Our Best Interests at Heart?

Property Values: Up or Down?

Times are tough all over, unemployment is up and money is tight. Desperate times do call for desperate measures. With all this in mind, leasing your land to natural gas drillers might sound like a good idea about now. 

I am not going to pretend to understand an individual’s level of desperation or pass judgement on what  someone feels they need to do to survive. But after looking into the connection between gas drilling and property value, I may have some food for thought. 

A home is the largest purchase most of us will ever make, often times it is our nest egg. But, if you lease your land for drilling, you may find your home unsellable. The fact is that most banks (and insurance companies) are unwilling to take on the risk of financing a mortgage built on gas leased land. What’s even more frightening is that many banks won’t finance a mortgage if your neighbor, not you, has leased their land. Now that’s toxic. 

You Should Know:

The following financial organizations consider financing these types of mortgages excessively risky: FHA, HUD, GMAC, Wells Fargo, First Place, Fidelity, First Liberty and Bank of America.

Job Rush?

One of the promises made by the natural gas industry has been job growth in Western PA. There are a lot of studies and data out there on workforce needs for Marcellus Shale drilling, a lot to sift through. So, when I decided to look at what the industry was saying about its own prospects, I figured I would see the most inflated data yet. What I found was anything but. 

According to the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center, it takes 410 individuals, doing150 tasks to drill a single well. On the surface this looks like a lot of jobs, but the total hours worked for these 410 jobs only amount to 11.5 full-time jobs per well. Of the jobs per well, 98% of these jobs are only needed during the drilling process. 

These two statistics point to one thing: transient temporary workers. The natural gas companies are bringing jobs to our region, but they are also bringing the workers. So, where are they coming from? 

The corporations that make up the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the top drillers in the region, are not exactly local. Seven of the forty companies are based in Pennsylvania, but 21 are based in Texas. The remaining corporations are based out of seven other states and Canada. These companies are training their employees out of state and bringing them here to fill most of the temporary positions and then its off to another well.

It's Only Temporary 

The jobs that come to Pennsylvania are largely temporary. Temporary financial relief from leasing land to drillers. Temporary property value increase for the housing needs of temporary workers. 

A longer look shows that many of the industry's promises have proven to be temporary ones.  What isn’t temporary is the impact on our environment and our health. 

Drilling Issues 101 with Anita Barkin of CMU

As I start to look deeper at the impact of drilling on the region’s health, I wanted to get an expert’s take, both in terms of public health and the other issues surrounding drilling.

Anita Barkin, DrPH, CRNP, Director of University Health Services at Carnegie Mellon University, agreed to answer a few of my questions. I should also note that Anita is a community activist in the battle against drilling, hosting meetings at her home and attending town halls regularly. 

NN: What do you see as drilling’s most significant impact on public health?

AB: Air and water contamination.  The water in the Mon (Monongahela River) is already compromised.  There has been talk of the DEP (State Department of Environmental Protection) giving the Mon impaired status.  Drillers will tell you that this is not due to Marcellus Shale drilling, but to mine run-off from coal and the contamination by industries along the river.  I say you're right (mostly), but if the water is already impaired, what happens with increased drilling along with the draw off that will take place to drill more wells (it takes 2.5-5 million gallons of water to drill one well)? The water will come from rivers and streams.  

Pittsburgh already has one of the highest rates of lung disease and asthma in the country. Radioactive materials are brought up in the "produced water".  Carcinogens and neurotoxins are used in drilling and return to the surface in the produced water. Our current sewage plants are not equipped to remove these byproducts.  We are playing Russian roulette with our greatest, limited resource: our water.  Volatile organic compounds are in the impoundments and vaporize to contaminate our air. What happens when we add the contamination from drilling?  Fort Worth, Texas has major air quality issues due to drilling.  

NN: Have the companies been cooperative when it comest to meeting with citizens? 

AB: They have up to now.  However, since the election of Corbett, who took one million dollars in campaign contributions from the industry, they have been less responsive.  

NN:What is the one thing people considering selling their land rights should take into account? 

AB: What is the REAL level of compensation they will receive?  The companies have asked for money back from landowners because they "miscalculated"  the production.  Also, people need to know that no independent source verifies production. The companies monitor the production themselves.  

