Gas well problems likely, filmmaker warns
Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com
BOSWELL — An out of control natural gas well in Clearfield County on Thursday is the type of incident Pennsylvania and New York residents should brace themselves for as drilling companies race to tap the Marcellus Shale gas reserves, a filmmaker said Saturday.
Josh Fox, of Wayne County in northeastern Pennsylvania, said problems can occur with five to 10 natural gas wells of every 100 drilled.
“We probably never will learn what caused the blowout,” Fox said prior to the showing of “Gasland,” his recently completed documentary about the potential environmental impacts of the drilling and fracturing process now in use.
“There could be big problems underground. Blowouts are very common,” the 37-year old Fox said.
The Lawrence Township, Clearfield County blowout lasted about 16 hours at a well drilled by EOG Resources Inc. It spewed chemical- laden fracking water into the air. Natural gas releases also were reported.
Fox traveled the nation searching out problems from natural gas drilling to produce the 100-minute long movie that looks at drilling-related problems primarily in the western states and northern Pennsylvania.
The film, which will air June 21 on HBO, got rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, Fox said.
A representative of the drilling industry who viewed the film said it fails to tell the whole story, including the significant economic impact a region likely will experience when drilling occurs.
“It’s tall on sensationalism and short on facts,” said Kristi Gittins, spokeswoman for Chief Oil & Gas, a Texas based drilling company that has drilled 75 wells in Pennsylvania.
Chief is the primary drilling company working in this area of the state, including Somerset and Blair counties.
“We’re an industry that people take sides on,” Gittins said.
But getting both sides out in the open is important for land owners and others to make intelligent decisions, said Len?Lichvar, chairman of the Mountain Laurel Chapter of Trout Unlimited, one of the sponsors who brought the film to the North Star High School Saturday.
“We brought him in because we believe communication and education is a big component for the public to be aware,” he said. “The public needs to see both sides to determine what we’re going to do with this industry.”
The film talks to Susquehanna County residents who report contaminated well water linked to drilling by Cabot Oil and Gas in Dimock Township, where 40 wells were drilled.
Fox’s film talks to a number of residents about loss of water and physical problems including Debbie May, who told of the hair on her pets falling out after drinking water in the area.
A number of Pennsylvania residents as well as some in Colorado and Wyoming demonstrated natural gas coming through their faucets by holding a lighter and the water catching fire.
Impacted residents were critical of what they see as a lack of governmental regulations, especially since the
2005 passage of the federal Energy Policy Act, which opened the door for the rock fracturing process used by drillers today.
Fox was unsuccessful in getting comment from representatives of the drilling industry, but his film did include an interview with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.
For every two steps forward, there often is one step back, Hanger said in the film.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect source of energy,” Hanger said. “I have to make tradeoffs.”
Fox said he undertook the film after a gas company offered him nearly $110,000 for the rights to pull the gas from his more than 19 acres of land.
Other sponsors for Saturday’s showing included the Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project and the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy.
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