Fracking & Fishing [George Washington National Forest]

 

[RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH]

January 9, 2015

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Clarkson: Negative effects of

fracking concerning to sportsmen

and women

Natural Gas Drilling

2010, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 23, 2010 photo, a Chesapeake Energy natural gas well site is seen near Burlington, Pa., in Bradford County. So vast is the wealth of natural gas locked into dense rock deep beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio that some geologists estimate it’s enough to supply the entire East Coast for 50 years. But freeing it requires a powerful drilling process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,”using millions of gallons of water brewed with toxic chemicals that some fear threaten to pollute water above and below ground, deplete aquifers and perhaps endanger human health and the environment. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

Posted: Thursday, January 8, 2015 10:31 pm

BY TEE CLARKSON Special correspondent

Perhaps if they had given it another name, one less harsh, one maybe a little softer on the ears, “fracking” might not sound so bad. As it stands now, it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue making one feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Hydraulic fracturing, “fracking,” has been going on for more than a half a century. The process involves injecting water and other chemicals deep into wells in order to break up rock and release natural gas or oil. In the past several years, fracking has come under scrutiny because of the potential negative effects it can have regarding water pollution and contamination.

The Marcellus and Utica shales cover more than 170,000 square miles in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia. These shales contain a tremendous amount of natural gas, and the areas have become the epicenter for energy development in the eastern part of the U.S.

Consequently, sportsmen and women are becoming increasingly concerned about the negative effects fracking could have on recreational opportunities in these areas, not only from potential pollution issues with rivers and streams, but from an access standpoint as well.

Trout Unlimited recently released a list of 10 special places within the Marcellus and Utica shale regions that are being or could be negatively affected by fracking for natural gas. The list includes iconic rivers and fishing locations from upstate New York, down through Pennsylvania, and into Virginia, where the George Washington and Jefferson National forests made the list.

Encompassing 80 percent of Virginia’s public hunting and fishing lands and more than 50 percent of Virginia’s native brook trout streams, the George Washington and Jefferson National forests’ importance when it comes to outdoor recreation in Virginia cannot be overstated.

One would be hard pressed to find an outdoors person in the state who hasn’t spent significant time in both.

Virginia’s shale gas region lies beneath more than half of these forests with about 87 percent of the Marcellus Shale acreage within the GWNF occurring in watersheds where brook trout populations are intact or have historically existed according to TU.

Oil and gas companies currently hold leases on 10,000 acres in the GWNF with more 167,000 additional acres where mineral rights are retained privately. This equates to roughly 16 percent of the forest. In 2014, the U.S. Forest Service, as part of its forest management plan, agreed not to lease the mineral rights on any additional lands within the GWNF, a decision applauded by sportsmen and women as the remaining 84 percent of the forest contains more than 200 brook trout streams totaling more than 750 miles. That’s like fishing your way from Richmond to Atlanta and then halfway back again.

“TU supports responsible energy development,” said Katie Dunlap, the Eastern Water Project Director for TU.

Their goal in releasing the list is to make sportsmen and women aware of the potential dangers if appropriate regulations are not put in place when it comes to drilling in these regions.

With oil and gas companies exempt from the Clean Water Act, it will be up to Virginia to adopt regulations that make sure any drilling in the national forests and other parts of the state is done in a manner that protects fish and wildlife as well as water quality and access to public lands.

While it might be easy to imagine the worst possible scenario involving a large scale accident at a drilling sight dumping thousands of gallons of harmful chemicals into a watershed, the reality is these accidents are few and far between. The more likely danger is the runoff of sediment into streams caused by the hundreds of miles of roads created to access the drilling locations.

Currently there is no fracking for natural gas taking place in Virginia in the Washington and Jefferson forests, but the chance of that remaining the case seems unlikely. The voice of the public will help determine the regulations set on public properties. It will be up to sportsmen and women and all those who care about these wild places to make their voices heard.

For more information, and to view a complete list of TU’s 10 Special Places, visithttp://www.tu.org/special-places.

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