Who has first hand EXPERIENCE with fracking?

pheasantplucker · #1 02/10/12, 06:15 AM

I live in an area where the Marcellus Shale Deposit runs beneath us. I have around 14.5 acres...about half timber and half meadow. Fairly hilly. Lots of deer, turkey. This has been my dream. My wife and I built a 24 x 28 Lincoln log cabin on it. Problem is...everyone in our valley is getting worked up to lease their mineral rights to one of three companies who are dangling the dollars in front of everyone. I realize the economy is tough and many of these folks have been without work for a while. I do not blame people who opt to lease their mineral rights, but I am not on board with this. I am afraid (after the BP mess last year) that energy companies will say anything and assure people up one side and down the other, but that this is not anything that will be good for the land. Right now, the fracking company that everyone seems most pumped up about is offering land owners $5,000 per acre with a share of 20% of the value of gas they pull up to be awarded as ongoing dividends...(for purposes of simplified math)...If, say the company pulls 200 units of gas out of the well, 20% would equal 40 units. Let's say there were 500 landowner acres who signed on with this well, and I was one holding 15 acres...that would be 3% of the share...and thus 3% of the 40 units would afford me about 1.2 units as my take. This all sounds fine and dandy, until you read about all the undisclosed chemical residue that they use in their process, and you learn about the noise and dirt created, the constant rumble of trucks, etc. I hear the energy company painting a rosey picture about how great it is, and I hear from folks who think it's terrible. I'm sure it's somewhere in between. I'd like to hear from YOU if YOU have fracking going on in your area. What has been your experience? Have you seen spills? Deer and other wildlife been negatively impacted? If you are "on board" with a company which practices fracking..Did they live up to your expectations and are you getting what you expected as far as money? I'm seriously considering selling my cabin and land with timber and mineral rights and not have to be involved with this whole thing. I love my place an d I have wonderful neighbors...it would pain me to give up what my wife and I have worked for, but I don't want to be here if it all goes wrong. Fill me in, will you?

speedfunk · #2 02/10/12, 06:55 AM

don't forget the potential for earth quakes. Stories from ohio and oklahoma and starting to surface. I don't have any real world examples I am in NY though and have be doing my best to educate myself.

I am also working on reducing my energy needs (might even sell my car and bike the 15 miles to work) so I am not a hypocrite. That energy we use comes from somewhere, chances are where it comes from is polluted because of it.

TnTnTn · #3 02/10/12, 08:02 AM

No experience but wondering how deep the Marcellus formation is in your area? And it seems to me if all your neighbors sign on- your 14.5 acre island will be exploited anyway whether you sign on or not. I do have oil shale under my place but it is not deep enough to be utilized by fracking. TTT

Rick · #4 02/10/12, 08:02 AM

We bought 70 surface acres 1.5 miles up a road so narrow and limestone laden it'd take explosives to widen it. Pipeline runs through the rear of the place, near the highest point.

We figgered they'd finished raping the place, until they showed up tagain, this time with Liquid Nitro trucks - within 2 miles.
We had a several hundred dollar baseline water test done through the WV Health Dept. - not sure when to test again.
The pro fracture camp put out a radio ad saying there has been no contamination from fracturing for gas since the forties. I'd like to see hard evidence. Of course EarthQuakes will be an impossible tail to pin on this donkey.

We are hoping to install a cistern to capture the tons of rainwater that are available here. Currently we are limited to 700 gallons, and "normal" winters are a challenge in that respect. We pump well water with a generator.

My neighbor Dean, a contractor who lives in an underground home and does some solar instals was listing the wells being drilled close by. He didn't seem concerned.

Anyone out there had local fracturing many years ago?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums

Silvercreek Farmer · #5 02/10/12, 10:32 AM

Search old threads, a lot of good advice out there for negotiating with oil and gas companies for the best deal.

Alice In TX/MO · #6 02/10/12, 10:33 AM

Hubby does this for a living.

No, it does not impact the wildlife.

Spills are cleaned up if they occur.

