“Are there going to be more losers than winners in Maryland?” is the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to drilling the Marcellus Shale, and it was the chief issue addressed by the five panelists at the Appalachian Festival Symposium last Friday. The opening event of Frostburg State University’s 2012 Appalachian Festival could not feature a more fitting topic: as the city commemorated the 200th anniversary of its founding as a coal mining town, residents gathered to discuss the future of “Marcellus Shale and Western Maryland.”
The crowd was a small but attentive one, comprised of FSU students, concerned residents, and landowners who have been closely following the Marcellus Shale debates. Five speakers with a variety of viewpoints gave brief presentations, followed by a question and answer session with the audience. Kara Rogers Thomas, Assistant Professor of Folklore and Society at FSU and organizer of the Appalachian Festival, served as moderator.
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| Panelists and moderator of the Appalachian Festival Symposium. From left to right, sitting: Commissioner Bill Valentine, James "Smokey" Stanton, and Assistant Professor Kara Rogers Thomas. Standing: Derrick Bender, Commissioner Jim Raley, and Mike Tidwell |
First was Derrick Bender, a representative of the University of Maryland Extension School who recently joined the Garrett County Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Advisory Committee. This committee was formed by the Garrett County Commissioners in 2010 to consider the potential of hydraulic fracturing--or “fracking”--in order to reach the vast deposits of natural-gas-rich black shale stretching underground from New York to Tennessee. More pressingly, the committee has been examining the various impacts fracking might have on Western Maryland’s environment and economy. As an UMD educator, Bender plans to develop programs to help landowners understand the legality behind their drilling leases.
The next speaker was Allegheny County Commissioner Bill Valentine, who represents his county on the state level with the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission. While obviously eager to bring a booming industry to his constituents, he said the major roadblock is a complex study proposed by the state of Maryland to determine whether gas can be produced from the Marcellus Shale without “unacceptable risks.” While he did not discredit the value of such a study, Valentine is a firm supporter of “dry fracking”--a process that uses pressurized carbon dioxide to fracture the rock and is generally considered an environmentally-friendly, although more expensive, alternative to “wet” hydraulic fracking.
Valentine was followed by the commissioner of his neighboring county and co-member of the Advisory Commission, Garrett County Commissioner Jim Raley. A veteran of many public forums on this issue, his presentation took on a reassuring tone, insisting that the state rigidly controls all hydraulic fracturing and drilling operations within state lines, and the Commission is in place to make sure any fracking is done correctly.
Next, James “Smokey” Stanton brought a new perspective to the debate as a longtime member of the county Advisory Committee, describing his role as the “appointed treehugger bunny-lover.” He evoked the sympathies of the crowd with a slide show of stirring photographs: a pond sludged with industrial waste flotsam, an unsightly oil pipe slashing across pristine mountain tops, and a plume of smoke from “flaring” natural gas. All of these, he said, might be common sights in Western Maryland if drilling begins before the results of the state’s study are clear. “The worst possible way to come at this is loose regulation and lax enforcement. That’s the equation for how to do this wrong,” he warned.
Last at the podium was Mike Tidwell, the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a non-profit group based in Takoma Park, MD, that is dedicated exclusively to fighting local climate change. While CCAN is solidly anti-fracking, Tidwell changed course from the other panelists, focusing on the need to move the future of Maryland energy away from fossil fuels and citing Garrett County’s huge potential in the wind energy market. “Someday soon in America, we need to stop lighting things on fire to keep the lights on,” he said in summary.
Although the panelists disagreed on several key points, they agreed on one thing: this is a pressing issue, and Marylanders have a duty to stay informed and involved. Commissioner Raley urged the students in the audience, especially, to “...investigate all areas of energy production. The opportunities in the energy field are numerous and futuristic.” Professor Thomas also addressed the students between speakers: “You’re the registered voters now! This is a decision you’ll have to make.”
For more information on the Marcellus Shale debate and legislative progress, visit the following sites:
- Garrett County Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Advising Committee- http://marcellusshale.garrettcounty.org/
- Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission- http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Land/mining/marcellus/Pages/index.aspx
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network- http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org
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