Date: 07-09-2015
STATE DIVISION OF WATER COLLECTS COMMENTS
Representatives from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and its agencies heard passionate statements from several area residents and fuel producers Tuesday in the first of three public comment meetings regarding oil and gas development in the state.
The meeting, held at Madisonville Community College Brown Badgett Sr. Energy and Advanced Technology Center, gave interested parties the opportunity to openly voice their opinions to a panel of directors from the EEC, Division of Oil and Gas and Division of Water.
The comments will be submitted in a report to the Kentucky oil and gas workgroup, Kentucky General Assembly and the office of Gov. Steve Beshear for further review.
Most of the oppositional comments were concerning the process of hydraulic fracking, which involves using a chemical-water mixture at high-pressure on rocks to release gas inside them.
“We have read the studies and listened carefully to what’s going on in Pennsylvania and Colorado, and we know what happens when you inject the ground with water with chemicals in it, chemicals that we do not know what they are, and I’ll guess we’ll never know,” Pennyrile Group of the Sierra Club Chairman Rick Fowler said. “Then you take the water and reinject it in the ground and is now that’s causing earthquakes. I know the industry will say, ‘No, that’s not true, that’s not what’s causing earthquakes,’ but it didn’t happen before they got there, especially in places like Oklahoma and Ohio.”
Lisa Van Houten, a Louisville resident, agreed.
“Any pipelines that fracking industries would use to send their toxic sludge through will definitely leak,” she said. “That’s what pipelines do.
“There will certainly be spills and explosions,” Van Houten continued. “So what right does any fossil fuel company have to ruin the land, pollute our water with their toxic chemicals, cause explosions and earthquakes, seriously damage our ecosystems in general, resulting in devastating birth defects and stillbirths and even causing death? What benefits, if any, are these outsiders offering us? None that I can see.”
Mike Gibbons, vice-president of production refinery company CountryMark said the industry has made a positive economic impact on the state and surrounding region, all while making every attempt possible to minimize the impact on the environment.
Gibbons noted CountryMark employs 521 people throughout Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana, including geologists, engineers, electricians, safety specialists and others.
“These are all good paying, stable jobs that create strong communities and make workers pay mortgages, support families and send their kids to college,” Gibbons said. “CountryMark routinely contracts small labor in rural communities, which adds to revenue space.”
CountryMark also purchases crude from 40,000 mineral interest owners in the tri-state area, which helps shift America’s dependance on foreign oil, he said.
Andrew McNeill, executive director of the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association, highlighted the benefits of further development.
“Kentucky’s oil and gas industry creates $1.1 billion in economic impact to the state’s economy,” he said. “In 2013, the oil and gas industry supported over 3,200 jobs in direct and downstream industries. The annual wage for an oil and gas job is $75,000 a year.”
With Kentucky ranking 22nd in oil production and 18th in natural gas production in the nation, the industry is critical to the state’s economy, he said.
“In 2014, Henderson, Union, Hopkins, Webster and Muhlenberg counties combined to produce over 862,000 barrels of oil, equaling 25% of the state’s production,” McNeill said. “With that production, over $3.5 million in severance tax was generated for state and local governments.”
McNeill also noted the oil and gas workgroup was created by EEC Secretary Len Peters to evaluate statutes, reform the industry and continue to move forward in a productive and thoughtful way.
In Van Houten’s opinion, job creation isn’t enough.
“If there are new jobs being offered, they’re temporary at best,” she said. “Are they worth it if you can’t even live in a healthy way in the communities that are being affected?”
A second meeting will be held at 6 p.m. July 23 in the auditorium of the Center for Rural Development located at 2292 S. Highway 27 in Somerset.
A third will be held at 6 p.m. July 30 in room 208 of the Jolly Center at Hazard Community College, located at 1 Community College Drive.
By Laura Buchanan
The Messenger, Madisonville