Long term effects...... he and I probably don't agree on that one.

fordy · #7 02/10/12, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

I live in an area where the Marcellus Shale Deposit runs beneath us. I have around 14.5 acres...about half timber and half meadow. Fairly hilly. Lots of deer, turkey. This has been my dream. My wife and I built a 24 x 28 Lincoln log cabin on it. Problem is...everyone in our valley is getting worked up to lease their mineral rights to one of three companies who are dangling the dollars in front of everyone. I realize the economy is tough and many of these folks have been without work for a while. I do not blame people who opt to lease their mineral rights, but I am not on board with this. I am afraid (after the BP mess last year) that energy companies will say anything and assure people up one side and down the other, but that this is not anything that will be good for the land. Right now, the fracking company that everyone seems most pumped up about is offering land owners $5,000 per acre with a share of 20% of the value of gas they pull up to be awarded as ongoing dividends...(for purposes of simplified math)...If, say the company pulls 200 units of gas out of the well, 20% would equal 40 units. Let's say there were 500 landowner acres who signed on with this well, and I was one holding 15 acres...that would be 3% of the share...and thus 3% of the 40 units would afford me about 1.2 units as my take. This all sounds fine and dandy, until you read about all the undisclosed chemical residue that they use in their process, and you learn about the noise and dirt created, the constant rumble of trucks, etc. I hear the energy company painting a rosey picture about how great it is, and I hear from folks who think it's terrible. I'm sure it's somewhere in between. I'd like to hear from YOU if YOU have fracking going on in your area. What has been your experience? Have you seen spills? Deer and other wildlife been negatively impacted? If you are "on board" with a company which practices fracking..Did they live up to your expectations and are you getting what you expected as far as money? I'm seriously considering selling my cabin and land with timber and mineral rights and not have to be involved with this whole thing. I love my place an d I have wonderful neighbors...it would pain me to give up what my wife and I have worked for, but I don't want to be here if it all goes wrong. Fill me in, will you?

...................When a company wants to lease your minerals they pay you for the number of MINERAL Acres that you have , NOT the number of Surface acres . You may own 14.5 surface acres but your mineral acres maybe somewhat less ! Make sure that the leasing agent explains very clearly how many Mineral acres they will be paying you For ! , fordy

Sawmill Jim · #8 02/10/12, 10:42 AM

Is this going to be a new boom area ?? If so now is not the time to sell mid boom is the time to sell .Money will flow like water . You can rent travel trailer parking spaces for a good dollar .

Water is the frack fluid the return water from the well is what is contaminated . As to spills if you pee in the road you better be prepared for trouble . As to dust they run sprinkler trucks . Water and gravel is two things that are in huge demand .

We ran a frack heater in Co because of the extreme cold the water needed heating we warmed it to 95 F or hotter the heating unit could burn 100 gal of lp per hour . The wells there were 13,000 foot or better .

Nothing like a boom and the bust is just as fast

Been there done it

Darren · #9 02/10/12, 10:46 AM

FInd out where they're planning to put the location and what route in and out they'll use. Do a little research to figure out whether your shale has dry or wet; contains propane, ethane, etc., gas. The price of natural gas has fallen so low some companies aren't drilling for natural gas in some areas. they're moving to where they can drill for wet gas.

There's an outside chance the block they lease won't be drilled. So don't count on the percentage down the road. The dust and road damage will be at the access road. If that's near you, that may be a problem.

JohnL751 · #10 02/10/12, 11:00 AM

NO

Is an earthquake just nature doing the same thing?

Wanderer0101 · #11 02/10/12, 12:42 PM

I'm as green as they come but fortunately I've got the experience and background to know the truth. The "sky is falling" crowd is just having a field day with this stuff.

I fracked my first well neary 37 years ago. Almost all this negative stuff you read is just anti-energy propaganda, a lot of it is completely bogus and some of it deliberately so. There are no documented cases of fracking contaminating drinking water. More than 95% of what's traditionally been pumped when fracking is just sand and water, less than 1% is of any concern at all. It all gets pumped into zones that are thousands of feet away from drinking water aquifers and modern technology can track where the actual cracks are going in real time. Modern frack fluids are available that consist entirely of food grade products, you can drink the stuff.

If there is a problem it lies with well contruction, poor casing design or poor cement jobs, which can be a problem with any oil or gas well. With current scrutiny that's becoming pretty rare.

