Notes from Wazoo Farm

Monday, October 24, 2011

My column this week seems to have stirred the pot a bit. Read it by clicking on the geranium at right. What do you all think about the gas boom in our part of Pennsylvania?

5 comments:

Country Girl said...: Ah yes...Natural Gas and the ubiquitous Marcellus Shale, the heart of which lies below our beautiful Greene Co. I waffle with this one, being entrenched in it myself, both with leasing rights to a drillng co, and having 4 or 5 construction sites between myself and town, 3 of which are wells or pipe lines, and one of which is a coal mine vent of some sort. I realize that this boom is helping our local economy, but I worry about the long term effects of all this digging, digging, digging. I read articles that say fraking uses terrible chemicals, and ones that say 98% of the chemicals are retrieved and the percentage of those remaining are not unsafe. Who to believe? Yes, there are some areas where huge pipelines went through that are already green again with horses grazing over top, but imagine the ramifications of one of those breaing or leaking. What then?; October 24, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Anonymous said...: I don't know enough to comment on the natural gas boom in your county, but for some reason, the advice to "suck it up buttercup" really tickled my funny bone! Way to stir the pot!

Heather; October 24, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Amy Phillips said...: Some of the reaction comes from the nature of the beast: online opportunities that previously were limited to those who wrote a letter to the editor, sealed it, mailed it, and hoped they got chosen for print. At least many of the comments had content, well, at least until the fistfight near the end. Which is ironic considering you wrote a gentle piece about loving nature. You humbly admitted to any ignorance, and focussed on your grief. You did the job, but the people will come. The people who *think* they "speak English."; October 24, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Kimberly Long Cockroft said...: C. Girl,
The water is what really worries me! I'm going to watch "Gasland" soon. . .it's supposed to be very eye-opening.

Heather, we've been saying "suck it up, buttercup," regularly since we read it in the comments section.

Amy, I was really sorry to see the "speak English" comment. . .:(; October 24, 2011 at 5:02 PM
uncle Dino said...: Having lived in Texas, I know there are several ways to Frack.
The preferred method there was the use of small explosives to bring up oil that could not be drilled in traditional ways.
A small blasting cap was sent down via electric wires deep into the inert well and set off, sending out vibrations that brought up remaining crude.
Ironically, this method pretty much ceased in the late eighties because the price of crude was too cheap!
There are billions of gallons of sweet crude and natural gas in the Dakotas and Wyoming in remote areas that if utilized, would virtually eliminate the need for off shore drilling, and drilling for gas in areas like yours where the local landscape will be altered.
For obvious political reasons, no oil company is willing to take the public heat and start drilling there.
Perhaps that will be changed after next years election, but in any case it's too late to help you in Greene County.
People need jobs, and we need traditional oil and gas energy for the foreseeable future.
But it stinks when beautiful, old areas like yours have to suffer through the initial processes.
I'm sure the people of the county had little input before this started. That is unfortunate dear niece.
And as usual, some want to "shoot the messenger." so to speak.; October 25, 2011 at 9:38 AM