Virginia Oil and gas Association
August 15, 2010
Greg Kozera, VOGA President
Dear VOGA Member,
I attended the EPA’s public hearing on hydraulic fracturing July 22nd in Canonsburg, PA near Pittsburgh. The place was packed to overflowing and every speaker slot was taken. The opponents of hydraulic fracturing and Marcellus drilling at the meeting outnumbered natural gas industry supporters at least 5 to 1. The EPA’s stated goal was to enlist stakeholder input for the study design and the proposed criteria to determine case study locations. The actual study is scheduled to begin in January.
Each speaker had only two minutes and could say virtually anything they wanted factual or not. Written comments could also be submitted. Our industry was blamed for the death of pets, farm animals and fish from fracturing and drilling fluids. Numerous health conditions were blamed on fracturing fluids from stomach problems, hair falling out and cancer. These were very emotional appeals and very effective even if not factual. One thing I learned working with professional psychologists, trainers and motivational speakers at the National Speakers Association is that people make decisions based on emotion and THEN JUSTIFY THEM based on logic. Did you choose your spouse based on emotion or logic? Most of the industry supporters had great facts like jobs created, economic benefits, taxes paid and even the importance of the energy we produce. We are typically very logical people since we are made up of a lot of engineers, scientists and accountants. Unfortunately logic doesn’t sell especially when emotions are so strong.
People fear what they don’t know. Fear is a very strong emotion. One lady stated, “I’m wearing a Stop Marcellus Drilling T Shirt not because I want drilling to stop but I see and hear all of the equipment around me and I’m afraid. I just want to know what is going on.” My guess is that this is fairly typical. In most of Pennsylvania people aren’t as familiar with drilling rigs and frac crews as they are in southwest Virginia. We still have people in our area and throughout the state that don’t understand our how our industry operates, especially the precautions we take to protect the environment. Our challenge is to educate them with the truth. That is one of the goals of VOGA PR committee. The great thing is truth doesn’t change. If we can educate people with the truth about our industry and the importance of natural gas to their families early in the process, I believe that we can withstand the emotional appeals and falsehoods of movies like Gasland when they come along.
Even though so far we have no Marcellus drilling in Virginia and we don’t do the massive hydraulic frac jobs like they do in Pennsylvania the EPAs findings of this study and the FRAC Act, if passed, can have a direct negative impact on us in Virginia. Can you imagine getting your drilling permit from the state and then having to apply for a frac permit from the EPA? We can only imagine how long that would take.
Enough speakers chose not to speak that I did get my 2 minutes at 10:55 PM. I spoke not as an industry representative but as a parent and a grandparent who was concerned about whether my children and grandchildren would have energy to heat and cool their homes and even run their cars and computers if the EPA restricts and regulates hydraulic fracturing. I also spoke as a registered professional engineer explaining (as simply as possible) the reason there is no evidence of drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing after 60 years and thousands of fractured wells is that the industry can’t fracture into drinking water due to rock stresses that cause fractures to go horizontal at depths well below drinking water. After I finished a young lady from American University in Washington, D.C. leaned over and whispered. “That is one of their problems. There are no engineers on the EPA committee.” The DOE was also involved in the 2004 study but not this time.
As individuals and as VOGA we need to continue to educate people about our industry and the importance of natural gas. You can also submit your comments to the EPA on this study by emailing them to hydraulic.fracturing@epa.gov. We have some work to do. Freedom is never free. Be proud of what you do.
Thoughts to ponder.
I can be contacted at; gkozera@swsi.com or gkozera@aol.com or at 304- 545-7259. Make it a great month.
Take care,
Greg Kozera
VOGA President