Take the lease and royalty money and enjoy it.

HOTW · #12 02/10/12, 03:33 PM

well near us in PA there is a town that all the wells have gone bad they can light their water on fire. The company transports water in for the people fo rpotablke uses and deny they did anything wrong..

am1too · #13 02/10/12, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedfunk

don't forget the potential for earth quakes. Stories from ohio and oklahoma and starting to surface. I don't have any real world examples I am in NY though and have be doing my best to educate myself.

I am also working on reducing my energy needs (might even sell my car and bike the 15 miles to work) so I am not a hypocrite. That energy we use comes from somewhere, chances are where it comes from is polluted because of it.

I believe that I have felt earth quakes cause by this process. I live about 50 miles from the site. I still felt earth quakes 3 moths after the first ones. I get no benefits from said practices except any damages they aren't or don't seem to be liable for.

Irish Pixie · #14 02/10/12, 03:51 PM

There are households in my area that the water coming out of the faucet can be lit with a lighter, no fracking at all, it's methane in the wells and they've been able to do it for decades. I've read all about the town in PA and the PA DEP and other experts have said it's safe to drink. The theory is that the town is allegedly holding out for big bucks, I have no idea if that's actually true, but the courts have decided against them so far.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle, the fracking fluid is safe now but no one knows what will happen (if anything) in the coming years. I've done research as DH and I own 120 in the Marcellus basin and another 175 in Trenton Black River.

Jim S. · #15 02/10/12, 03:52 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS0WQ...ature=related]

All over the country, man. Just go to You Tube! So yeah, I'd say fracking is safe, huh?

It's all an anti-energy plot.

Oh yeah...

am1too · #16 02/10/12, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOTW

well near us in PA there is a town that all the wells have gone bad they can light their water on fire. The company transports water in for the people fo rpotablke uses and deny they did anything wrong..

Interesting and conflicting. Rest assured they wouldn't bring in water if there weren't covering something up.

Irish Pixie · #17 02/10/12, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Interesting and conflicting. Rest assured they wouldn't bring in water if there weren't covering something up.

They brought the water in to the town while the water quality studies were being done (by an independent lab) and stopped when the water was cleared. The town was offered water trucks by a NY mayor and it was declined.

Gianni · #18 02/10/12, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Interesting and conflicting. Rest assured they wouldn't bring in water if there weren't covering something up.

The Corporation I work for is not in the drilling business but would bring in water for a year or two if in the middle of a law suit.

Txrider · #19 02/10/12, 04:51 PM

Been fracking in my area since before I was born. I have never seen harm, the harm I have seen is from abandoned wells that the casings have rusted out on that have allowed brine and such to move from one deep strata to a shallower one, and salt water disposal being done in wells with 30 year old bad casings.

I have worked on water wells for years, seen several that put out methane, nothing related to fracking.

What I would do is probably have the gas company pay enough for me to go get a very detailed test or three on my water, so that later I can test again if I think anything is wrong and have a baseline to compare to.

calliemoonbeam · #20 02/10/12, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

I believe that I have felt earth quakes cause by this process. I live about 50 miles from the site. I still felt earth quakes 3 moths after the first ones. I get no benefits from said practices except any damages they aren't or don't seem to be liable for.

This is true for me too. I'm 49 miles from the epicenter of those quakes, and it started with a loud boom, then a huge rumble. Most natural earthquakes don't start with a boom. My place was rocking and rolling, furniture shifting or falling over, stuff flying out of cabinets and off shelves, crack in the walls, etc. I've felt aftershocks/tremors, whatever you want to call them, for almost three months, some pretty good ones, some barely noticeable, but still there!

The biggest one was rated less, but felt every bit as bad as the magnitude 7 quake I experienced in California. They say because they are so shallow here at approximately 3 miles deep that it was felt for a further distance. Luckily, it was in a sparsely populated area, so the property damage/human injury was minimal.

Turned out there had been extensive fracking in the area just before this occurred. They stopped the fracking and it has gradualy calmed back down. Coincidence?? Yeah, right. Not to mention they were fracking on a known fault line, the Wilzetta, also known as the Seminole Uplift. But none of that matters, as long as big business is getting their pockets lined, right?