In recent meetings of the county commission, we have been hearing from citizens regarding the drawbacks of Marcellus Shale gas drilling. We have also heard from Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, an organization assisting municipalities (e.g. Pittsburgh) in asserting their right to protect themselves from hydraulic fracturing and lack of state-level oversight.

Since a few years back, when landmen visited Pocahontas County acquiring mineral rights, we have all been on an educational tour de force in our struggle to learn more. For my part, it began as it did for many of you by attending informational meetings at Marlinton Middle School and Municipal Building. I later attended a gas drilling seminar in Buckhannon and have seen a Marcellus drilling operation there. I have seen the technology and process presented in detail, and was assured that this method, while never before tested, would be safe.

Today, there are hundreds of Marcellus operations. I have been watching and listening as rural Pennsylvania townships struggle to understand the profound changes occurring to them. Throughout Pennsylvania - and an increasing number of West Virginia counties - water supplies are being destroyed. The sound, lights and intensity of the 24/7 drilling process is insufferable to homeowners who have signed away their mineral rights. Many homeowners can't use their water at all, now having to use water from "water buffaloes" - giant above-ground tanks filled with water from somewhere else. I listened to the account of Marty and Sarah in Wetzel County, a leaseholder and his daughter who now are required to sign in and wear protective gear to gain access to their land. There too, school buses require police escort to safely traverse the roads that are crumbling as they carry the 24-hour truck traffic for which the infrastructure was never designed. Lifelong residents are moving out, workers and their families are moving in.

The impacts of this drilling practice have proven to be, in fact, beyond my imagination. The very character of communities is being forever changed by the voracity of the enterprise. The very notion that a surface owner retains any rights at all to their land is being summarily dismissed in the momentum.
This is, it turns out, about much more than water. This is about understanding the value of a way of life, about understanding that communities are being forever changed. This might sound sensational, but this is not. This is what we know now. This is what we need to address.

The role of the Pocahontas County Commission is to listen. We are very grateful for the input we are receiving from you all. Our role is also to protect. With your help, we are looking at what we can do to assert our right to safeguard our communities and way of life, now and for our future.

Please continue sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. I can be reached at fleming42@gmail.com or 304-456-4016, Commissioner Martin Saffer at martinsaffer@frontier.com or 304-653-4418, Commissioner Jamie Walker at 304-799-0864, and our assistant Sue Helton at 304-799-6063.