by Greg Spinks

Created on: July 31, 2010   Last Updated: August 01, 2010

Dreams of enormous wealth waft through Appalachia as the sounds of heavy machinery, plunging deep into the ground, echo through the wooded valleys. From New York through Pennsylvania and into West Virginia and areas of Tennessee, throughout much of Appalachia, an ancient geological formation is about vast and enormous quantities of natural gas. The Marcellus Shale Gas deposit has landowners, municipalities, counties, states, drilling companies and environmental groups working feverishly.

The huge underground deposits of gas are a bonanza of sorts for the energy starved eastern United States. Pennsylvania, particularly rich in Marcellus Gas deposits, is the keystone state for delivery. Multiple gas lines carrying gas from Texas and Oklahoma already criss-cross the state heading towards the east coast. More pipelines are being laid almost everyday as new wells are drilled.

Pennsylvania has another rich resource for extracting the gas.  A Marcellus Gas Well drilling operation requires a lot of water. Pennsylvania, in addition to rich, underground gas deposits and pipelines, has more miles of fresh water streams than any other state except Alaska. A Marcellus Gas well uses on the average an estimated 3.5 million gallons for drilling and a process called “fracturing”. The drilling, however, is based on relatively new technologies, has had it's share of problems.

Drilling companies generally go deep into the earth between 5,000 and 8,000 feet, then drill horizontally for upwards of two miles to tap into a gas pocket. Once the drilling is completed, water is blasted through pipes along with other chemical ingredients, including some toxic chemicals, to fracture (fracturing) the shale to release the gas.

Fracturing and water quality have been two areas of major concern for many communities. There have been some serious problems. Rivers and streams have been seriously contaminated with toxic water, a threat to clean drinking water and fishing.

Cabot Oil and Gas Company, based in Houston Texas, has recently been fined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources and penalized for water contamination in the small town of Dimock, Pennsylvania. The Halibuton Company had supplied some of the unknown toxic chemicals used in the fracturing process. Similar water contamination problems have also been addressed in other communities, including Bradford, Pennsylvania.

In Tioga County, a rural area in central Pennsylvania, cattle, who drank from contaminated

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>