from the presentation.

		The roads are narrow and wind up and down steep hills. Most of the equipment is much heavier than the roads were designed and built for — cars and light trucks. This is a holding structure for sand used in fracturing a well. There will be a large number of these tanks on the pad.
		. Because of all the traffic there’s a lot of accidents. This truck has rolled over, its cab partially crushed on the guard rail. We wrote a post a while back about injuries and accidents in the oil and gas industry. About 25% of deaths are caused by road accidents.
		. Traffic jams can last for hours and hours. These trucks are parked in front of the volunteer fire department, blocking fire trucks if there were to be an emergency.
		The scale of everything is either huge, large or enormous. In the foreground on the right is a three-story barn. In the middle ground is a large volume pit holding fracture fluid. Operators “dewater” rivers and streams for all the water used in drilling and fracturing, turning good water into waste.
		. This is a photo taken at night showing just a portion of a pad during drilling a horizontal well. Drilling goes on day and night. Once two wells are drilled on this pad the equipment will be moved to another pad to drill two more wells. Eventually there will be 6 wells on this pad.
		. The EPA waived sedimentation control requirements for the oil and gas industry. This means that oil and gas sites don’t need to use silt fencing or other control to protect streams, rivers and lakes. The rivers in Wetzel County are now running thick slurry instead of clear water.

Our own gas well study has focused on problems at well sites and older ones at that. What’s happening in Wetzel County, West Virginia, and in parts of Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas and a host of other places is the future writ large as the oil and gas industry converts rural America into an industrial wasteland.

___________________________________________________________________

Visit original post at:

http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/15049.html

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Letter published today in the Cleveland Sun Star Courier:

by James W. Cowden, Guest Columnist

Monday August 31, 2009, 9:24 AM

This is being sent as a result of the several letters on oil and gas drilling that have appeared in your pages over the past month.

The other paper has also published material including a column on the financial benefits to Ohio.

What has not been publicized has been the impact of oil and gas drilling on the natural resources and the public health of Ohio and its citizens.

I have been a consultant on environmental and resource issues for over 30 years. I have worked with Ohio EPA and the Division of Oil and Gas to curb and control the problems associated with the industry for a number of those years.

I have written ordinances for many cities in Northeast Ohio to allow them to control drilling in their communities. I have written a technical guide book for Ohio EPA. I have testified in court cases against drillers and their haphazard waste disposal practices, their drilling proposals, and the lack of adequate regulation.

The development of oil and gas wells is inherently a dangerous activity. Although there are few deaths and injuries reported, they do occur.

For instance, two men were killed in Marion County last October by an explosion of a crude oil storage tank.

The industry has too little concern for public health, for our groundwater resources, and for facts.

Natural gas is a highly compressible, highly expansible mixture of hydrocarbons, with approximate percentages of Methane-80%, Ethane-7%, Propane-6%, Butane-2.5%, Pentane-3% and Isobutane 1.5%.

In addition, natural gas may contain quantities of nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and water vapor. In Pennsylvania, methane related to the natural gas industry has contaminated water wells in at least seven counties since 2004.

In one case, methane was detected in water sampled over 15 square miles. In another, a methane leak led to an explosion that killed a couple and their 17 month old grandson. These cases were linked to newly drilled, active natural gas wells.

Essentially, the methane migration was linked to improper construction of gas wells that allowed gas to seep out of the well structures and into water supplies.

An adequate inspection system would have prevented these accidents from happening. Since the passage of HB 278 by our feckless state legislature, neither regulation nor inspection has been carried out adequately by the state.

Groundwater constitutes the most important mineral resource annually extracted from beneath the earth’s surface.

Water is an economic resource for Ohio and preservation is an economic necessity. Groundwater monitoring in the state is inadequate to detect water quality problems.

A product of oil and gas well drilling is brine.

What’s so bad about brines?

Brines are too concentrated, they have too much sodium and there is far too much of it, Clinton brines have 175,000-210,000 parts per million of sodium.

