Voices from Bradford County, PA

Below is a document compiled by Bob Applegate and submitted to the Cortland County Taskforce in early May, 2011 to illustrate the problems being experienced in a heavily drilled PA county. Like the information emailed to you recently by Buzz Lavine, this speaks to the multiple costs that our residents and taxpayers will have to pay for should fracking come our way. The sources are documented and are those of people now experiencing high intensity, heavily industrialized fracking and support the idea that such industrialization has no place in the Town of Dryden. Said another way, these costs greatly outweigh the speculative costs of potential litigation if our Town adopts zoning prohibiting high intensity, heavy industrial uses.

Voices from Bradford County, PA

The Roads, Traffic, and First Responders

Doug McLinko, Bradford County Commissioner: The "traffic is incredible" in Bradford County, and is much heavier than it was anticipated to be. The drilling "is moving too fast and furiously," McLinko said. "We need to slow it down." (The DailyReview.Com, January 27, 2011)

"I support the development of the Marcellus Shale," he said. "I do not support the industry and the operators that do it. A lot of them need to be held responsible for what they do."
(The Morning Times, April 8, 2011)

Warren Knapp, Assistant Maintenance Manager for PennDOT in Bradford County: During last year's freeze-thaw cycle, there was "some very, very severe road breakup" in areas of Bradford County, with other areas receiving lesser damage, Knapp said. More damage is expected this year. (The DailyReview.Com, January 27, 2011)

Gary Wilcox, Bradford County Public Safety Director: There are hazardous berms on county roads that have been reconstructed by gas companies. "There are some spots in the county where there is a four-to-five foot drop off" at the outside edge of the berm. (The DailyReview.Com, January 27, 2011)

Rick Mason, PennDOT spokesman: "Permits have been suspended due to Chesapeake's failure to deal in a timely manner with severe roadway damage caused by its heavy hauling operations." If the repairs are not made, the state will begin the revocation process," Mason said. (The StarGazette.Com, April 12, 2011)

Bob Thorne, PennDOT's manager for Bradford County: Gas drilling companies should drive on the roads they have upgraded over the last year, so that they don't damage other roads during the freeze-thaw cycle. Still another issue with the newly reconstructed roads is that the guard rails along the roadway may be too low, due to the increased height of the roadway, Thorne said. (The DailyReview.Com, January 27, 2011)

Terry Sheets , North Towanda Fire Chief : The traffic congestion . . . is preventing firefighters from getting to the scene of emergencies in a timely manner, because they can't get to their fire stations quickly enough. (The DailyReview.Com, January 27, 2011)


Editorial from Towanda's Daily Review: "Emergency responders in the Towanda area and elsewhere in Bradford County are being run ragged with extra duty caused by problems of one sort of another in the natural gas industry. It is nearing crisis proportions here and elsewhere." (Dailyreview.com April 25, 2011)

Sandra Tosca, PennDOT Executive: The agency recognizes the changes in traffic in Bradford County brought by the natural gas industry and is committed to finding a solution, but has to prioritize among many needs. . . The time frame for a permanent solution could be a year and a half after PennDOT completes the required studies. (Dailyreview.com April 29, 2011)

Mark W. Smith, Bradford County Commissioner: "The majority of roads in our townships were never built to withstand the heavy and constant truck traffic that horizontal well drilling and injection requires. One well drilling operation may involve over 1,000 truck loads."

-"As the industry increases their operations we can only expect a negative impact on our bridges."

-"Regulations and regulatory agencies are in transition. It is unclear if the challenges of balancing industry and public safety are being met. There is great local concern that D.E.P., even with their proposed increased staffing has no chance of keeping up with the pace of the drilling activity, let alone the increased responsibilities D.E.P. is taking away from conservation districts."

( From Smith's testimony to the Pennsylvania State Senate, April 9, 2009)

Thad Warnick, Pennsylvania State Trooper: "The accident occurred at 8:38 a.m. when the Athens Area School District bus was struck by a vacuum truck that slid while coming down an icy driveway. . .The road was shut down as emergency personnel and police responded to the accident.

