Malabar Farm and Mohican State Forest area in jeopardy
Letter to the Editor:
I am a resident of Monroe Township near Malabar Farm and Mohican Forest. I was contacted by Cabot Oil and Gas this past October. They wanted to drill an exploratory well on my land.
They explained in great detail the process involved in hydraulic fracturing for oil (also called fracking). Once I heard all of the details, I took a trip to Carroll County, where fracking for methane has been going on for several years.
I wanted to see the impact it had on the landscape for myself. I drove to several well pads. They all were at least 7-acre gravel parking lots with a 30-foot-wide access road.
Tall cyclone fences surround the well sites with at least six storage tanks approximately 25 feet high and several condensation tanks. A noisy compressor or generator ran 24/7.
After my visit I explored Google Earth to see the amount of pads and how closely spaced they were. There are pads every 1-3 miles. In addition, as I drove around the county, I saw several parking lots full of fracking equipment.
All of these sites combined made the countryside look like an industrial zone. I looked online at the various stages of fracking and all the heavy equipment that they use: flatbed semis, fracking rigs, drilling rigs, tri-axle brine and water trucks, bull dozers, graders, dump trucks, and fracking tanks.
Fracking a well requiring 4-million gallons of water would take 1,000 trips with a tri-axle truck. Constructing a well pad takes 900 truck loads of gravel. I couldn’t imagine how much noise and disturbance this would bring our peaceful home.
This could go on for years. There are over 2,200 horizontal wells in Eastern Ohio alone. Transposing that landscape to my township would be devastating.
Surrounding our community are many environmental resources already in harmony with us: Malabar Farm including Mount Jeez Overlook; Pleasant Hill and Charles Mill Lakes; many outdoor education schools such as Camp Otyokwah, Camp Nuhop and the Mohican Outdoor School; and Mohican Memorial Forest.
We want to preserve and protect all of the activities of camping, biking, hiking, hunting, birding and canoeing that tens of thousands of Ohioans enjoy here every year.
We have some of the best water in Ohio, like the spring at Malabar Farm. You can’t drink money and repair the damage of industry.
Offers of vague contracts, promises of money, and permanent reconstruction of roads and landscape must not be considered or agreed to without research.
I went to visit a few of my neighbors here in Monroe Township to ask their position on Cabot’s sublease. I was delighted by the responses I received. The vast majority oppose drilling and fracking for oil. They have a passion to preserve this beautiful land. We have united and formed a strong coalition to oppose Cabot.
Can’t we as a nation leave this beautiful valley alone for all of the residents living here and tourists that visit? Let’s think about the legacy we leave our children: clean water, abundant recreation and beautiful farms, and forest and meadows.
Won’t you join us in our efforts to oppose Cabot Oil and Gas?
For more information write monroeTLC2@gmail.com
David Graham
Monroe Township Landowners Coalition Lucas