Mineral Wrongs

We boarded an airplane at San Jose's Mineta Airport in December, taxied down the runway until the nose pointed to the sky and we lifted up over Silicon Valley. I watched the mountains through the small window. Soon we were over the central valley, the white- topped Sierras, The Great Basin and the Rockies in one glance. As we approached the great flatness between the Rockies and Appalachia I faced forward and got some sleep before arriving at Chicago O'Hare, then our final destination of Pittsburgh International. It was now dark as we held holding patterns over the Appellation foothills of Western Pennsylvania. My girlfriend and I gathered our bags and instruments and took the underground people-mover to where my mother would be waiting for us. We were going down to my sister and her husband's place in West Virginia to meet my nephew. After a few days we were to return to my parents house near Youngstown, Ohio. We got off and rode the escalator to ground transportation level. As we descended, I saw a full T-Rex Skeleton in the atrium, standing as menacingly as it could in a case surrounded by a short wall of glass. Its feet were mounted in small river rocks; amongst the rocks were quarters, nickles, and pennies that had been thrown in as if it were a fountain. “Look,” I said to my girlfriend, “They have been making wishes on the T-Rex.”

We met my mom by the baggage claim, hugged and walked to her car in the parking lot outside. We talked and laughed and spoke as she drove into the Pennsylvania darkness near the edges of Pittsburgh. A half hour farther south I saw a strange array of lights ahead between the highway and a hilltop.

“What are those lights"? I asked my mom who frequently took this drive.

“Well, it's actually pretty controversial,” mom said.

She told us it was what my brother-in-law was doing for work now.

“What kind of work is he doing?” I asked her.

“He's not fracking is he?” my girlfriend said.

“Yes,” said my mom. “I'm surprised you know about it.”

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a method of natural gas extraction in which sand and massive amounts of pressurized water laced with chemicals are injected into the earth's shale formation thousands of feet into the ground to break free natural gas deposits from a dense shale formation. The shale is extremely deep and compacted, allowing little gas or oil to escape naturally. The “fracking fluids” break the shale open, making it more permeable and allowing oil and gas to flow at more “economical rates.” The sand keeps the fracture open, acting as a porous substance for the fossil fuel to travel through.

At the end of the frack job the well is flushed with more pressurized water, laced with friction-reducing chemicals. The fluids are recovered to a degree, the rest is called “lost circulation.” The waste fluid extracted from the ground is hauled away by trucks to a separate location, in many instances another state, called a “brine injection well” where it is injected nearly 10,000 feet into the ground or left in an open pool to evaporate.

Since the advancement of directional drilling and fracking methods the practice of extracting oil from shale layers has grown to be very popular in regions throughout the U.S. and the world. The Marcellus and the deeper Uttica Shale region includes parts of New York, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Eastern Ohio.

We arrived at my sister's house near Morgantown, West Virginia. The next evening I talked with my brother-in-law on the front porch, asked him what he does exactly at work. He told me he operated a high-powered gas pump and drove fuel to sites in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio and filled the equipment and vehicles.

“What are they doing?”

“Oh, they're fracking,” he said.

I had a mental image of silhouetted hardhats and spotlights on tanker trucks.

“There are a lot of bad effects on the land from the process.”

“They use the energy for good purposes.” he said.

I told him that it is known to pollute underground drinking water and cause earthquakes.

“I've heard something about earthquakes,” he said.

Back on March 17, 2011 Youngstown, Ohio recorded its first earthquake ever with an epicenter within the Mahoning Valley. That quake had a 2.1 magnitude. Later that day, there was a second earthquake with a 2.6 magnitude. The epicenters were were within a the close vicinity of one of D&L Energy Inc's brine injection wells on Ohio Works Drive, the West Side of Youngstown. In the two weeks following the first earthquakes, D&L increased the water pressure rate at the well from 1,425 pounds per square inch to 1,650.

On August 22 and 25 two more earthquakes occurred, with 2.2 and 2.4 magnitudes. Their epicenters were also near the D&L site.

On September 2nd D&L powered the water pressure up to 1900 pounds per square inch and there was a 2.6 magnitude quake that afternoon. The six and seventh earthquakes were centered in the same area on Youngstown's West side. They both read 2.7 on Youngstown State University's seismograph, the only seismograph in the area. After two more earthquakes in October and November, the Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University came to Youngstown and set up seismographs around the Mahoning Valley. D&L dismissed any link between the brine injection well and the nearby earthquake epicenters as preposterous. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources agreed that a link between the earthquakes and injection wells was unlikely.

My brother-in-law talked about his friend who backed a truck into a Halliburton crane at a site in Pennsylvania, losing the contract for the company they worked for. He said that truck drivers in the shale industry chain can make $2000 a month. My mom told us about a girl from her church who makes $200 a day getting a hold of leases for an energy company in the region.