The controls on the front of the vacuum truck hit the side of the bus, and the bus went off the road, rolled over and came to rest back on its wheels.  There were no injuries in the accident, other than the bus driver having a scratch on her hand.  What if that thing had been loaded with kids? We'd still be down there.

They hit a school bus, that's a little different than hitting a car. I'm just really concerned with the bus incident." (January 28, 2011, thedailyreview.com)

Doug Ulkins, Athens Area School District Superintendent: The crash "makes me wonder what our area is turning into with all the big traffic. We have to be careful." (January 28, 2011, thedailyreview.com)

(note: in some school districts in Pennsylvania and West Virginia school buses are now accompanied by "pilot trucks" to protect them from accidents like these. Pilot trucks are also used to lead traffic through especially damaged sections of highway.)


Other Public Safety Concerns

John Sullivan, Bradford County Commissioner and Conservation District Board Member:

"It's kind of made the county recession-proof, but it's created some problems. We've had an increase of visitors to our jail. You bring all these men in, you couldn't expect not to have some crime. Our 911 center said, from a year ago, they've had almost 4,000 more calls in a three-month period. We don't know that it's all gas-related, but I'm sure it's had some impact." Sullivan was startled one day when picking corn on his farm to find a gas employee standing nearby. "I never used to lock my doors," he said. "Now I do." Sullivan counted 26 (heavy trucks) passing his house at night during an hour, and his five-mile commute through town now takes 25 minutes.

(The RiverReporter, Narrowsburg, NY May 6, 2010)

Water Contamination and the Difficulties Documenting It

Laura Legere, Times-Shamrock writer: How many water supplies have been impacted by drilling activities?
Right now, no one is keeping a complete count.

The Oil and Gas Act does not require drillers to notify state regulators when landowners alert them that drinking water has been harmed by the companies' operations.

Under current law, the Department of Environmental Protection must look into cases of potential drinking water pollution only when it is asked to investigate a problem by a landowner.

The department also does not track how often gas drillers voluntarily replace drinking water supplies, either temporarily or permanently.

Often, homeowners and drillers work out agreements without needing the department's assistance," DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun said. "We get involved when we are notified of a problem, but we are not made aware of every case."

Without the mandatory disclosure, critics say, voluntary arrangements can take advantage of the fact that there are disincentives for landowners to ask DEP to intervene: People may feel intimidated about pushing their complaints or fear causing any disruption to the gas companies that pay them royalties.

On some occasions, gas companies, even when working side-by-side with regulators to address water complaints, have made clear efforts to keep voluntary water replacement arrangements out of the public eye. (November 14, 2010 the times tribune.com)

(In neighboring Susquehanna County,) Cabot remedied or replaced a water supply, on average, for more than one in every three gas wells it drilled." (November 18, 2010 thedailyreview.com)

Todd O'Malley, a Towanda lawyer: says he personally has seen more than 30 polluted water cases in Bradford County alone.

"I'm not against gas exploration. I'm against sloppy unsafe speedy exploration which leaves people's wells contaminated, which leaves streams contaminated, which causes the problems we've seen in Pennsylvania so far." (WETM 18, April 22, 2011)

Daniel Farnham, environmental engineer who has tested more than 2,000 water wells in Northeastern and Northcentral Pennsylvania: As many as 50 homes in Bradford County alone are currently getting replacement water supplies provided by gas companies. (Citizensvoice.com November 15, 2010)

Diane Siegmund, a Towanda resident: "There are a frighteningly large number of contaminated water wells in this county, yet there seems to be no local recognition, accountability or solution coming from our leaders," said Siegmund. There are between 70 and 100 water wells contaminated in Bradford County.

There's a lack of information for the public about the problem. There needs to be a "reporting place" for people to "safely" call in about their water contamination to be logged and accounted."There's no reason our people should be scared to speak up, and be drinking gosh-darn dirty water," said Siegmund.

(http://www.morningtimes.com April 8, 2011)


Roslyn Bohlander, sister of Bradford County farmer Jacqueline Place: Nearly two weeks after the water to (Jacqueline's) home turned cloudy then dark brown and (my) sister's cows refused to drink it, a DEP inspector and Chesapeake contractors came to test the water. Chesapeake disconnected the well, filled the water buffaloes and plumbed them into the home - a project that took hours.

