by Jake Maynard
I recently took a friend from Cleveland for a two-day camping trip to Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. Growing up in north-central Pennsylvania, I was very familiar with the tumbling streams and steep ridges of the area. My friend, though, was excited at the wildness of the place. In the two days we spent in the ANF, we saw a host of Pennsylvania staples: brook trout, coyotes, a bear, and at least a dozen natural gas wells.
Gas wells are very familiar to me. Natural gas has been extracted from PA’s Allegheny region for decades. But my companion from Cleveland was appalled. The large, unsightly wells are scattered throughout the most secluded parts of the forest. They are visible from rural roads, hiking trails, even scenic overlooks. The roads, needed to maintain the wells, fragment the forest and become compacted by heavy truck traffic after years of use. Often, even after the wells are gone, the land has been compacted by the roads so much that trees will never grow there again. Worse, though, are the effects on the local water supply. Since natural gas drilling has increased, fish and other aquatic populations have declined. The drilling itself sometimes disrupts the water table, causing natural gas to enter the water. In my hometown of Mt. Jewett, drilling has affected the town’s water supply on multiple occasions, once forcing residents to use only bottled water for over a week. In a neighboring town, drilling on an adjacent hillside filled a water well with so much gas that it exploded, shooting flames and debris to the treetops.
Residents of Ohio could be seeing more natural gas wells on public lands soon. Recent legislation has opened many of Ohio’s state parks and public land to the prospect of drilling, despite the fact that drilling was already legal in around 99.5% of Ohio. The recent discovery of the Marcellus shale (a large, deep pocket of Natural gas covering areas of NY, PA, OH, and WV) has caused increased interest in drilling, as large companies seek to cash in by drilling new areas. The most threatened area so far is Salt Fork State Park, where OH State Senator Keith Faber is pushing a proposal to allow wells.
A number of environmental groups have taken up the cause of protecting public lands from drilling. State parks, forests, etc. belong to us, not to big companies! Learn more at: www.environmentohio.org, www.alleghenydefense.org, and www.un-naturalgas.org