We said goodbye to my sister and her family and began driving out of West Virginia. We passed new subdivisions and condo developments and Walmarts on mountain tops. The heavy semi truck presence was jarring as we rode through West Virginia and Pennsylvania, more than I remembered. I saw many trucks pulling trailer sized tanks that said “Alder Tank Rental” on the back.

We drove through Washington, Pennsylvania then Pittsburgh, one of the only US cities to ban fracking within its city limits. New York City has banned fracking anywhere within it's watershed. The whole nation of France has banned the practice altogether.

Soon we entered Ohio near Chipawa, Pennsylvania. I grew up in the house my parents still live in, 25 minutes south of Youngstown in Mahoning County. Mahoning County sits directly between Pittsburgh and Cleveland and New York City and Chicago. The area became a major manufacturing hub, producing glass, paper, and steel. This continued until the late 1970s when many of the plants and factory owners moved operations to other continents. By the time LTV Steel, formerly of Cleveland, pulled the plugs on their Mahoning Valley plants, the area had already fallen into disarray. Youngstown now has among the largest number of foreclosed properties in the country. Many fled the city over the years to nearby suburbs like Boardman, Ohio which has grown to be one of the biggest suburban retail strips in Ohio. It's a common trend to go strip mall in Rust Belt cities like Youngstown and Pittsburgh; the city centers for many visitors and residents become corporate dominated shopping centers just outside the city proper.

Back on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 the Covelli Center in downtown Youngstown hosted an event that was billed as “Ohio's First Natural Gas Industry Conference.” The conference was called Y.O.U.N.G. 2011 Conference and Expo, an acronym for Youngstown Ohio Utica and Natural Gas. The Y.O.U.N.G. press release described the event as a “conference in which national and local companies can exhibit their products and interact with key players in the burgeoning Uttica and Marcellus supply chain. The conference will also provide educational opportunities for the public and other key stakeholders to learn about how this industry will contribute to growing the wealth of the region's economy.”

The event was sold out, all registration closed. Inside the event, the new mayor of Youngstown, Charles Sammarone, spoke to a crowd. Sammarone was introduced by a member of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, who in-part sponsored the event.

“The reason we are here today is that our ancestors built this town using mostly local natural resources to turn the Youngstown area into one of the top steel and iron ore regions of the world.” He paused before continuing, “We too have a great opportunity to use our local resources to transform our community into a leading oil and gas producer... It is incumbent upon us all to wisely use our resources to improve our local quality of life... I can't emphasize enough that the city of Youngstown is open for business, and we will do everything possible to assist in creating new investments and new jobs... Again, welcome to Youngstown, Ohio.”

Outside Covelli Center and around downtown Youngstown, more than a hundred protesters marched and held signs; “Stop Toxic Earthquakes,” “We deserve clean water,” “No more drilling, clean energy now,” “I don't have Cancer, yet.”

On the West side of Youngstown, at the entrance to the D&L brine injection well on Ohio Works Drive, a group of seven protesters formed a line to block a tractor-trailer semi carrying the fracking by-product “brine” from leaving the site. Youngstown Police Chief Rod Foley told the protesters to move out of the way or be arrested. Ben Shapiro of Occupy Cleveland informed Foley that they would not move, they planned on being arrested and would do so peacefully. The Youngstown Police officers arrested seven protesters blocking the truck; Anne Lukins of Washington State, Lindsey Schwartz of Allentown Pennsylvania, Benjamin Marks of California, Sean O'Toole of Warren Ohio, Jackson Kusiak of Massachusetts, and Jeremy Bingham also of Massachusetts. All have since changed their “not guilty” pleas to no contest in order to receive a plea bargain deal of six months probation and $50 fines.

According to Chesapeake Energy, during the initial drilling at a frack site, they use between 65,000 to 600,000 gallons of water. An additional five million gallons of water may be used during the entire lifetime of the well. The chemicals-to-water ratio varies from site to site according to the density of the shale. The waste water extracted out of the well may also absorb large amounts of naturally occurring radioactive materials and hydrocarbons.

Many of the chemicals used are legally kept secret as “trade secrets” or “proprietary.” This is due to a bill called the Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush in the summer of 2005. Among provisions are incentives to develop alternative energy and provisions providing incentives for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a tax reduction of $2.8 billion for fossil fuel production, and an exemption from regulation under the Clean Water Act of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. So when chemicals or methane appear in drinking water wells near frack sites, it's difficult to trace back where they came from. But in 2010 Cabot Oil and Gas was ordered by the EPA to bring weekly deliveries of clean water to residents in Dimock, Pennsylvania where 18 wells were found to be contaminated with methane from nearby Cabot fracking operations. Cabot soon struck up a different deal with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and stopped delivering water.