At around 10 p.m., the last Chesapeake contractor handed Jacqueline a document and told her he would not flip the switch on the system he had just installed unless she signed it. The contractor told Place the document was "nothing" important and, when pressed, told her it was a non-disclosure agreement.

It was such a crisis point, In the previous days, (Jacqueline) and her son had not used the water to shower, cook or clean dishes or clothes. They took sponge baths, and the cows, they were just drinking enough to live.

(Place herself would not acknowledge the document or release it to Times-Shamrock.)

(http://m.thedailyreview.com/news/pennsylvania-doesn-t-count-how-many-water-supplies-are-impacted-by-gas-drilling-1.1064040)

David P. Poole, senior vice president and general counsel for Range Resources Corp.: "It is physically impossible for you to frack a Marcellus well ... and have any impact on groundwater." Asked what the cause of groundwater contamination is if it is not fracking, he acknowledged that's something the industry has to address. ( Thedailyreview.com, April 9, 2011)

Rick Hall, Chesapeake Energy in Bradford County: "It's a common misconception that fracking is what contaminates well water. It's the actual drilling process that causes the first phase of water contamination." (as quoted by Crystal Stroud in her testimony to the Bradford County Commissioners -see below)

(Question: how many phases of water contamination are there? How often and how severely is water contaminated at each phase? What's the science on these phases of contamination? )

John Hanger, (former) secretary of the Pennsylvania DEP: "This industry's got to be better. There's too many leaks, there's too many spills, there's too many incidents of gas migrating." (Citizen's Voice .Com, June 20, 2010)

"Spills and surface leaks have, in fact, contaminated people's drinking water," (CBS Evening News September 4 2010)

Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy:

February 2, 2010 categorical denial : The issue of "health concerns over hydraulic fracturing" is a primary case of fiction vs. fact. There is not a single documented case in the U.S. where this technology has led to groundwater contamination, placing public health in jeopardy. (from a letter to US Representative Eric Massa)

April 9, 2011 qualified admission: Issues of water contamination in Northeast Pennsylvania (Bradford County area) are due to the region's geology, and they have not -- and likely will not -- be seen elsewhere, the chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp. told reporters and editors at a business journalism conference Friday.

The drilling issue with Northeast Pennsylvania's "very unusual surface geology" has been solved and should hopefully mean there are no future incidents of water contamination, but did not elaborate on what contamination incidents he was referring to.

There has been no "lasting environmental damage" from hydraulic fracturing drilling, he added.

In his keynote address, the CEO told business media that while there are stories worth writing on truck traffic, noise and even drilling company transparency, "fracking is not the story." (Apr 09, 2011 (The Times-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services)

Contradiction from Citizensvoice.com : A natural gas well in Bradford County has spilled thousands of gallons of chemical-laced water and forced the evacuation of seven families who live nearby as crews struggled to stop the gusher.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. lost control of the Marcellus Shale well site near Canton at about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. Tainted water continued to flow from the site Wednesday afternoon, contaminating a nearby stream.

Chesapeake said a piece of equipment failed late Tuesday while the well was being hydraulically fractured, or fracked. ( April 20, 2011: citizensvoice.com)

Randy Morse, Leroy, PA landowner where the blow-out took place: "It's just one of those things," said farm owner Randy Morse. He leased his property to Chesapeake. His beef cattle will no longer be able to drink from the brook that has been contaminated. Morse is broken up over the whole thing, hoping others don't blame him. "As it looks right now, all the water that ran into that tributary did run into the creek , without adverse affects right now," Morse said. (wnep.com April 20, 2011)

Similar Chesapeake Fluid Spill in Rural Louisiana, 2009

From The Shreveport Times: Citizens noticed the dying cows April 28 (2009) in a pasture owned by Cecil and Tyler Williams in south Caddo Parish. Witnesses reported hearing them bellowing and seeing them bleeding before they fell over dead.

