Why all the hurry to drill into shale? It’s not going anywhere

To the Editor:

This is an open letter to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

I live in southeastern Ohio and have been watching with alarm as fracking has been marching toward my home over the past several years. I have major concerns about how quickly people have convinced themselves that this will be a viable solution for both the financial difficulties we are facing in Ohio and the energy shortages we face as a nation, while ignoring potentially devastating environmental consequences. The industry touts the patriotic theme of U.S. energy independence, even though a number of these oil and gas companies have partnerships with Korean, Chinese, British and Norwegian companies that certainly don't have our energy or economic interests forefront in their minds. 

The oil and gas industry is calling natural gas a cleaner energy alternative on the face, without including the climate cost of diesel fuel-powered equipment transporting, setting up and developing the site, the amount of methane, a much dirtier pollutant that is accidentally leaked during well construction, production and transport, during processing and storage of this natural gas and that's often intentionally "flared off." If there were no environmental issues negatively impacted by horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing, why doesn't the industry insist on following the provisions of the Clean Air, the Clean Water Act and the Superfund mandate.

The oil and gas industry has also used employment statistics in an industry-sponsored study in Pennsylvania that gives industry employment figures almost 10 times higher than the Pennsylvania state employment bureau has noted.

There is minimal attention paid to the costs of off-setting the deterioration and destruction of infrastructure.

Few industry spokesmen or elected officials address the economic cost to the individual property owner in terms of lowered property values, cancellation of insurance or mortgage policies most of which prohibit hazardous activity or hazardous substances on the property in question, and the loss of the enjoyment of their property because of the decisions of neighboring landowners.

There are alternative, sustainable sources of energy that could see incredible growth in development if they were to receive the tax exemptions and grants that the oil and gas industry now receives.

I was pleased with the recent decision to postpone for further study the auctioning of leases in Wayne National Forest in Athens County but was then alarmed by a statement from Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel (who is firmly positioning himself to challenge your seat) that Brown is with either "Washington bureaucrats or fringe environmentalists or with the people of Ohio." Josh Mandel is not with the people of Ohio; he is with big industry and their shortsighted agenda of "drill baby, drill!"

I am not a fringe environmentalist. I am a responsible Ohio landowner who realizes that the fresh air we breathe, the water we need for ourselves, our children and our land are not limitless, and should not be jeopardized by this practice, which has not been in use for the past 60 years, but in reality, less than eight years. The natural gas has been in the Marcellus/Utica shale formations for 4 billion years. Waiting until regulations can be developed to ensure the safest, most environmentally practical policies to handle and manage natural gas production makes the most sense all the way around.

Dr. Cate Matisi
New England Road
Stewart