Richard Downey
Unatego Area Landowners Association

Fracking, a term co-opted by the natural gas opposition as a stand-in for a battle against everything, is losing steam.  Reality has intruded on the crude humor, which was always destined to have a short half-life anyway.

Last month 8,500 neighbors dropped in on the Cabot Oil & Gas picnic in Susquehanna County. That’s Dimock country, partner, and yet thousands walked the runways, stopped at the booths to chat with exhibitors, checked out drilling equipment while chowing down on hamburger and funnel cakes.

Sure, free food always draws a crowd, but if there were bad feelings in the community, rest assured there would have been local picketers. But there weren’t any. And that’s reality in Dimock, the “belly of the beast.” A good time was had by all.

So what’s real? Early on we were warned that gas development would leave us wandering in a wasteland. Let’s take a look.

Fracking toxins bubbling up through the rocks into your neighborhood aquifer? Hasn’t happened in over 60 years of operations. Recent focused hydraulic fracturing studies by universities, industry, and the government confirm this fact.

Roads in ruins? Not in Pennsylvania. The industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Pennsylvania’s roads. By 2011, Chesapeake Energy alone had spent $92 million, hiring 16 contractors with 22 road crews.

Streams sucked dry and the waters fouled by industry’s water withdrawal and activity? No. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has been monitoring the heavily drilled headwaters of the Susquehanna for water quality and flow for seven years. The results: aside for occasional turbidity (think muddy streams after a rainstorm), there has been no, repeat – NO – change in the quality or quantity of water in these areas. The data collected is up-loaded hourly by satellite and monitored on site on a regular basis. Check it out on the SRBC website.

Fugitive emissions fouling the air? Not true. In heavily drilled Pennsylvania, the three latest ambient air quality studies all meet federal standards. Recent statements on air quality from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moritz, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell support these findings.

As the data mounts, the antis have morphed their attacks to the speculative: drilling will steam the planet and make you ill. The data, however, will point to the exact opposite but that’s another column. The focus of this one is the antis’ tactic of splattering the wall with accusations to see what sticks.

Early on, the word “fracking” stuck. What a word! Sounds … combative … menacing, and similar enough to the all-purpose Anglo Saxon expletive to be perfect for slogans and yard signs. Print “Don’t Frack New York” or “No Fracking Way!” or “What The Frack?” on a sign and you’ve demonized the process, hardwired the negativity. No necessity to think. The slogan does the work — a little naughty, but oh, so clever/cute.

The campaign worked. One word defined the narrative (bad ju ju, that fracking) and the movement rode the momentum like a southbound train. They scared a lot of people. Well, the steam is running out. Reality (and data) from the rest of the country is checking in.

Ninety percent of all new oil and gas wells in the US are fracked. Your car is running on a fracked product. The feedstock for your bottle of tomato juice or the synthetic fibers in your warm-up jacket can trace their origins to fracking. So do millions of other household and commercial products. Unless you’re naked in woods, you’re only a few feet from a fracked product.

As the United States moves towards energy independence, drilling provides one of the few bright spots in an economy where the four largest employers of new hires are Walmart, Kelly Temps, McDonalds, and Taco Belle. The energy sector is expanding. With a 100 years of reserves, we’re once again exporting; the trade deficit shrunk by 22% in June. With nineteen liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals on the drawing boards, that’s improved balance of payments, baby!

And, the desolation predicted by our anti friends? Look south to Pennsylvania. Do you see lines of refugee farmers in tractors hauling their families and possessions across the border in manure spreaders, their gaunt-eyed children sitting on mattresses. Nah! What you see is people getting up before dawn in Otsego, Delaware, and Broome Counties, lacing up their boots and heading south to work. That’s where the jobs are.

The best shot of reality is a trip to Pennsylvania. Don’t take anyone’s tour; just go solo. Stop in at a bank, a bakery, a real estate office, a restaurant, a car saleroom, a school (even a jeweler – see photo below). Talk to people. Try to find a well. In “an industrial landscape,” (according to the antis) a well should be easy to find. It won’t be. You have to ask one of the locals; they can tell you where the wells are. While you’re at it, look for “For Sale” signs, the true indicator of community flight. Good luck! You won’t find many. Compare that to Otsego County.

Reality is slowly changing public opinion. Real risk/benefit analysis and the economic benefits of natural gas (recently underscored at Bassett Hospital, Daily Star 8/14/13) is seeping into public consciousness. That’s the trend; reality bucking the spin. With crowds of witnesses eating funnel cakes, the shape shifters are running out of things that stick.