At the time, Schlumberger, as a contractor of Chesapeake, was performing routine fracturing of the natural gas well. LDEQ determined during its investigation that fluid leaked from the well pad then ran into an adjacent pasture after a rain.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its contractor Schlumberger Technology Corp. each must pay $22,000 for violating state law in connection with the deaths almost a year ago of 17 cows at a natural gas well site. (Shreveporttimes.com March 25, 2010)

Implications Down Stream of the Leroy Blow-out

Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General of the State of Maryland announced that he has sent a letter to Chesapeake Energy Corporation and its affiliates, notifying the companies of the State of Maryland's intent to sue for violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). On April 19, thousands of gallons of fracking fluids were released from a well owned and operated by Chesapeake Energy into Towanda Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, which supplies 45% of the fresh water in the Chesapeake Bay. In his letter, Attorney General Gansler notified the company that at the close of the required 90-day notice period, the State intends to file a citizen suit and seek injunctive relief and civil penalties under RCRA for solid or hazardous waste contamination of soils and ground waters, and the surface waters and sediments of Towanda Creek and the Susquehanna River. The State also intends to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties under the CWA for violation of the CWA's prohibition on unpermitted pollution to waters of the United States. (BALTIMORE, MD May 2, 2011 -rguillory@oag.state.md.us)

(Question: will Randy Morse, the Leroy, PA farmer who leased the property to Chesapeake be liable to similar lawsuits?)

Home Values

Truman Burnett, Bradford County Resident: We bought the property approximately 12 years ago. We wanted to retire here, but now the pond isn't usable. And I have problems with the water in my well also. In March of '09 they had a water leak. Chesapeake had frack tanks that leaked and dumped a couple hundred thousand gallons of water down the hill behind me there and overflowed my pond. They had a considerable amount of chemicals in it and it started to kill my pond. About a week and a half to two weeks later they dumped fifty gallons of hydrochloric acid that leaked up above and leaked down here also. It killed all the fish, all the aquatic life. We're just getting some grass back now.

After they fracked, the gas that's coming out of the ground, they tell me, isn't of enough pressure to feed into the pipeline so they installed a compressor that runs 24 hours a day like that. . . It sounds like a truck is idling underneath your windows 24 hours a day.

I don't think many people would want to buy a piece of property where you can't drink the water or bathe in it. It really took part of my life and my wife's life away. (http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/10/22/n_pa_gas_fracking_truman.cnnmoney/ March 6, 2011)

Jared and Heather McMicken, Bradford County Residents, a young couple who had recently built a brick home on Paradise Road valued at $250,000:

Jared: "We noticed our water started to turn brown. They (Chesapeake) started monitoring for methane. They started finding methane in the well. Real high levels. Explosive levels. The first night they put it in, it (the monitor) went off."

Heather: "They kind of told us it was just a precautionary thing. It would never go off. Well here we are, day one, you know, going off."

( on 10/1 2010 the McMickens received a letter from the DEP that said, "Investigation indicates that gas well drilling has impacted your home water supply.")

Heather: Chesapeake would still come in here, in the home or in the garage, and just flat out say, "We are not responsible."

Jared: "It was our nest egg and now there's not much left there. You know if your house doesn't have water, it's pretty much worthless."

(Reportedly, the McMicken's home is now appraised at $30,000)

(http://honesdalecc.blogspot.com/p/bradford-county.html)

Carol French, resident of Sheshequin Township: Have the Bradford County Assessment Board reassess the homes that have been devalued due to the water contamination and . . . help with the burden of financial expenses. "This is the perfect opportunity (for the county) to help the community as they become impacted by the gas industry," said French. (The Morning Times, Sayre, PA April 8, 2011)

French also urged the county to begin reducing the assessments on people's homes who have been affected by gas well contamination, as she said they are financially strapped.

She said there are residents along Paradise Road in Terry Township, where there have been contamination problems, who have seen value of their homes drop dramatically, as reflected by recent appraisals.

"Their properties are worth one-tenth of what it was before gas drilling started," French said.

She also said residents along Paradise Road have had to face skyrocketing electricity bills from having to heat the water in their water buffaloes to keep them from freezing and from running water filtration systems at their homes.

She said that one household saw its monthly electric bill increase from $130 to $450, while another household's bill increased from below $150 to $520.