For comparison, ocean brines have only 18,000-35,000 ppm of sodium.

The USPHS standard at one time was a maximum of 250 ppm. One volume of Clinton brine can raise 800 volumes of fresh water above the 250 ppm limit.

There is no adequate program to address lack of disposal capacity. I do not have data beyond the 1980′s but I have no reason to believe the ratios have changed.

At that time, there were 56,000 producing wells with an average brine production of 184,000 barrels with an estimated injection well capacity of 36,000 barrels. The excess was 148,000 barrels.

That is roughly 6.2 million gallons, which if dispersed could make 4.8 billion gallons of fresh water unsuitable for use.

I tried to get legislation passed to prohibit brine in surface or groundwater in such quantity as to cause:

1. Taste and odor problems

2. Exceedance of safe drinking water standards or limit of 100 ppm of sodium

3. Damage or injury to public health or safety to include damage to the environment beyond the immediate site of drilling and storage of oil and gas.

4. This would include exposure to benzene, ethyl benzene, alkyl benzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, and 2,4 dimethyl-phenol that exceed drinking water standards. Also exposure to concentrations of silver, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead and zinc that exceed drinking water standards.

This came from “Toxicological Analysis of Ohio Brine Constituents and Their Potential Impact on Human Health.” By Dr. Gerald Poje.

Regulation 1501-9-9-02 at one time required all reasonable means to safeguard against hazards to life, limb and property. It should require notification of local fire officials of fire, explosion, major gas leaks, water and air pollution and training on how to cope.

There are a number of recommendations I would make to amend state law and regulations and require compliance.

First would be to abolish the subservience of the legislature to the oil and gas industry and think about the public they supposedly serve.

There is a need to redefine the ground surface water system and restructure the approach from correction to prevention.

But unless the Division of Mineral Resources is mandated to protect human health and drinking water and is given the funds and staff to accomplish this, both public health and the economy will continue to suffer.

__________________________________

James W. Cowden is a resident of Brecksville. He has been a researcher, educator, coordinator and consultant at Kent State University and Hiram College and has written extensively and provided expert testimony on a range of topics including water resources planning, pollution control, public health and public involvement in policy development.

http://www.cleveland.com/sunstarcourier/index.ssf/2009/08/brecksville_resident_weighs_in.html

“An hour’s drive west, the artesian well on Roland and Beverly Landrey’s ranch has failed. After producing 50 gallons a minute for 34 years, the well, the ranch’s only source of water, stopped flowing in September. A well digger who examined it blames energy companies drilling for gas nearby, but the companies dispute that. So the couple – he is 83 and ailing; she describes herself as “no spring chicken” – hauls water in gallon jugs and drives 30 miles to town weekly to wash clothes and bathe.

“Dave Bullach, a welder who lives near Gillette, couldn’t take it anymore. For two sleep-deprived years, he endured the incessant yowl of a methane compressor, a giant pump that squeezes methane into an underground pipeline. There are thousands of these screaming machines in Wyoming, where neither state nor federal law regulates their noise. Mr. Bullach stormed out of his house at midnight last year with a rifle and shot at the compressor until a sheriff’s deputy hauled him off to jail.

. . . . .

”’Ways of life are being changed for the purpose of energy extraction,’ said Jim Ventrello, a Republican county commissioner in Delta County, Colo., ‘and it is not the quality of life that we seek here.’

“That overwhelmingly Republican rural county in western Colorado banned coal-bed methane operations this year.”

Complete story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/national/29METH.html?pagewanted=all

“We do not like being told that we have the responsibility of keeping these pipelines safe. That we can not do what we want in our own back yards, that we are the eyes and ears of the operators. Yet like it or not we are. And many people have no idea what to do with that responsibility.

“I get calls from people who smell or see something and don’t know what to do about it…The people who call 911 do the right thing but some are afraid to call 911. Some call our local gas utility company, they check their lines but the service guys that come out generally have no idea that these pipelines are out here.”

