Drilling Threatens Water, Way of Life
The State Journal
1 January 2009
Letter to the Editor
Who among you values the waters of the Big Sandy in Preston County?
We live with the Big Sandy, passing its length on our way into Bruceton Mills. Daily, we walk within eyesight of its bank, a half-mile of its wild edge a part of our farm ... .
In summer after a hot day of work, we take inner tubes and our dog down to the river to cool ourselves in, at that time, its shallow depths. Here we observe the life this river supports -- ducks, kingfishers, green herons, beavers, and trout have made their presence known to us. The river is in our veins too -- we drink from the springs above it, the water gravity-fed to our farmhouse ... .
In spring, fishermen come to the Big Sandy from all over to try their hands at catching the stocked trout. Kayakers ride its wilder waters further down, past Bruceton Mills where class 4 and 5 rapids run. The town of Bruceton Mills itself is built on the Big Sandy, and although the mill is gone, efforts are under way to rebuild a version to commemorate its history, which will also attract and educate tourists.
The rhythm of our part of the county and of the Big Sandy River has changed dramatically this year. Gas wells are being drilled in our area and, shockingly, our river's waters could be sucked dry if experience in western Pennsylvania is any indication. A company from Texas, with a Pittsburgh address, uses drilling trucks that regularly grind their way past our house to gas wells that are drilled and fractured with our Big Sandy water. The tanker trucks fill up in Clifton, sucking water directly from it, sometimes three at a time, taking our public water to their privately owned wells. Soon the "Residual Waste" trucks grind back down and head over to a farm off of McClellan Lane just before the Pennsylvania line. The tanker trucks dump the former fresh water of the Big Sandy, now contaminated with salt and other substances not required by law to be named, into a holding pond surrounded by orange plastic fence. Then the cycle starts all over. It is not every day. It is not 24/7. But it is often, and on the active days, it starts around sunrise and continues until several hours after sunset.
How much water are they taking? We can't tell you exactly, but according to a report called "Western PA Streams Emptied By Natural Gas Drilling" produced Nov. 13 by WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, each well can require as much as 6 million gallons of water. In that story, the tanker trucks each held 20,000 gallons, and the reporter quoted Conrad Volz, University of Pittsburgh, a nationally recognized expert on water resources, as saying we could "have severe localized repercussions from drawdown of water."
Will West Virginia's legislators not notice that our public water is being used for private gain until our rivers and streams are bone dry? Some private landowners and the drilling companies may benefit, but what about the rest of us and other forms of economic development in Preston County in farming, recreation and heritage? These sectors will all pay the costs if our water is gone -- and so will we, the taxpayers, in money and quality of life. Shouldn't West Virginia collaborate with its neighbor states to institute appropriate legislation and learn from them about the potential consequences of this drilling before it is too late?
We hope it will not be too late for the Big Sandy or any other river, the ancient, life-giving resources of water and place that mean so much to so many. We cannot allow private companies to take our water, leaving us empty streambeds, no water supplies and yet more problems to take care of at public expense. Contact your county commissioners and/or state and federal representatives and ask them what they are doing to protect the waters for all of us and for future generations.
Susan and Don Sauter
Bruceton Mills