Letter to the editor: Fracking risks outweigh benefits

Is natural gas development really safe, well-regulated and generating significant benefits … ?

Residents of New Freeport, Greene County, might not agree with letter-writer Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition (“Natural gas development benefits Pa. residents,” July 25, TribLIVE). Residents report shower water is oily, water smells bad and pets won’t drink the water. There are reports of “errant fracking fluid from a well site.” A microbiology professor’s testing determined the water isn’t potable. The solution? The driller and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection “are investigating.” The families received some bottled water.

Other communities are affected by gas development. Check out “Fractured: The body burden of living near fracking” from Environmental Health News.

In addition to threats to health and disruption to daily life to residents near frack sites, we all might face threats. The frack waste from wells can be toxic and radioactive. Is that what is in the residual waste trucks driving through our communities? Where is it going?

Aren’t jobs a benefit? Workers in the drilling industry have seven times the death rate of U.S. workers on average with injury and death from road and rail accidents, machinery mishaps, toxic chemical exposure, respirable silica sand, explosions and fires.

These risks seem to outweigh any benefits.

Vickie Oles

Ligonier Township