LITTLE ROCK — Arkansans are just now beginning to realize that promises of wealth and prosperity from the production of natural gas come with an unspoken cost. The promise of wealth is worth nothing if the cost is one's health or environment.
The Fayetteville Shale is a geologic formation that extends through the central and much of the northern half of the state and ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 feet deep. Potential gas well sites are located by dynamiting or thumping the ground with large machines. Next, test sites are drilled. Once a productive site is located, fluids are pumped into the shale bed to fracture it and allow the gas to be pumped out, along with the now contaminated water. The geology of the shale layer, which often includes a honeycomb of caves in other nearby formations, makes it difficult for drillers to remove the gas without the risk of contaminating fresh water supplies with toxic water from the shale bed. Fracturing can also result in loss of water in an area, causing water wells to sink or go dry. Water produced from the gas well, along with various gasses, often contains benzene, phenols, toluene, xylene, saltsand metals. In Maryland, pits lined with fly ash intended to prevent loss of the toxic water instead allow these toxins to leach into drinking water. Similar construction techniques are being used or planned in Arkansas.
Citizens of Colorado and Wyoming, who, like Arkansans, take pride in their state's natural beauty and depend ontourist dollars, are appalled by the devastation they are seeing as scenic vistas are transformed into industrial zones.
In Arkansas, just west of Center Ridge, the destruction of our own state's natural beauty has begun. A small lake at Sunnyside became the focus of statewide media interest a few years ago when more than 140 Bald Eagles were discovered to be wintering at the lake, feeding on fish stocked by the landowner. For nearly a week there was standing room only on the lake's small earthen dam as people drove into the area to see this amazing phenomenon.
Two years ago gas exploration began in the valley. Last winter, a single pair of eagles soared over the now red muddy waters of Sunnyside Lake. Roads cut across the landscape leading to large pumps. A retention pit is being dug, casting up mountains of red earth from which seeps red water into a nearby stream. Long lines of semitrailers throw clouds of dust and rocks into the air, which smells of diesel.
From the point at which exploration begins until after production ends, damage is done to the environment. Blasting and thumping rip holes in the land. Fresh roads cut across the surface. Deep pits are dug to furnish gravel for the roads and to hold contaminated water. Pads and pumping stations mar the landscape. These changes are occurring so rapidly and without adherence to best management practices that they are causing massive amounts of sediment to enter streams. Sediment chokes out aquatic life, burying the delicate aquatichabitats that fish, crayfish and mussels need to survive. Once in the water, the sediment travels downstream for many miles damaging spawning beds, interfering with plant growth, food sources and necessary habitat. Sediment-laden water is also more difficult and expensive for water districts to treat.
During low water periods such as was experienced this summer, the more than a million gallons of water that each well needs for drilling puts a tremendous strain on a stream, which can leave fish and other aquatic life exposed to die in the sun. Dewatering a stream at any time of the year is damaging but pumping it dry, during the heat of the summer, as Cadron Creek was this year, is overwhelming.
A few gas wells here and there over time won't ruin our water resources, but the cumulative effect of large numbers of gas wells going in during a short time without sufficient environmental safeguards can have a devastating impact on our streams. Once a stream is damaged, it may never return to its original level of beauty and productivity.
GROUND WATER DAMAGE
Ground water is also at risk of contamination by silt and toxic materials discharged or spilled during exploration and production. In Booneville, water wells are already contaminated. Air is polluted by heavy clouds of dust and escaped gasses while high decibel pumps and compressors disturb the quiet peace of the countryside, similar to the effect of having a new railroad track in your backyard.
For most, the economic side isn't all that good either. Money can be made in natural gas that benefits our economy, but we need to factor in costs to our environment and communities. After the first boom, property values actually drop. In addition, Arkansas' levy on natural gas production is the lowest in the nation, far below surrounding gas producing states such as Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.
'FORCED POOLING'
Negotiating with gas companies can also be treacherous. Most people believe that their rights as private property owners are inviolable. However, landowner rights are routinely ignored and even those who own the mineral rights under their land can be forced to lease them. A number of states, including Arkansas, have "forced pooling" laws, which compel landowners to lease mineral rights if a majority of their neighbors have done so. Company representatives frequently use threats of forced pooling to intimidate landowners and force them to sign agreements. Many are discovering that terms which designate where a company can drill, and identify plans for mitigation of damages, must be spelled out explicitly or the landowner risks permanent damage to property.
Landowners from Booneville talk about failure of companies to remediate damage, failure to protect the environment, misrepresentation of laws, and destruction of property. The large number of contractors and subcontractors make it difficult for landowners to identify those responsible for only damage.
Compared to other gas producing states Arkansas has a small amount of natural gas.
The true legacy of Arkansas should be beautiful, healthy forests and pristine flowing rivers teaming with life, a true gift to the nation, but as long as our federal government's policy is to extract new resources in order to meet increasing needs instead of supporting new technologies and conservation to reduce those needs, we will be faced with terrible choices affecting our land and water, at least until those resources run out and we are left with nothing but polluted waters and scars on the land.
A full tilt rush by the oil and gas industry is on to extract as many resources as possible from the public before laws are made to deal with the new industry. State agencies such as the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Oil and Gas Commission, whose duty it is to protect the quality of our air and water, find themselves understaffed and overwhelmed.
New Mexico, with long experience in gas and oil drilling, has crafted new laws and regulations that better protect land owners and the environment. If we are to benefit from the experience of other states, it is imperative that Arkansans contact their lawmakers. Best management practices must be followed by gas companies and we must ensure that agencies have the resources needed to enforce regulations.
Debbie Doss is chairman of the Arkansas Conservation Partnership and Conservation Co-Chair of the Arkansas Canoe Club.
Perspective, Pages 96 on 10/07/2007