- Preston County News
WDTV, Channel 5 News:
Report on Preston County Commission
About 12 environmental groups are asking county commissions and city councils to support a statewide moratorium on new Marcellus Shale gas permits. The chairman of the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club addressed the Preston County Commission on Monday to ask for their support for a moratorium, citing health and environmental safety concerns.
A bill was passed last December by the legislature with regulations on the industry. The Preston County Commission did not support the environmentalists’ requests saying it would not support any measures that threatened jobs in the county.
“The reason to come here to this commission is because their highest responsibility is to protect the citizens of Preston County, their homes, their families, their property,” said Jim Sconyers, chair of the state’s Sierra Club.
The commission president says member don’t support the moratorium. “It’s not well received here in Preston County and especially not by this commission who is pro-extraction. We’ve worked with and developed a lot of extraction industries here in this county and we want to continue to work with those industries,” explained Commission President Craig Jennings.
Any moratorium would have to come from the state government level.
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Film Fest & Community Forum
Preston CARES Reel Power Event
Sunday, October 14th, 2 pm to 8 pm
Preston E911 Center, 300 Rick Wolfe Drive, Kingwood
This event is sponsored by Preston CARES (Citizen’s Alliance for Resource & Environmental Safety) and Friends of the Cheat. Refreshments will be available. Nature-inspired youth art will be on display. Information displays and resources from regional groups will be on hand. Come-and-go freely throughout the afternoon. See also: www.cheat.org
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It is true that local and even state moratoria on high volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing that would allow the time necessary to conduct credible scientific research to evaluate short and long term environmental and human health impacts of high volume hydraulic fracturing will continue to be unpopular. The hypnotic effect of the propaganda that has been unleashed by the industry is quite powerful. In my opinion, the target should be the federal government and the 2005 Energy Policy Act that provides exclusive exemptions from clean air and water regulations that are designed to protect American citizens from harm. This is not to say that local efforts by concerned citizens are not important, but giving the foxes the keys to the hen house has never been a good idea, as was done in 2005 and continues to this day.
I really appreciate this post. There seems to be so much more to learn about Marcellus shale drilling and fracking? And, surprising how widespread the problems have become geographically!
I was not able to attend the activities in Preston county, but I really appreciate the goals and objectives of the Preston CARES organization. Hopefully, they are getting strong grass roots support. And, if they make the effort to interface with state-wide or national groups with more resources, that would be quite useful to them I am sure. For a worthy organization that deserves our contributions, see the WV Surface Owners Rxights Organization at http://www.wvsoro.org