Limited Shale Potential in North Carolina

Documentary ‘Fracking Stories’ screened at Cameo Art House

From an Article by Andrew Barksdale, Fayetteville Observer, NC, May 25, 2015

A collection of short documentaries describing the dangers of hydraulic fracturing was screened in downtown Fayetteville. The true stories were told by residents in states where oil and natural gas are being extracted from deep below the earth through a controversial process commonly referred to as “fracking.”

In one Colorado community, parents said their children developed asthma and allergies and had nose bleeds as a result of living next door to stations that burn off excess gas or condense it for transport.

In a Texas town, church members talked about the division between those who are earning money from royalty payments generated by horizontal drilling. “But for those who are getting sick, it has become a curse to our community,” one church member told the camera.

In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers were hoping this year to join the energy boom that has brought new wealth and job growth in those states. But two pending lawsuits over how North Carolina’s fracking rules were drafted have led a Wake County Superior Court judge earlier this month to temporarily halt the issuance of any drilling permits until the state Supreme Court decides the issue this summer.

The audience of 15 people who went to the Cameo Art House to watch the 36-minute “Fracking Stories” film was sympathetic to its anti-fracking message, and some expressed concerns over the news last week that core samples under a state contract would be drilled in Fayetteville soon to determine whether oil and gas deposits exist.

In the film, the residents call themselves “fracktivists,” because they have actively sought to restrict the industry in their backyards.

Donna Andrews, a Fayetteville resident, asked if Fayetteville officials have concerned themselves with taking the same course against fracking. Denise Bruce, the green action coordinator for Sustainable Sandhills, said state laws would preempt any local rules that would seek to outlaw the fracking industry from operating within a jurisdiction. “Are you saying they can do what they want?” Andrews asked. Bruce answered, “Pretty much.”

Sustainable Sandhills, a Fayetteville-based environmental nonprofit, was responsible for bringing “Fracking Stories,” which has scheduled a repeat screening for June 4 at 7 p.m. at the Cumberland County Headquarters Library.

Geological studies indicate a shale basin extending through parts of Lee, Moore and Chatham counties have the most potential for gas exploration, and state Republican officials have said horizontal drilling and fracking can be done more safely today, thanks to improved technology and a modern set of rules.

One of Saturday’s audience members, Connie Blacketer, 59, is not convinced those state officials are correct. “I think everyone needs to become informed so that they will have a really good idea of what this could do to our environment and to our health,” she said.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

North Carolina Judge Says No to Fracking

From an Article by Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch.com, May 21, 2015

A judge in North Carolina has blocked the start of fracking in that state over a challenge to the membership of the commission charged with issuing the permits. “Finally some good news in our long battle to keep fracking out of NC!” exulted North Carolina environmental nonprofit Haw River Assembly, one of the parties to the lawsuit.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) was granted the preliminary injunction it sought in Wake County Superior Court to delay the state’s Energy and Mining Commission from taking any action on permits, effectively reinstating (for the time being) the state’s longtime moratorium on fracking which was lifted by the legislature last summer. The group was representing the Haw River Assembly, a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance network, and landowner Keely Wood Puricz, whose property abuts a tract leased for natural gas exploration.

“The citizens of North Carolina deserve to have a lawful, accountable and representative agency to put in place strong protections that safeguard our communities and water supplies from the risks and harms of fracking,” said Elaine Chiosso, executive director of the Haw River Assembly. The group has members who live directly above shale deposits that could be targeted for fracking.

The dispute revolves around what SELC and the parties it represents see as an unconstitutional attempt by the state legislature to control the commission and violate the state’s separation of powers. After establishing the commission in 2012, it gave itself the power to appoint eight members to the governor’s five. Governor Pat McCrory, along with two former North Carolina governors, is challenging the practice in a separate lawsuit. The legislature used the same tactic to keep control of the state’s Coal Ash Commission, Oil and Gas Commission, and North Carolina Mining Commission.

“The decision stopped any immediate harm to North Carolina residents from a commission formed by the state legislature in violation of the separation of powers firmly established in our state constitution pending further court deliberations,” said John Suttles of SELC, who represented the parties challenging the commission’s membership.

“This attempt by the North Carolina legislature to expand its legislative power and usurp executive authority violates the separation of powers firmly established in our state constitution,” added Derb Carter, SELC senior attorney and director of its North Carolina offices. “As a result, we have a commission making important decisions about the future of North Carolina that is ultimately accountable to no one. We are seeing emerging and increasing opposition to fracking in North Carolina, and this will allow the public in many ways to continue to voice their concerns.”

While North Carolina is not known as a gas-rich state, there are believed to be some deposits in a strip of counties in the central part of the state, south of Wake County (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill). It’s unclear exactly how much gas that area could produce.