In a July 27 post, Robert F Kennedy correctly lists some of the reasons we need to move away from burning coal for energy generation.   Unfortunately, his conclusion that the solution is to replace coal with natural gas is as erroneous as his convictions about coal are correct.

At http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/king-coal_b_245117.html he concludes:

“Natural gas comes with its own set of environmental caveats. It is a carbon-based fuel and [its] extraction from shale, the most significant new source, if not managed carefully, can cause serious water, land use, and wildlife impacts, especially in the hands of irresponsible producers and lax regulators. But those impacts are dwarfed by the disastrous holocaust of coal and can be mitigated by careful regulation.

“The giant advantage of a quick conversion from coal to gas is the quickest route for jumpstarting our economy and saving our planet.”

In response, SplashdownPA writes:

“It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?
“All we need are responsible producers and vigilant regulators!

“Congress can’t even agree that this is necessary! Money isn’t there for environmental protection agencies to hire the number of inspectors necessary to monitor this lawless industry. And YES! coal mining and burning is dangerously toxic, but when Kennedy talks about enough affordable natural gas to last us into the next century, he’s supporting perpetuation of a carbon-based energy industry that has demonstrated it is unwilling to divert a nickel of its profits to safeguard our absolutely VITAL resources: WATER, AIR and LAND. Their best practices are simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Especially not a century’s worth!!!

“Closing coal fired plants would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 20%.. BUT, what measure of CO2 and even more environmentally harmful methane is released into the atmosphere during extraction of natural gas, including toxic air polluting emissions from transporting the millions of gallons of water to and from well pads, treatment or burial of “produced water”, operating drilling rigs, compressors and other associated gas production equipment and activities, over and above emissions from well flares and finally, power plant emissions from energy generation from natural gas? How does all that stack up against that 20%?

“How too does Kennedy justify the permanent depletion and contamination of drinking water supplies across the country, occurring as a result of mining for gas? Surely he can’t think that indicating the need for responsibility and vigilance is going to suddenly manifest a new attitude on all fronts, by all players in this play?

“What guarantees do we have that a gluttonous industry won’t milk the quick fix dry, leaving us with an irrevocable permanent loss in exchange for temporary energy?

“There are important unanswered, and without drilling reform legislation in place, perhaps unanswerable questions. They loom like loopholes in his argument as we continue to learn how criminally untrustworthy corporate America is willing to be in pursuit of the almighty dollar. We’ve seen too how even regulations aren’t foolproof, and how when one entity acts outside the law it encourages others to follow suit.

“Meanwhile, the gas industry has already been irresponsible for deadly releases of toxins into the atmosphere, deadly releases of toxins into our waters, for killing and/or sickening livestock, wildlife and humans, for the seepage of toxic wastewater into our lands, contaminating land and water, the evaporation into the atmosphere of carcinogens from open sludgepits… in short, there isn’t anything healthy or friendly about the production of natural gas and turning a blind eye to the devastating problems of the lesser of two evils does not make the lesser evil any better.”

Read more at:

http://splashdownpa.blogspot.com/2009/07/king-coal-rf-kennedy-jr-weighs-in-on.html

PA DEP Investigating Natural Gas Well Leak In Lycoming County

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., July 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a natural gas well leak at an East Resources well in McNett Township, Lycoming County.

“East Resources is cooperating fully with our investigation, and has already implemented measures to stop the leak,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Robert Yowell. “DEP staff will continue to work closely with East Resources and local emergency responders to ensure the safety of nearby residents.”

DEP was alerted to the problem last week by a citizen who reported discoloration of water in a tributary to Lycoming Creek and in a nearby spring. DEP staff investigated on July 24 what was then a suspected sediment problem in the creek.

On Monday, DEP received a report of possible natural gas bubbling from the tributary. DEP staff collected water samples from the spring and the tributary. Those samples are being analyzed for methane and other parameters in the department’s laboratory in Harrisburg. DEP staff confirmed the bubbling in two Lycoming Creek tributaries earlier today.