Throughout the holiday season the subject of fracking came up often around my parents' house; it was disturbing to see how much of a hold the industry had on the area. We would sometimes be told; “It puts food on your nephew's table... It put a roof over his head.”

On Christmas Eve Youngstown had it's 10th earthquake since March 17th 2011, near the D&L brine well on Ohio Works Drive, of 2.4 magnitude.

On New Year's Eve, Youngstown had a 4.0 magnitude earthquake centered near the D&L brine well, its 12th since March. Social media in the area erupted with messages of the earthquake because many people felt this. Quotes from representative Bob Hagan of Ohio's 60th district appeared daily in the Youngstown Vindicator, in which he called for a moratorium on drilling in Ohio. Rob Nichols, spokesman for Ohio Governor John Kasich, an outspoken supporter of the industry, said that the shale oil industry should not be punished for its byproduct.

“That would be the equivalent of shutting down the auto industry because a scrap tire dump caught fire somewhere,” the governor said.

Governor Kasich has also opened up some of Ohio's state parks to shale fracking.

Lobbyists in Ohio are not required to disclose contributions made to political campaigns. Yet a report by an Ohio non-profit organization called Common Cause stated that the fracking lobby has contributed $3 million dollars to Ohio legislatures, partisan groups, and public officials over the past decade. Governor John Kasich tops the list with $213,000 collected in the last ten years. The report also states that Congress as a whole has received $21 million from the fracking industry in the same amount of time.

On New Year's Day my girlfriend and I talked with my parents in their living room. That day the State of Ohio banned injection wells from operating within five miles of the D&L brine well on Ohio Works Drive. By mid-January it had been extended to seven miles. We got into a small argument with my mother; she told us that she did not want to talk about fracking anymore, she just wanted to spend time with her kids and so ended that day of us talking about the controversial subject.

The next evening, as I was upstairs in the shower, someone from an energy company called my mom and asked her if she ever thought about selling her and my father's mineral rights. My mother put the phone on speaker and said that she was not interested, that he should tell his boss they need more regulation. She told him he was on speaker phone and the house was filled with people with strong opinions against the safety of fracking. The man on the phone told her that he has found in his research on fracking that people with strong opposition to progress haven't done much research. An audible gasp was heard around the room. My mom told the man she didn't appreciate the man questioning their intelligence.

“I see that I'm not going to convince you and you're not going to convince me, so I'm just going to hang up now.”

Before the conversation was over he offered my mother $40,000 for their mineral rights, which she refused.

“We live on less than an acre, you wouldn't want it anyway.”

“Yes we would!” said the man from the energy company.

Everyone was excited when I came downstairs; my cousin and her husband and daughter were there. My girlfriend said,

“Your mom went into teacher mode on that guy. He was this big at the end!” and she held her finger and thumb an inch and a half apart.

On January 2nd the Youngstown Vindicator reported that over the last decade D&L Energy Inc, an affiliate company of Northstar Disposal Services, had 120 violations in Ohio and Pennsylvania at 32 injection and extraction wells.

“Environmental regulators have levied violations against D&L for administrative flaws such as a failure to display a permit but also for environmental mistakes such as water and soil contamination and pollution.”

The next day my sister got a phone call from her husband. He had been fired from the company he worked for just days before his health insurance was to go into effect.

By January 4th, Mayor Charles Sammarone asked the Youngstown city council to support an official moratorium on injection wells in the city until a link between injection wells and the 11 earthquakes is proven or disproven. Just over a month after the Y.O.U.N.G. Conference, in the Youngstown Vindicator, Mayor Sammarone said: “This particular well is creating problems. People feel unsafe. My whole neighborhood felt [Saturday’s earthquake]. I thought my house was going down. Stuff fell off the shelves, and the whole house shook. I’m going to take out earthquake insurance.”

A few days later my mom drove my girlfriend and I back to Pittsburgh International, where we said goodbye and boarded a plane to Dallas/Fort Worth to catch a transfer to San Jose. As we flew over Texas, I saw fields of retired oil wells. Soon we crossed back over the Rockies and the desert of New Mexico, Southern Utah, and Arizona. I fell asleep and woke up as we approached housing developments on hills above San Jose, where the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club has filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management. On September 17th, 2011, the BLM sold an oil and gas lease of 2,700 acres of land in Monterey and Fresno counties. The plaintiffs in the civil case claim that the BLM did not adequately study or disclose the effects shale gas exploration techniques like fracking could have in the Monterey Shale region of Southern California.

Yet the State of California has been fracking for over 40 years, to squeeze the last bits out of old petroleum mines. The industry has operated under virtually non-existent regulation under the California Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources. The exact number of fracked wells and all chemicals used have not been recorded.

When I got back onto the ground in California, I couldn't help but wonder about one element of a possible wide-spread shale oil grab in California; If a single frack site can use over five million gallons of water in its lifetime, where is all that water going to come from?