"This (increase in electric bills is occurring) through Bradford County," French said. (April 8, 2011http://thedailyreview.com/news/residents-dozens-of-wells-in-bradford-county-have-been-contaminated)

Unexpected Impacts on Rental Housing

Douglass Johnston, chief executive officer of Futures Community Support Services: "The influx of gas workers who are willing to pay rents far exceeding the fair market rent for this area (of Pennsylvania) has caused rents for decent housing to more than triple. Rents have increased to the point where even moderate income families cannot afford housing."

Because local motels are booked to capacity for months in advance by gas companies, the local state-funded Homeless Assistance Program can't find rooms to place people in motels who need emergency housing.

"For the first time, we (the Homeless Assistance Program) have sent people away with no roof over their heads"

Bill Blevins, Bradford County Human Services Director: "We've had to take six children and place them in foster care" because their families were evicted during the past year and "they were not able to afford any other place" to move into. During the current housing shortage, it seems that landlords evict tenants who are behind on their rent "a little more quickly" than they did in the past, Blevins said.

There has been a "perfect storm" of events which has resulted in housing evictions and an increased risk of evictions, including layoffs that have occurred locally since 2008 due to the weak national economy, a housing shortage created when workers moved to the area to work in the gas industry, and the fact that the size of federal HUD Section 8 rent subsidies for low-income people do not take into account the high rents that now exist in Bradford County, Blevins said. (July 29, 2010, the Dailyreview.com)

Foreign Energy

Walt Wannemacher, local citizen speaking at Bradford County Commissioners' Meeting: "I don't want them (Chesapeake) destroying our backyard for gas that's going overseas (to China)" (The Daily Review.Com April 15, 2011)

(note: Wannemacher has reason to be concerned. Chesapeake alone has sold billions of dollars worth of US mineral rights leases to CNOOC of China, CIC of China, StatOilHydro of Norway, TotalSA of France, British Petroleum, KIC of Korea, Temasek of Singapore, and BHP Billiton of Australia. Plans to export both the profits and the gas itself are underway.

Here's Aubrey McClendon's puzzling and contradictory comment on the subject: "We have invested billions of dollars in the Marcellus Shale to drill for natural gas to help our nation reduce its dependency on foreign energy sources and stop the irresponsible and unsustainable transfer of wealth out of the country." (February 2, 2010 letter to NY Representative Eric Massa)

Adverse Health Effects

Crystal Stroud, Bradford County resident (as reported in the Moringtimes.com):

Benchmark Analytics, an independent water testing company, found barium, chloride, strontium, manganese, lead, methane, radiological materials, and radon in Stroud's well water.

Medical tests showed unusually high levels of barium in her blood -at 110 micrograms per liter. She attributes the sudden onset of hair loss, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and stomach cramps to the high levels of barium.

"I was under the impression that the fracking was what ruined your water," she said. "But I later found out that the drilling process can ruin it too."

"Prior to that day, I too believed in the `goose' that was going to `lay the golden egg' in Bradford County," she said, noting that her family had leased two acres to Chesapeake Energy for $5,000. "Little did I know we were signing life as we knew it away."

(April 29, 2011 http://www.morningtimes.com/articles/2011/04/29/local_news/doc4dbaba6ccfd58324066494.)

Looking Beyond the Initial Economic Boom

Tim Kelsey, economics professor at Penn State, speaking at Bradford County's Progress Authority's annual dinner: Many communities emerge from an energy-extraction boom in worse shape than when they entered it, with lower employment and higher poverty levels than other communities.

Kelsey said the vast majority of jobs in the gas industry in Bradford County will occur during the drilling phase, when wells are being drilled and pipeline is being laid. After the drilling ends, a small workforce will need to remain in the area over the long term to monitor the wells, truck water from the well sites, and perform other duties at the well sites.

And he said that the total amount of gas royalties coming into in the county will drop off fairly quickly after drilling is completed, since highest amount of the gas production occurs during the first few years that a gas well is on-line.

In an interview after the meeting, he said that local leaders need to take steps during the drilling phase that will harness some of the economic benefits of the gas boom for projects that will have long term benefits, such as building roads and other infrastructure and parks, and improving the appearance of downtowns, as well as working to attract industries to the area that use natural gas as a fuel that will remain in the county over the long term. (TheDailyReview.com April 16, 2011)

Regards,

Joe Wilson
75 Hunt Hill Road
Ithaca, NY 14850-9674