Climate Report

It's happening in Ohio.

The first horizontal well in our state was drilled in Monroe County in  the Marcellus Shale in 2008.

As of February, 2012 there were just 37 horizontal shale gas wells operating in Ohio with tens of thousands more projected to be drilled in the coming years of the gas boom. The reports below took place in early 2012.

Already we are seeing the first water wells polluted.  Toxic, severely degraded living conditions are arising in the homes of Ohio families who have been the victims of fracking gone wrong.

As in Dimock PA, Ft. Lupton CO, Dish TX, Pavillion WY, and numerous communities across the nation the Gas Industry is taking no responsibility for the  lives and property it is destroying while the state regulatory agencies, in our case the ODNR, are failing to hold them to account.

Welcome to Gasland.....

Military Propaganda and Deception Specialists Used against US Communities to Promote Fracking, Deal with "Insurgents", and  Write Local Legislation

The gas industry is bringing ex-military mercenaries into our communities whose mission is to identify anyone who expresses concerns about shale gas development and treat them as "insurgents."   That's right, the same people who were trained to spread false information and propaganda among our foreign enemies are now being hired to set their sights on American civilians who don't agree with the corporate business plan being forced on them. Listen to their own words caught on tape and then ask yourself, "Why should I trust anything that the industry tells me at this point?"

Oil Executive: Military-Style 'Psy Ops'   Experience Applied

Published: Tuesday, 8 Nov 2011
By: Eamon Javers
CNBC Washington, DC Correspondent

Last week’s oil industry conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston was supposed to be an industry confab just like any other — a series of panel discussions, light refreshments and an exchange of ideas.

It was a gathering of professionals to discuss “media and stakeholder relations” in the hydraulic fracturing industry — companies using the often-controversial oil and gas extraction technique known as “fracking.”

But things took an unexpected twist.

CNBC has obtained audiotapes of the event, on which one presenter can be heard recommending that his colleagues download a copy of the Army and Marine Corps counterinsurgency manual.  That’s because, he said, the opposition facing the industry is an “insurgency.” [ Listen to audio files below]

Gas Boom will kill tourism

As if enough hasn’t been given away to the industry the GOP and the oil and gas interests that control them want more, more, more!

I would remind folks that our natural resources belong to us all, not just corporations and a wealthy few. Given the environmental disaster that unconventional gas development and its supporters are willing to risk, with a yet to be seen benefit to most of us, it seems appropriate for even more taxes to be levied on this activity.

The Ohio oil and gas law permits not only a general disregard for the property rights of landowners but also the permanent removal of untold trillions of gallons of fresh water from local supplies to be converted into a nearly equal amount of toxic waste for our children and grandchildren to inherit.

The patriotic fervor that the industry and its supporters have mustered for American energy development is about as hypocritical as it gets as increasing numbers of leases are held by foreign companies and the bulk of the gas harvested is destined for export.

As for so-called “clean energy,” methane gas is one of the most potent greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and the amount unaccounted for during the process due to leakage and mishandling is estimated to be far more dangerous then the CO2 produced by burning coal.

Recently, Coshocton has been recognized as one of the top 100 small towns for tourists. Historically, tourism, clean water, wildlife and the serenity of nature have been a great asset to the county’s economy. I think it’s a safe bet that we can kiss that attraction goodbye as fracking pollution, incessant truck traffic and the short-sighted frenzy that seems to prevail takes over completely. Just ask a Carrolton resident.

Despite regulations gas wells leak

Submitted to The Coshocton Tribune, 2-20-12

Fracking: More information needed before we make choices.

Submitted to The Coshocton Tribune 2-19-12

 Hydraulic fracturing, an increasingly common aspect of the oil and gas production process, is not subject to the same standards as other industries when it comes to protecting underground sources of drinking water.

Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of fluids and chemicals into oil or gas wells at high pressure.

Other forms of underground injection are regulated to protect drinking water, but in 2005 Congress created exemptions for hydraulic fracturing to benefit Halliburton and other oil and gas companies.

