When Ravenna Swetts, 72, and Marguerite Swetts, 84, both of Perryopolis, PA drove down state route 119 in East Huntingdon around lunch time this past October, they couldn’t have imagined being rear ended in broad daylight by the triaxle truck that took their lives.
There is a lot of previously unimagined truck traffic on state, federal and local roads in Western Pennsylvania these days. Traffic that wasn’t here prior to the Marcellus Shale rush.
The truck that hit the two women was carrying a load of sand to a drill site. Convoys on state routes, oversized loads on rural roads and speeding tanker trucks are now a common and frightening sight in our region.
Rural roads are susceptible to the most dangerous scenarios. According to the Department of Transportation, 27% of fatal vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania in 2009 occurred while negotiating a curve. With so many big trucks traveling our back roads, our communities are at risk.
Quality of Life
The dramatic increase in driving danger, traffic and deterioration of roadways are not the public health hazards that air and water pollution are. However, the truck traffic that drilling brings further detracts from the quality of life in our region.
The truck convoys that I have witnessed remind me of similar convoys I saw on a trip to Dubai in 2008. The traffic there was a nightmare, most of which was caused by trucks used in the city’s non-stop construction at the time.
I talked to some locals about it and they started off raving about their city, but ultimately concluded that the traffic and the danger associated with it takes away from their quality of life. I am starting to understand how they felt.
If Western Pennsylvania is the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas” as some politicians tout it, this traffic is only going to increase and so are the dangers associated with it. But, our safety and quality of life are not the only concerns this increase in traffic brings.
Funding Our Infrastructure
Who is going to pay for this? According to Marcellus-Shale.us, municipalities require bonds on roads that industry uses for repairs and upkeep. But, what is to stop drillers from changing their routes to avoid paying these bonds? Furthermore, there is nothing in place for state and federal government to secure bonds from companies using these roads.
Once again the natural gas industry is guilty of shortsightedness. The promises of increased property value and new sustainable jobs have not come to fruition. Fracking is proving to be a dirtier business than anyone could have imagined and our health is paying the price. Now, the insurgence of out of state trucks is making our roads unsafe while accelerating the destruction of our infrastructure.
Government Help
Today Pennsylvania legislators are trying once again to pass a severance tax on the gas being pumped from the Marcellus Shale. One-third of the proposed tax revenue would go to the counties and municipalities where the drilling is being done. If we have to have the drilling (and it’s not going away just yet) this appears to be a sensible way to fund the fixing of our roads.
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership is opposed to a severance tax on drillers. This isn’t a party issue- heavily Republican Alaska and Texas both have severance taxes, as does every other state that has natural gas drilling.
As frustrating as everything surrounding drilling is, there is beauty in the fight. This is one issue that unites the majority of us. This is our water, our air, our roads and our future. Partisan politics be damned.
The Source of The Tax Refusal?
In upcoming posts, I will take a look at a possible reason why state politicians refuse to tax the take, take, take natural gas industry the way they should. Could money be involved? Stay tuned.
NTC Consultants has estimated the required truck trips per well over the 2 phases requiring transportation: Drilling Rig Mobilization, Site Preparation and Demobilization
Well Completion
Source: www.marcellus-shale.us |
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