People who want to sign a lease should consult with an attorney with expertise in the field.  The Landsmen sell you a bill of goods.  What will the company do if your water is contaminated or your ground is contaminated?  If your property loses value because of an "accident", I hope what they pay you is enough to make up for that.  

NN: Of all the issues and possible consequences of drilling, what aren't people talking about that they should be? 

AB: People who are in the know and have educated themselves have a pretty comprehensive idea about the concerns. The major problem is lack of knowledge in the general population about the impacts. They think that this is the shallow gas well drilling that has taken place historically.  This is not shallow drilling and people need to understand the difference.

NN: Could this actually be good for the region?  

AB: My belief is that the current industry will benefit only the corporations.  Corporations are, by nature, out to make money; they are not out to protect the public (case in point - Gulf oil spill). From what I have heard, gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal but the current extraction method is a problem.  There are ways to get the gas without some of the hazards but it costs more money to do it that way and corporations don't want to spend the money.  By the way, don't buy the party line that this gas will make us energy independent - oil and gas are NOT interchangeable fuels.

What Struck Me...

A lot of what Anita said got my attention. Nothing more than how the public needs to understand the difference between traditional shallow drilling and this extreme deep drilling. I can remember growing up in this area and wishing we had natural gas on our property. People my parents knew were cleaning up and I wanted a piece of the action. 

Marcellus Shale drilling is a whole other animal. Anita referenced the the Gulf spill when talking about corporations; I think the Gulf spill is a fantastic analogy to use in educating the public. The deep drilling in the Gulf was extreme and look what happened. Consider the potential for disaster with extreme drilling in populated areas. 

Next Time and Beyond...

I am going to take a look at more of the ancillary dangers to the public, such as the heavy traffic being created on rural roads.

I will also take a long look at the economic impact of drilling. From the desire to drill to the desire to sell land right, money runs the show. But are the promised windfalls coming to fruition? 

Inauguration Day

Dignitaries in overcoats are surrounded by the familiar patriotic bunting from one end of the capital to the other. It is the dawn of a new day in Pennsylvania politics; today Tom Corbett takes the oath of Governor. A time to celebrate for some. But, for those concerned with the consequences of drilling the Marcellus Shale, this is no time for celebration. 

Hundreds came to the party to protest the laissez-faire stance the new Governor has towards this potentially toxic practice (see footage under videos). The protestor are looking for a moratorium on further drilling on private and public lands in Pennsylvania. They also aim to protect the state’s water and air from the effects of drilling and fracking.

The group also wants to end the fast tracking of new well permits in Pennsylvania. This and their other goals are unlikely, given the Governor's pro-business campaign promises and track record. This is a fight that has to be taken to the people in town hall meetings and educational events around the state. 

What the Frack!?!

One of the first questions people have when it comes to this issue: what is fracking? Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of forcing water, chemicals and sand down a well - as far as ten thousand feet - at high pressure. The mixture then fractures the Marcellus Shale formation, releasing natural gas which travels up the well. ProPublica has a fantastic graphic of the process  for you visual learners. 

What Goes Down...

What becomes of this mixture that is forced down the well? Just what you’d think, it comes up. The now contaminated water is placed in open pits, or fracking ponds, while it waits for transport to a treatment facility. The issue of treating is a sticky one, numerous news outlets and citizens have caught tankers dumping their water around Western Pennsylvania, as shown in one of the videos. 

This toxic water is at the root of the Marcellus Shale controversy. This water can get into our drinking supply underground as well as via surface spills. After a recent spill, the USDA quarantined cattle that drank contaminated water. Unfortunately, us humans are not afforded the same safeguards. The gas industry is exempt from federal clean and safe water acts. 

Toxic Mix

Anita Barkin, DrPH, CRNP, Director of University Health Services at Carnegie Mellon University, provided me with a number of resources that describe the chemical mix forced down these wells. The chemical component is actually made up of 80 different chemicals . Experts like Dr. Barkin tell us that 93% of these chemicals cause adverse health effects, 60% are on the dreaded carcinogen list and 40% are endocrine disrupters- substances that interfere with the hormones responsible for cell metabolism, reproduction, development and behavior. The impact on public health is not to be taken lightly. 

The Road Ahead

I find it fitting that my first posting to this blog I am so energized over, comes on inauguration day. It is the dawn of a new day. What’s next? Stay tuned. 

Inauguration Day Sparks Protest

Illegal Roadside Frack Dumping