Light Your Water On Fire from Gas Drilling, Fracking

A video by Scott Cannon http://youtu.be/g5QqidiEEHw
The Promised Land in real life. Matt Damon John Krasinski
People can light their taps on fire because of gas drilling. This is one of those cases. In fact, one of the companies that produced Truthland, Chesapeake Energy, was responsible for this mess. A snippet from the Marcellus Shale Reality Tour video
Sherry Vargson gave the group a tour of her farm in Granville Township, where Chesapeake Energy has drilled one well and installed compressor and metering stations and a gathering pipeline. She said her water became contaminated with methane after maintenance activities at the site in June 2010, and lit water from her tap alight for a trip attendees and the media.


The little bus wound its way over green mountains, alongside undeveloped stretches of the meandering Susquehanna River and through some of Pennsylvania's most pristine wilderness.


The man inside with the microphone, the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition's Scott Cannon, said there's trouble in paradise as he pointed out the changes Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling has brought to Pennsylvania's Northern Tier.

Here was a drilling rig, there a water withdrawal site and every so often yet another pipeline was laid out in preparation for burial.

The sights were part of the coalition's "Marcellus Shale Reality Tour," held Sunday for area legislators, municipal representatives and candidates for political office.

"We still have to deal with pipelines, compressor stations; they wanted to put a frack water treatment facility in Hanover Township -- that was an hour away from the nearest drill site," Cannon said.

About 15 people attended the tour, including candidate for U.S. representative Bill Vinsko, Wilkes-Barre Administrative Coordinator Drew McLaughlin and Luzerne County Council candidates Kathleen Dobash, Salvatore Licata, Eileen Sorokas and Michelle Bednar.

"It's all about information," Sorokas said. "You can't beat going firsthand and seeing it. I've heard so many things about it; I want to clarify it in my mind."

"It's important to learn about all sides of this important issue," said Vinsko, a Democrat who plans to a 2012 challenge to Republican Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District.

"In order to make informed decisions, I wanted to hear from the landowners on both sides of the issue. I also plan to meet with the gas companies to get all sides of the story, but this is an important first step."

At least one trip participant had already made up his mind about the issue. Throop Borough Council President Tommy Lukasewicz said he has been fighting against the efforts of Keystone Sanitary Landfill to increase its daily intake by 2,500 tons, which would allow it to accept more solid waste from the gas drilling industry.

"I agree more than anyone here probably that this is the worst thing that could happen to Northeastern Pennsylvania," he said, adding that he believes gas drilling could reverse the progress the area has made in erasing the scars left 50 years ago by coal mining.

Lukasewicz, who attended Mansfield University and often drove through Bradford County to get there, said he "wanted to see firsthand what an area (he) had known about looks like now."

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  News & Politics

[Mohit Goyle]

Why doesn't the utility company use some sort of a bleed valve and extract the methane for free? Then supply both separately. Or install mini-extractor units at individual homes. Same piping delivers gas and water, would be quite brilliant cause it saves on loads of piping.

[GADCLuzerneCounty]

Because that would implicate that the gas drilling company is responsible, and they never will admit they are responsible for the methane migration. They will wait until a court of law decides that.

[2727taterbug]

Im a little sceptical because her water is going on and off. Could she be pumping methane in?

[GADCLuzerneCounty]

No, Would you risk being sued by the gas industry for faking something like this? Her water is going on and off because that is a large amount of methane coming out, just like if you had lots of air in your garden hose.

[GADCLuzerneCounty]

Prove it. This was taken with 2 newspaper reporters standing next to me. Get the methane reports from the PA DEP, Williamsport office. Put your money where your mouth is.

[ExactNumber]

This is the biggest lie, the biggest political boondoggle in this century. 50 years from now when half the country's water is poisoned and the frackers have all died, you will see. Remember DDT? This is history repeating itself, just in a little bit different way.

[z0mbii3x]

I have a friend that is a geologist for a company that does that kind of drilling of wells, he makes the compound that seals it so that fracking doesn't occur. He told me about this phenom a while ago but I hadn't seen anything about it till today on facebook, had to see water combust; it's pretty sweet.

[GADCLuzerneCounty]

Todays Citizen's Voice Newspaper- look it up. State environmental regulators determined that oil and gas development damaged the water supplies for at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, according to a cache of nearly 1,000 letters and enforcement orders written by Department of Environmental Protection officials and obtained by The Times-Tribune.

[itzahazylife]

You believe such nonsense and you take such pride in it. I'd bet money that you got most of your information from Josh Fox's documentary film GasNation. You embrace hyped up bullshit.

[Astavakra1981]

To Itzahazylife: Did I say that I am against fracking in the US. Hell no, I want you to frack to your harts content. So that I can see you assholes growing some extra limbs due to the chemically inriched water.

Like I said, those darn tooting newfangled fracking fluids be real good for ya

[Astavakra1981]

Did I say that I am against fracking in the US. Hell no, I want you to frack to your harts content. So that I can see you assholes growing some extra limbs due to the chemically inriched water.

Like I said, those darn tooting newfangled fracking fluids be real good for ya.

[itzahazylife]

That movie is full of bullshit. It was made by Josh Fox. There is a documentary called FrackNation that completely exposes Josh Fox as a fraud.

[itzahazylife]

This is all bullshit started by the movie GasLand and Josh Fox. Watch the documentary Fracknation. It exposed Josh Fox as a fraud.

[itzahazylife]

Methane has been building up in wells years before fracking even started. You're buying into nonsense all started by the move GasLand and Josh Fox. All this anti-fracking hype has done is cost so many people in the mid west their jobs.