East Resources personnel monitored 18 private water wells in the nearby area that same day, and are providing water to four homes. They also monitored methane levels in the homes.

East Resources has three wells in the area, which are in the Oriskaney [sic] geologic formation, and not in the Marcellus Shale area. Two of the wells are drilled and completed, but not yet in service due to the lack of gathering lines in the area. The third well was previously plugged and abandoned.

East Resources began flaring the Delciotto #2 well on Monday to reduce pressure from the natural gas, and is currently working to flare the other two wells. The company is investigating the possibility that a casing failure in part of the Delciotto #2 well caused the natural gas leak. The company is attempting to seal off the leak with drilling mud to stop the natural gas from escaping.

CONTACT: Daniel T. Spadoni (570) 327-3659

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

- http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-28-2009/0005067720&EDATE=

“DEP holds Schreiner responsible for compromising the water supplies of 7 households.  But there are more – maybe more like 15.

“One neighbor lost water in October – had only about 7ft of water above pump until February when got new well. New well required filtration. Even with filtration system, the water is bad – currently looking for better filtration system.

“One neighbor has been out of his home for 10 weeks now because of high levels of methane in well – see the video of the vapors catching fire:

Click here>>    Video: Flammable water

“DEP told him not to light a match in his bathroom or start a bonfire in his yard. Just got new well dug last week- waiting to see about water quality.

“Several homes now require methane detectors – we know at least one has gone off twice.

“One neighbor lost water a couple of weeks ago and was filling his own tote to supply water to his home. It sounded today like they have just begun drilling him another well- we’ll see about its quality.

“One neighbor has depleted quality and quantity of spring because a road was built through her spring. DEP’s response was that it was not much of a spring anyway. The spring has supplied this home with water for at least 50 years and is the only water supply that this neighbor has.

“One of my neighbors had disgusting black slime that DEP would never test- they would run the water until all of the black stuff was out before they tested it.  The neighbor had an independent lab test it, and it turned out to be iron bacteria.

“Some neighbors have complained of rashes and excessively dry skin and hair.

“The majority of these wells have existed for over 40 years, and have never had these troubles.  Our water was pristine- no filter required.  Friends and family used to bottle our water to take home with them.

“So far it does not seem that the oil company wants to take much responsibility.  They have provided us with bottled water for drinking temporarily, and drilled a few wells that are most likely still contaminated.   They have about another 60 wells they want to drill.

“We are almost sure that the site of the propane tank and access road was wetland.  It met almost all of the criteria that DEP has listed for wetlands (mottled soil, indicator species, presence of water…..).  When we called DEP out, they said that there were areas that could be wetland, but a full study would have to be done to delineate it.  We expected them to do the study – next thing we know, all of the trees are down and construction had begun.”

Five Natural Gas Workers Hospitalized After Exposure to Acid

NEW MARTINSVILLE, WV –  According to WTRF-TV, as of May 20,  five men were under observation in Wetzel County Hospital after being exposed to what Chesapeake Energy called “battery acid.”

The station reported “Chesapeake Energy says there was no fire at the well site, just ‘an incident in which they were exposed to a material in the drilling process.’”

From the story:

“Wetzel County Hospital was set up with lights, sirens and a decontamination unit in the parking lot.

“At 10:15 a.m., the hospital was given a heads-up that they had five patients coming in, who had been exposed to commercial battery acid from a methane well drilling accident.

“‘They were pumping the material into the well site and apparently it splashed back onto the individuals and it also vaporized, creating the problem that we had here today,’ said Chief Larry Couch with the New Martinsville Fire Department.

“‘We were able to set up a decontamination unit, bring in additional medical staff, and actually we had five doctors on hand at the time when the patients arrived,’ said George Couch, Wetzel County Hospital CEO. “I think it was chemical exposure. I couldn’t assess any serious chemical burns. Appeared to be some respiratory distress.”

“New Martinsville Police Chief Tim Cecil had to hold back curious onlookers….

