Drilling Critics Sound Off at Public Hearings
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Two public meetings, two venues for what resulted in overwhelming public opposition voiced against hydraulic fracturing in the city and in Mill Creek Park.
Residents of the Mahoning Valley packed City Hall Tuesday evening where they voiced their opinions on an ordinance City Council will consider tonight. That measure would enable the Board of Control to lease city-owned land to drilling companies exploring for oil and gas in the Utica shale.
Meantime, more than 100 concerned citizens attended a public meeting at the D.D. and Velma Davis Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens to express their thoughts over the prospect of oil and gas drilling in the Mill Creek Park.
Thirty-two speakers addressed City Council during a public hearing Tuesday and argued against the ordinance. Two individuals, Tony Paglia, director of government affairs at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, and Mike Chadesy of Energy In Depth, spoke in favor of the measure.
"Positive action by City Council will continue to send a message that the city welcomes and supports shale development and the resurgence of manufacturing in the Mahoning Valley," Paglia told the audience. Over the last several years, he said, more than 1,000 jobs have been created in the city of Youngstown alone, all of them connected to the oil and gas industry supply chain.
"We believe the city and the whole region should take advantage of the resources and jobs being provided by shale development," he said, as it works with the state on complying with new, more stringent regulations to mitigate the risk.
Chadesy echoed that the city could use money from leasehold agreements to tackle blight throughout the city and improve the quality of life in its neighborhoods. "It's an exciting opportunity," he stated.
However, those who oppose using city-owned land for drilling rose one by one to speak against the ordinance. Many called the public hearing a sham and took exception to Mayor Chuck Sammarone’s absence.
"We have brought you the facts. We have brought you research and you have demonstrated willful ignorance," said Lynn Anderson, a resident and community activist who opposes gas drilling. She lives near Mill Creek Park.
Anderson asserted that hydraulic fracturing, a process that injects water, sand and a smattering of chemicals injected at high pressures into deep horizontal wells to break up shale rock, poses a serious threat to the community and water supplies. Large oil and gas companies aren't bound to disclose all of the chemicals they use in this process, she charged, and that's led to suffering and sickness for many throughout areas such as Pennsylvania, where shale drilling took hold in 2005.
"It is untested, deregulated, and dangerous," Anderson declared. "Do your research. This is not about money, people. You're going to kill your citizens."
Chris Khumprakob, who lives on the West Side near Mill Creek Park, said that her attempts to lobby City Council have fallen on deaf ears thus far. She questioned why council was conducting the public hearing when, she insisted, passage of the measure is a foregone conclusion.
"Why are we even having this meeting today? The decision's already been made," she complained. Khumprakob then urged residents to support a citizens’ rights-based ban she and others are trying to get on the ballot in the spring. "I used to proud to say I lived in Youngstown,” Khumprakob told council. “Now, I'm ashamed."
Others such as Jean Engle, who lives on the North Side, warned that should any accident befall the community, its residents or the environment because of oil and gas drilling within the city would be on the conscience of City Council.
"Think about that," she said. "Whatever happens with this drilling, it will not go away, and neither will we. We'll be here. We'll be watching."
It's likely that tonight's vote will be 5-2 in favor of the legislation, with 4th Ward Councilman Mike Ray and 5th Ward Councilman Paul Drennen to vote no because of how the law is written.
Ray said that he'd like some more time to allow more research and study regarding safety issues. He would support an ordinance that simply called for shopping proposals, he said, but not one that empowers the Board of Control to enter into any lease agreements on behalf of city land.
"People are very passionate about this, and it's a difficult decision," Ray said. "I've asked that we take a hold on this and make sure we get the best kind of contract we can." He said he's asked to amend the legislation to call for proposals only.
Drennen also said he would vote against the ordinance, which will have its third and final reading. He said that information presented at the hearing, such as a 6% failure rate for cement well casings, presents a problem.
"The only way that I'd vote yes on it if I were assured it's 100% safe, and that it wasn't going to contaminate our well water or drinking water," he said. "That's why I think it should come to council again."
At Fellows Riverside Gardens, many opposed to the measure before City Council measure also provided input at the Mill Creek Park meeting.
Rhonda Reda, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, delivered an hour-long presentation regarding the intricacies of the oil industry, hydraulic fracturing and its history in Ohio.
During a media briefing held earlier yesterday, Reda said that directional gas wells have been drilled under Mill Creek Park years, and there's never been a concern until now.
She said there are numerous myths associated with large-scale drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which has been common in the oil and gas industry since the 1950s.
Since oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale has greatly expanded, about $3.4 billion of investment has occurred in eastern Ohio, she reported, creating a robust environment for long-term economic development.
Of the three pages of speakers listed, no one indicated that he would speak in favor of allowing drilling in the park.
Dennis Czober told park commissioners that he recalls the series of earthquakes that shook the Mahoning Valley between March and December 2011, quakes that have since been tied to the operation of a deep injection well that stored wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations. The New Year's Eve quake measured 4.0 on the Richter scale, and although the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the state imposed regulations on these deep injection wells, he said they’re probably not stringent enough.
"It took 13 earthquakes before something was actually done," he said. "Whatever's in place to protect us, it's probably not enough."
Should the park board move forward with leasing mineral rights, he said, it should consider the prospects of what the industry could do to the environment. "You've got to consider whether you want to take potable water, turn it into poisonous water, only to inject it into the ground," he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.