This week Dominion hired a company based in Texas to work on new pipelines in Wetzel County. Instead of using local labor, workers will be imported from Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. In reaction, the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation has organized four protests in front of Dominion Transmission facilities. Commenting on the matter, Larry Young of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 132 said, “They promote Marcellus Shale like it is the biggest thing in the world that will produce millions of dollars. But the local people sure don’t see much of that.” Read more in the Charleston Gazette…
Another rally was held in Morgantown, where concerned citizens once again gathered in the courthouse square to speak out against the two Marcellus wells permitted 3000 feet from the intake of their drinking water supply. Attendees spoke not only of their fears about the detrimental health effects that would result from spills, runoff, and air pollution, but drew attention to the fact that there was no public comment period on the permits, as is standard with current regulations.
Meanwhile, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia launched a new publicity campaign and website. Among legislators present at the support rally for the campaign was Senate President Pro-Tempore Brooks McCabe, who helped pass huge tax breaks for the gas industry in the most recent legislative session. Called “Just Beneath the Surface,” the campaign touts benefits the state is reaping from natural gas production, such as local jobs and tax dollar contributions.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for publishing the link to “Just Beneath the Surface”. But why does your headline assert the site “masks reality” without giving us any evidence of that?
Another example of your biased, unprofessional reporting, I’m afraid.
Here’s what the headline does not assert: It does not assert that the publicity campaign is full of lies. It does assert that the publicity campaign masks reality, meaning it leaves out details and smoothes over evidence against their claims. I gave three examples of this in the form of events that happend the very week the website was published.
To reiterate what I wrote in my article:
1.) While IOGA talks of the jobs brought to West Virginia, labor unions are protesting in four counties after Dominion announced it would be hiring workers from Texas instead of using local labor.
2.) In this article about the launching of the campaign, the president of IOGA argues against the need for additional regulation, when citizens of Morgantown are rallying because there is a Marcellus well permitted and ready to drill 3000 feet from their water intake, in close proximity to two schools. They want, among other things, a public comment period added to the permitting process, so that they at least would have had a say in the permitting of the wells. The Morgantown Utility Board was shocked to learn about these permits, and had to have the permits amended.
3.) Just Beneath the Surface boasts of the amount of taxes West Virginia is reaping from the natural gas industry. Paying taxes is the American thing to do: it’s not a favor that we have to say “thank you” for. However, I think it’s important to note that after the last session of the legislature, newly permitted Marcellus operations are exempt from property taxes for their first five years of operation– that’s a lot of tax money that we could have used for our schools.
As covered in previous Frack Check articles, the EPA has not concluded comprehensive studies on the health effects of Shale gas operations, a new study was recently taken up after Chesapeake shut down their operations for nearly a month following a well blow-out, and a peer-reviewed scholarly article connected shale gas drilling with methane contamination of water wells, 16 cattle drop dead after drinking fluid spilled into a field. Meanwhile “Just Beneath the Surface” says “There has never been a documented instance of water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing” and “ingredients in fracturing fluid could affect your health—if you were exposed to them in excessive quantities. However, the concentration… is far below the levels necessary to pose a threat.”
Since you brought up the subject of biased, Mr. Blakeslee, perhaps leasing your 700 acres to gas drilling has made you biased in a way that you were able to turn a blind eye to this evidence.
Mr. Blakeslee will soon reap what he has sown. And he’ll deserve every bit of what he gets.
once again, I remind a Frack Check respondent, Ms. Good in this case, there’s no need to get personal. There’s plenty to debate on the merits of the arguments.
I am an ADVOCATE of responsible drilling – I do not purport, as does Frack Check in its mission statement:
“To ensure Marcellus Shale gas drilling in West Virginia is conducted responsibly and safely, this site has been designed to provides readers with information to help influence public policy decisions on the issue.”
Its mission statement, it seems to me, holds Frack Check to a standard of balance and fairness not yet displayed.
Your headline here is a case in point. Another was Frack Check’s characterization of the fact that the Duke University study of Pennsylvania wells found no frack water leakage as “surprising”. Why would Frack Check be surprised, if they did not expect a priori (and hope, maybe?) that there would have been leakage? Seems like when Frack Check finds instances of good news in the gas drilling industry (“responsible drilling”, in other words), Frack Check is disappointed!
What’s the matter Mr. Blakeslee? Mad because you were exposed? It was you, and not Ms. Good, who made this discussion personal, starting with your very first comment. It’s plain for all to see.
Good news from the gas drilling industry is very, very hard to come by. How does it feel to be the type of person who willingly jeopardizes the health of their family and their neighbors to satisfy their own lust for money? I know I could no longer look others in the eye if I were to do the same. But than again, I hold myself to a much higher personal standard and was taught from an early age to be considerate of those who might be impacted by my actions.
“Informed Citizen”: I have nothing but disdain for cowards who do not sign their name to their letters.
To be fair, I should say I appreciate Frack Check’s link to my arguments in the Bluefield Telegraph story, in favor of drilling in Monroe County. Substantially the same story also appears in the Beckley Herald, in its webpage devoted to Marcellus shale news. Also, I appreciate frack Check’s two new links to the “Just Undr the Surface” organization, on Frack Check’s Home Page.