. . . . .

“According to Hospital CEO George Couch, all five employees are admitted for observation and are all in fair condition.

“Chesapeake Energy says the well site has been secured and is no danger to the public.

“Several agencies are reportedly investigating.”

Here’s what one commenter had to say about the story:
“I’ve been a professional chemist for twenty-eight years, with a degree from West Virginia University, and this would be the first instance I’ve encountered where “commercial battery acid” (AKA sulfuric acid) could produce the kinds of vapors cited in this story.

“I believe that Chesapeake Energy should have referred to the material by its proper name: hydrochloric acid, which is very commonly used in the well development process.

“Why did they choose to lie about this?”

______________________________________________________________

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=63728
FORESTVILLE, Md. – Five firefighters and one gas company employee were burned in an apparent natural gas explosion at a shopping center in Forestville. Some were seriously burned, but they have not said if any of the injuries were life threatening. All six have been transported to the Washington Hospital Center’s burn unit.

As many as a dozen were injured, the other six were hit by shrapnel from the explosion.

According to Prince George’s County Fire and EMS spokesperson Mark Brady, the fire department received a call around 12:30 p.m. Thursday for a report of a natural gas leak. They arrived at 3426 Donnell Drive and evacuated the building. Sometime after that, the explosion occurred.

Brady reports that a flash fire burned the firefighters and gas company employee. The building was heavily damaged, so no one has been able to go in and search to make sure everyone got out. Brady says they are hoping everyone was taken out in the initial evacuation.

BAINBRIDGE, Ohio -

More than 100 people crammed into an overflowing meeting room at the Federated Church Tuesday to hear what the state was going to do about problems created by oil and gas well drillers.

Sean Logan, the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s director, had few answers to calm fears. He failed to satisfy the concerns of more than 40 residents whose water wells were damaged by an English Drive gas well drilled in December 2007 that blew one house off of its foundation.

It was for these residents that he called the meeting.

In addition to Bainbridge residents, fire chiefs, public officials and residents came from neighboring communities and as far away as Highland Heights, Broadview Heights and Twin Lakes.

They wanted to see how the state responds to gas well accidents because they face new wells in their own communities.

Logan had no answer for Niki Kakoleck of Scotland Drive.

“What is the state going to do for me and my family?” she asked point-blank.

“I tried to refinance my house today and the bank told me my house has no value,” she continued. “My husband and I paid $180,000 for it before the gas well blew up. Now it has no value. I have to pay an attorney now on top of it.
“We’re on the verge of bankruptcy. I hired a sitter to watch my nine-year-old and 11-year-old so I could come here and hear what you are going to do.”

When Logan repeated that he was ordering a new municipal water line, she cut him off.

“This sucks,” she said. “You guys dropped the ball for me and my family.

Life in a hotel
“You don’t understand what we’ve been through. I had to live in a hotel for a week before Christmas with my kids and two dogs when the gas well blew up. My electric fence I paid a couple thousand dollars for was ruined by your temporary water line.

“The water delivery trucks have ruined my driveway — it’s all cracked now. I have to leave my garage door open two days a week and let strangers come and go in my house to fill the temporary water tank. I worry about the safety of my kids.

“The temporary water line freezes in the winter right in the middle of giving my kids a shower — it stopped. I had to wash soap from them with freezing cold water. I didn’t sign up for the gas well. I’m not getting any royalties from it. What are you going to do for me?”

Lou Wagner of Scotland Drive said he is more concerned about safety than the water line, which Logan said last week that the ODNR would install because drilling has fouled water wells.

“What’s going on with the trapped gas underground?” he asked. “Is it going to seep into my basement and blow up my house? We’re living on a minefield. Even if we had good water you can’t drink it if you’re dead.”

Logan replied that the gas is venting underground.

“Yes, it is — it’s venting into the aquifer,” a woman said as the crowd roared in laughter.

‘No evidence’
Logan said he does not have evidence that the gas is continuing to flow into the aquifer.

