|
WORKING TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY AND HOME We are working very hard to prevent the dire effects of gas well drilling in our township and in the Upper Delaware River Basin, including Wayne County, PA and Sullivan County, NY. Overwhelming evidence now exists that the type of gas drilling proposed for our area causes contaminated drinking water, carcinogens in the farmland and food chain, torn-up roads, risk of explosions, toxic air pollution, plummeting real estate values, and screeching noise polution.  Each deep gas well uses millions of gallons of water, sand, 171 products, and 245 chemicals (some secret & toxic). Halliburton's gas well drilling process, "hydraulic-fracturing" - is now exempt from the "Safe Drinking Water Act," "The Clean Water Act," "The Clean Air Act," "The Right-to-Know-Act", and other importnt protections. The NRDC has released a comprehansive report about this issue . . . read more
For the last two years, companies such as Equitable Productions, Noble Energy, Cabot Oil and Gas, Chief Oil and Gas, Southwestern Energy, Exco/North Coast, and Chesapeake Appalachia have sent free-lance contractors to approach landowners in the Upper Delaware River Basin - the source of pure-water for 17 million people. These contractors have asked landowners to sign leases that will allow for gas well drilling on their land. GAS DRILLING IS NOT A BENIGN ACTIVITY. Besides temporary disruptions there are many possible irreversible damages to water, land, wildlife, quality of life, human health, and property values. It took only five years for Fort Worth, Texas - sitting on the same geologic strata as here and dealing with the same gas companies - to be transformed from one of the most livable cities in the country into a beleaguered industrial zone. Residents have suffered from gas fumes, piercing noise pollution and tainted water wells. The gas companies have left behind unsightly and dangerous sites that the municipality can ill-afford to correct. Such problems can result in tax increases."Three New York State towns eye moratoriums." "Gas drilling opponents hold mass meeting." "Congress investigates possible water contamination caused by gas well drilling." "Western PA landowners regret deep gas wells deals." "Local agencies allow gas drilling exemption." "Their money or your life." "…Nor any drop to drink." 
In a recent meeting with the PA Department of Environmental Protection we learned that approximately 5000 to 7000 wells are projected by these companies for the Upper Delaware River Basin. ONE well requires 3 to 5 million gallons of water in the initial drilling, and up to that much each time the well undergoes the hydraulic fracturing process used to access the gas. This water is allowed to be taken from our streams, lakes, rivers, and aquifers. It is left polluted by the chemicals used in the drilling and fracturing. Some of this water leaches into the drinking water aquifers and surface waters. Some of this water is brought up and discarded, resulting in huge trucks damaging our roads or, as allowed by the DEP, put into the topsoil with the waste from the drilling. Currently, the DEP does not have sufficient staff to provide oversight on such drilling experiments, and communities will be left to their own devices and budgets to deal with the problems that will inevitably arise. Compensation for this from the private companies is at most minimal. We know that farmers in our areas are hurting financially. But we also know that they love their land. There has been a great deal of misinformation distributed about gas well drilling. Please help us to protect your drinking water and land and properties. Read the facts; talk to your neighbors; donate. PLEASE USE THIS E-MAIL TO CONTACT US:
|
THE REAL IMPACT Depletion of Water Tables Holding Ponds Containing Hazardous Liquids. Drilling Muds used for Natural Damascus Image as a Please allow several minutes for download. |
DCS • Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. • P.O. Box 147 • Milanville, PA 18443