Here are some facts:

Ohio law is clear on the practice of mandatory pooling, although the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is not. Mandatory pooling is a provision contained in the Ohio Revised Code by which a group of land owners may force an adjoining landowner, known as a non-participating landowner, to be included in their drilling pool in order to gain the required minimum amount of joined acreage. A 65 percent majority (ORC 1509.28) of those landowners may force a ruling by the chief of the division to form the plot, even against the wishes of a property owner. ORC 1509.27 also allows for this non-participating owner to pay a proportionate share of the drilling costs, "applicant shall be entitled to the share of production from the drilling unit accruing to the interest of that nonparticipating owner ... until there has been received the share of costs charged to that nonparticipating owner plus such additional percentage of the share of costs as the chief shall determine." The applicant is the designated owner of the well. As far as liability goes, only a non-participating landowner is specifically exempted.

That's the law folks, and I presume the rule of law will prevail.

As for the environmental effect fracking might cause, we soon will find out. Fracking has been used for a number of years, but it is a distant cousin to what is coming. Wells were drilled vertically, mostly contained beneath the drill pad and used about 100,000 gallons of water with proportionate amounts of chemicals. Today's method drills down up to two miles and then horizontally up to two miles, uses up to 5 million gallons of water per frack with tens of thousands of pounds of chemicals, and each well may be fracked up to 18 times. Compound that with multiple wells at a single drilling pad, in British Columbia there are pads with more than 50 wells. We aren't talking about the good old days any more; this is heavy industry in our rural neighborhoods.

The underlying point of my concern is the great lack of information we have to work with in making personal choices about fracking. We are in need of well-thought-out decisions and prudent use of our natural resources and environment.

After all, the gas isn't going anywhere, and it only gets more valuable every day.

Tim Kettler
Warsaw

Fracking threatens environment, property rights

Submitted to The Coshocton Tribune, 1-20-12

The privately owned, for-profit group organizing landowners in Coshocton County to conduct directional drilling for Utica shale gas have presented much information covering the supposed benefits of hydraulic fracturing. Unfortunately there has been little other information about the documented potential for environmental disaster and the assault on county landowners’ property rights if they choose not to participate in their neighbors' drilling projects.
 
Ohio’s oil and gas law specifies minimum acreage requirements and contains a provision called “mandatory pooling”.  It allows groups of landowners with adjoining plots comprising a 65% majority to force non-participating landowners into their land pool to attain the minimum requirement. The pool may then drill and take the shale gas located under a non-participating property and force them to pay a share of the drilling costs out of any initial money that might be generated.
 
True, a royalty may be paid to landowners forced into their pool although the percentage and actual amount is merely speculation. The oil and gas law does protect the nonparticipating landowner from liability for “actions or conditions associated with the drilling or operation of the well.” This statement seems to imply that a participating owner could be held liable in the future should the lease fail to protect them; a disaster reaches insurance limits, bankruptcy of a driller or some unforeseen circumstance. The bottom line in this land grab is it can be done against a landowner's will and the drilling pool, perhaps his “friends and neighbors”, can require him to pay a share of the costs for a project he had no interest in or even is outright opposed to. The allowable amount can be up to twice the actual charges leaving a non participating landowner paying profit to the drilling pool and environmentally and economically penalized for simply declining to enter into their agreement.

The country needs energy conservation, not more greenhouse gas and environmental degradation. The county needs sustainable, secure employment to rebuild our communities, not here-today-gone tomorrow jobs that disappear when the gas is gone, leaving nothing but ghost towns like the economically depressed areas left behind by former coal mining operations.

Figures as high as $5000 per acre for signing bonuses are being dangled in front of landowners, waving promises of wealth and prosperity for a get-rich quick scheme sure to divide neighbors and our communities for mere greed and misplaced priorities.  
 
Public meetings are being held to inform county residents of all the issues surrounding hydraulic fracking with the next being scheduled for January 19th at 6pm in the Frontier Power meeting room, 770 S. 7th. St., Coshocton.

Tim Kettler
Warsaw, Ohio 43844

 Articles