The Slide from Fixing to Complaining

Lawrenceville, Pa. residents had a meeting chaired by a Pittsburgh city councilman last night. The topic was the Marcellus Shale Formation. A member of the Marcellus Shale Council, which is a body of oil and gas drillers, was present as well. There were a number of concerns voiced, the prominent one the potential poisoning of water by the drilling. The consensus was that the community was opposed to drilling even though the drilling representative stated there were no plans for any driller to drill in the Lawrenceville area and it was unlikely anyone would.

The process of drilling in shale formations includes "fracing" where a liquid, usually water, is fired into the shale area after the area has been approached with conventional drilling. The theoretical problem is contamination of water sources by the fracing liquid. The depth of the drilling is usually away from groundwater sources; drilling usually is at several thousand feet at least. While this possible contamination is a real concern, the examples of contamination are usually not active drilling or fracing but rather abandoned and collapsed wells. Indeed a recent report from the EPA paraphrased in a journal stated: "Although thousands of wells are fractured annually, the EPA did not find a single incident of the contamination of drinking water wells by hydraulic fracturing fluid injection. Effective state regulation has made hydraulic fracturing a safe and environmentally-sound way to maximize and conserve our nation's natural resources." (See http://www.iogcc.state.ok.us/hydraulic-fracturing).

Southwestern Pennsylvania has been a hotbed of shale drilling recently. The Marcellus Shale has promise of being a huge, productive natural gas source for many years. In a nation with acute energy concerns one would think such a find would be applauded, its aspects analyzed and plans for maximum benefit for all made. In an area with a devastated economic base one would think that dancing in the streets might be the order of the day. (It has been said the natural gas industry in western Pennsylvania has potential to be larger than steel at its zenith.) Yet what do we see? We see a community organizing to stop an economic venture that has no intention of going there. It reminds one of the old vaudeville joke of the man who is found in Central Park cutting newspaper into small pieces and scattering them around. When asked the reason for this behavior he says: "To keep away the elephants." When he is told incredulously that there are no elephants in New York he replies, "See, it's really working."

There is a need for us to intervene in our history, to be an active participant in what is happening to us. Action, like responsibility, can be taught. It can be made part of the community ethos. Necessity might hurry it. The first step might be to attempt not to look ridiculous.