“Approximately 59,000 acres in rural Lee County alone are expected to be targeted for drilling, with unknown additional acreage in Chatham, Moore and Durham Counties,” says North Carolina-based social justice/family farmer advocacy group Rafi-USA, which warns against “compulsory pooling” forcing landowners to sell their mineral rights. “Over 9,400 acres in Lee County have already been leased by gas companies under predatory mineral rights leases. Always speak with a lawyer when considering signing a lease.”

“Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been used in parts of the Midwest for years, and are now being used in Pennsylvania and New York as well,” it warns. “Landowners and farmers in these states have expressed concerns about the effects that drilling have on their lives and livelihoods.”

N.C. Fracking Protest -- October 2012

Stewardship of the Earth is hardly a new concept in Christian thought – it’s mentioned in Genesis – but a growing number of religious leaders are getting out of the pew, marching on the picket line, and becoming specific-issue activists.

“We’ve seen a transition occur over the last 10 years, particularly in the American evangelical movement,” said Joseph Grieboski, founder and chairman of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. “We’ve seen entire denominations take positions on things like fracking. As energy becomes a more important priority the religious community is going to feel a greater demand to be engaged in the public discourse about it.”

Some religious denominations, such as the United Church of Christ (UCC), have taken direct aim at fracking, the natural gas extraction technique used extensively in the  Marcellus  Shale and other fuel reserves across the nation. Last week, a group of about 75 protesters gathered at the Smithfield UCC in downtown Pittsburgh (shown in picture above) before picketing a nearby natural gas industry conference.

The church didn’t organize the event but allowed its halls to be used by Marcellus Protest, western Pennsylvania’s leading anti-drilling group. The UCC doesn’t give specific marching orders to its members, but encourages them to get involved in local environmental causes, said the Rev. Jim Deming, UCC’s minister for environmental justice. “We ask people to examine their own lifestyles, how much [fossil fuel] they use, and where it comes from,” Mr. Deming said. “We speak to our churches, not for them. Our congregations can choose what they say. But every decision has a moral component to it. It’s all about making choices.”

The Christian-green movement has at its core the “Evangelical Climate Initiative,” a 2006 document that has now been signed by more than 200 prominent pastors and other religious leaders. It asserts that “human-induced climate change is real,” and calls on evangelicals to use more renewable energy and buy hybrid vehicles.

 The Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign was active in West Virginia starting about 1998 and continuing thru 2010 to some degree.  “Since our training event in December, 1999, we have had good success in getting congregations to do a Bible study on the issue and to become ‘energy stewardship congregations,’” said Marcia Leitch, a Presbyterian educator writing about ten years ago, who coordinated the West Virginia Interfaith Global Warming Campaign. This group continued activities for a number of years, meeting with churches and with government officials.  A sustainable energy charter was drafted in 2004, a portion of which follows :

 West Virginia Sustainable Energy Charter

  (Two of eight principles presented here.)

Because we have a responsibility towards all of God’s family and creation, therefore we affirm: (1. ) There is scientific consensus that global warming is already affecting weather and climate. Furthermore, this warming is, in significant part, caused by human activity. By far the largest cause is burning of fossil fuels. This destructive manipulation of the environment is unprecedented in human history. ( 2.) Impacts will become much worse over time. These include more frequent and severe weather events, heating and drought, wild land fires, reduction of agricultural productivity, immense ecological destruction, massive species extinctions, and serious and spreading human health problems.

The Morgantown Dominion Post on Sunday, May 22^nd had a front page article on “Expert touts drilling’s merits”, a page 3 article on the Wellsburg moratorium on drilling, an editorial on the growing public protest activity in Morgantown and a letter to the editor about Chesapeake Energy.  The “expert” is a Professor in Geology and Geography, Tim Carr, who believes that any spills of fluids from drilling near the Morgantown Industrial Park will be diluted by the current if they reach the River.  The editorial indicates that the process of granting the drilling permits is unacceptable, as seen in the summary below:  

“We the people finally showed up last week. More than 100 people rallied at the Monongalia County Courthouse against several Marcellus shale wells near the Monongahela River. By all accounts it was the first significant public protest against the booming Marcellus shale drilling operations spreading across northern West Virginia.  Another protest at Morgantown’s City Hall preceded the courthouse rally.  At least 20 people spoke out against the wells at a recent city council meeting. The wells are located about 1,500 feet from the greater Morgantown area’s drinking water intake site, near the treatment plant.”
   
“We have no evidence that Northeast Natural Energy isn’t up to the job of operating these wells safely. However, aside from the protesters, many members of this community — including this newspaper — are shocked that a site so near our community’s water intake was even considered by this company, let alone approved by state regulators. The process in which this happened is unacceptable.”

 “We call on all West Virginians to not forget legislators who, earlier this year, impeded attempts to pass a bill to alter this process. If the only recourse the public has to protect its drinking water is to stand upon our First Amendment rights — to assemble, to petition, to speak out and report on these wells — then so be it.    We urge the public — students, property owners, environmentalists and everyone else — to keep protesting these wells and this industry until regulations are on the books and inspectors are in the field to enforce them.”