“But, you don’t have evidence that it’s not,” said another resident.

Although Logan said, “The buck stops here with me,” he placed most of the blame on the driller, Ohio Valley Energy for not moving fast enough to install a municipal water line.

He called OVE’s actions “egregious” and repeated his pledge of last week to order OVE to install the water line to the homes considered to be affected by the faulty gas well.

Several residents asked how they could find out if their home was among those deemed affected and entitled to the proposed water line. They did not receive a clear answer.

When asked when the water line would be installed, Logan said he would give OVE 15 days to submit a plan.

Last week Jerry Morgan of Geauga County Water Resources Department told Sun News he has seen plans for the waterline from OVE’s engineering firm, but it could take months to get it approved through the county and the Ohio EPA before digging could begin.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Logan told residents the delay was with OVE.

Who’s to blame?
An insider told Sun News that state and county officials — not OVE –may be to blame for holding up progress on the waterline.

Last week OVE’s president Charlie Masters told Sun News that his company has been trying to bring in the water line since February 2008, but has met with resistance.

Tuesday night, Logan said his technical staff would examine independent laboratory reports on the “black goo” that is showing up in well water where gas wells have been drilled and fracted [sic].

This is a change from his stance April 7 when he said, “It seems to be naturally occurring in Geauga County water.”

At that time, he further stated “It’s well documented that there are problems with well water in Geauga County.”

County officials refuted that statement.

Loud boos
Logan pledged that he would push the envelope of the law to make OVE pay for monthly water bills homeowners would face with a municipal water line.

He was booed when he said although his department issues permits, it has no authority to slow down the drilling by slowing down the number of permits it issues.

He admitted that his department is understaffed and does not have enough inspectors to inspect new wells as they are being drilled, although current rules call for the inspections.

He further said his department does not have the authority to refuse a permit to OVE or any other driller that is caught using faulty practices.

“But you’re the only one who does have control over drillers,” a woman said. “We’re the people, and it’s time you stood up for we the people and stopped standing up for the gas industry.”

“You should just step up,” a man shouted.

Logan said he is working on legislation to change current laws.

State Sen. Tim Grendell and Rep. Matt Dolan attended the meeting.

Grendell told the crowd that he is working on legislation to bring back local control of gas well drilling, while Logan is working with the oil and gas well industry on his proposed legislation.

Attorney Dale Markowitz thanked Logan for meeting with residents. Markowitz also told Logan, “You’re on your last leg.”

Markowitz is representing the 40 residents and Bainbridge Township in their lawsuit against the driller and ODNR.

Dolan declined a resident’s request to speak at the meeting.

The Daily Review, a Towanda, Pennsylvania newspaper, printed a truly regrettable editorial in their April 12 edition.  It was titled, astonishingly, “Give gas firms a decent chance to do right thing.”   I didn’t know such naivete was still possible.  And I can’t say I can remember ever seeing such smarmy pathos in an editorial.

The people of Bradford County, fortunately, are way smarter than their newspaper’s editorial board.  You can read their comments, as well as the editorial,  here: http://www.thedailyreview.com/articles/2009/04/12/editorial/tw_review.20090412.a.pg4.tw12edit_s1.2440910_edi.txt

This comment stood out:

“Finally, this editorial has opened up a topic of interest to me. Trust. I do not trust Chesapeake Energy. Its less than stellar corporate reputation is reported on regularly by local and national news media, and CHK has done several things to reinforce this reputation since they’ve been in Bradford County. CHK, as a company, is a warrior which uses its well-honed public relations as a shield, and lawyers as its legal gun-wielding army. Every contract presented has legal wording which are the equivalent of burdocks and oil. The burdocks are there so that the contract sticks to you if they want it to, but the oil is there so that CHK can slip out at their discretion. How many people last year thought they had a lease with CHK, just to find that they didn’t? In how many cases did independent landmen (not CHK, of course) lie, evade, or misrepresent facts in order to get a signed lease for CHK’s benefit?

“I went to the March 5th CHK presentation in Athens and was impressed by the people I met.
One of the reasons that I was impressed by the CHK people was that from my corporate training of many years, I recognize consummate professionals upon sight, and the group fit the bill perfectly.

“When I came home I did a little research, and found out why the image had been so impressive. Two of the individuals were media professionals, having worked until just a few years ago for the prestigious Charles Ryan Associates in Charleston. One of these individuals plus another who will be coming to Towanda as the Central Bradford Progress Authority dinner speaker on April 16th are registered lobbyists in the state of West Virginia representing Chesapeake. These are people who are both media and law savvy. Nothing wrong with this, but the average resident in Bradford County needs to know the level of skill and experience of the persons he is working with.

“I found the third individual truly humorous and likeable. He explained that he had previously worked for Columbia Natural Resources and was absorbed into Chesapeake along with the office furniture. After my research, I learned that he, along with Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon, spoke at the glitzy, WV governor-attended 8/23/07 Chesapeake announcement of its planned Charleston WV Eastern Regional HQ building which was an investment of 40 million dollars in Charleston WV. But something bad happened. On May 22nd, 2008, the full verdict including financial damages were announced for Chesapeake’s loss of a WV Supreme Court Case over cheating landowners out of royalties (which it took liability for when it bought out CNR). On May 29th, only seven days later, the true nature of CHK was apparent when its CEO Aubrey McClendon announced that CHK axed the plans for the eastern regional headquarters as a result of the outcome of the state Supreme Court case. Vindictive behavior, no apologies, true reason revealed. CHK knows that the money it has can buy justice, and if it doesn’t, it will retaliate. No big surprise, then, that on 3/2/09, just a few days before the Athens CHK public meeting, CHK announced cutting out 215 jobs in Charleston and demoting the Charleston regional corporate headquarters to a regional field office. Further retaliation against a state government that was clearly not influenced by money.

“On 3/5/09 in Athens, the professional faces of the CHK trio showed no hint of emotion at the CHK Charleston job cuts which must have been troubling them. Even the humorous fellow, a Charleston native who had been inherited by CHK along with the CNR landowner royalty-cheating liability and the office furniture, who had been involved in proudly announcing the Eastern Regional HQ building in his hometown, who had lived through the axing of the building and now was surviving the axing of the jobs, kept his mask on securely. Only 3 days after the public announcement, any pain he or the others must have felt masked by professionalism, the CHK media show at Athens went on flawlessly. Good corporate soldiers doing battle on the front line for a flawed Napoleonic leader.

“Just axing the building plans and jobs isn’t enough for a vindictive CHK CEO. In 2007, a CHK cheap shot against WV had been made in the early days of the lawsuit, this one against hopeful royalty owners. Here’s a quote I picked up from the net.

“’We’re just finishing up the first large three-dimension seismic survey ever shot in West Virginia which, ironically is in Roane County (the county where the lawsuit was filed originally),’ McClendon said. ‘So we’re kind of scratching our heads about what to do with it.  We own most of this acreage already — it’s called ‘held by production by shallower wells,’ he said. ‘So in terms of timing, if we want to sit on this for the next 20 or 30 years, we can certainly do that. I’m not willing at this point to commit to a big new exploration program in the state of West Virginia when I don’t know how the leases that I’ve inherited are going to be interpreted by judges across the state.’

“A comment on a fourth fellow at the 3/5/09 meeting, who presented himself as the new CHK local Tunkhannock recruit. A former Chief of Staff to Lisa Baker, he has a long resume of PA state government experiences. CHK has a desire to manage its relationship with state governments productively. I am sure his contacts will be useful to CHK. The only PA lobbyist I could find listed for Chesapeake in PA is a Robert J. Wilson of the Sandstone Group out of Kansas. I have to wonder whether Chesapeake has some new local lobbyists in mind? Now that same local fellow is recommending that we don’t post and bond. I am left wondering why. What is in it for CHK? I only know, I cannot recognize the burdocks and oil in a legal document. The army of CHK lawyers, armed with their legal guns, will insure that you don’t win. I’ve come to the conclusion that it almost doesn’t matter what the document you sign with CHK says. Their army of lawyers can twist and spin words and meanings, and CHK will win in any case brought against them. And if they don’t, they’ll be hell to pay.

“The plans for the prestigious Charleston Eastern Regional Headquarters are probably still available on their award winning architect’s shelf. If Bradford County cozies up to CHK enough, and the state of PA does likewise, maybe someone can convince CHK to plunk the building down in Towanda on Main Street in the borough-owned lot next to C&N. What a feather in our cap that would be! Maybe that’s what the Central Bradford Progress Authority has in mind as it cozies up to CHK at Thursday night’s annual dinner. Only time will tell.

“Chesapeake’s ethical position is self-expressed in great detail on its website. CHK gives money to good community causes and uses lots of media savvy and more money to shore up its reputation. It’s true reputation, however, leaves much to be desired. And I will not be so trusting as to lower my guard.”

From Calvin Tillman, Mayor of DISH, Texas
I continue to bring up the negative illustrations of the impact the numerous pipelines, compressors and metering stations which have forced themselves upon our small community. In fighting the last four years, it has been a hope of mine that at some point the assault on our rights would stop. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that the blows from this industry will continue. Many of you have seen the massive compressors, metering stations and pipelines that we have here. If you could have seen this area five years ago, the footprint was very small. Unfortunately, this sight grows more and more every day. Atmos Energy decided to put their facility here, and unfortunately for us, if you want to sell natural gas to Atmos, you are going to bring it here. Atmos really started this mess, as some describe, they were the camel’s nose in the tent, and from there it exploded and has destroyed the better part of 70 acres of good land. However, it appears as though it is only the beginning, as there is more on the way.

When one of these companies come sniffing around, they too just stick their nose in the tent, and send their paid liars to tell you that a small facility is all it is going to be…and then you hear the rest of the story much later. They tell you that there will be a facility that you will hardly even notice such as Crosstex energy told us a year and a half ago. They tell us that there will only be a small building, that houses a small compressor, and if that was the end, it wouldn’t have been bad. However, now they want to put in some other gas processing equipment that has a couple of tanks that are forty feet high…yes forty feet! So once again the Town of DISH, gets kicked, and they won’t even let us get up. Once they get through with their continued assault, there will be one of the other companies coming to share the bad news of their expansion. It seems as though there is little we can do to stop constant violation of our civil rights. How is it that a for profit company, can decide that we here in DISH are the ones whose property becomes worthless? How is it that our peace and quiet here in DISH is destroyed, for the greater good? How is is that we have to deal with natural gas releases in the middle of the night during a lightning storm (which sound like a jet engine at full throttle)? I foolishly thought that we had protections from these assaults, left to us by the founding fathers of this great nation. I don’t recall the story in the history books that told of the for profit company, who could destroy your way of life, you property rights, and quite possible your health, as many of you know better than me. I was not a great student, but I did manage to stay awake in history, how could I have missed this?

It has now become clear that “enough is enough”, is not a theory these companies believe in. They somehow have been given the power to violate the common people’s rights, and have taken it so far as to believe that they are justified in doing so. I wonder from time to time how they sleep at night? What do they tell there families when they go home at night? Do they tell them that they swindled someone out of there land? How bout the person that lost there retirement which they invested in the property that they threatened into signing over to them? Do they tell their families those stories? More likely, they tell them what good neighbors their prospective companies are, or better yet they tell the story of the great product, and how nice it feels on a cold morning, when that clean natural gas fires up. . Clean natural gas? Come look at the by-products of that clean natural gas here in DISH and judge for yourself. As always, I will do everything I can do, to soften the blow for the citizens here, but it will not be enough. It won’t be long before every camel has their entire body in the tent at our expense. As always, please share this with whoever might be interested.
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Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX
(940) 453-3640