Priscilla Older and her neighbors have been effective in their community actions and organizing since drilling began in their area two years ago.

Priscilla Older lives just down the road from Cindy, in a beautiful home on 6.5 acres she bought in 2002.
While driving us through the area, she paused to marvel at a ridge of flowering trees blooming in the transformed landscape. “This road was just gorgeous,” Priscilla said. “I used to walk my dog up there.” But walking along the rural roads isn’t something she does much anymore, not since the drilling started two years ago.

With conflict and upheaval between neighbors and the companies, between residents and the township board, between neighbors and neighbors, and with few people outside the valley venturing in or experiencing the fuss for themselves, Priscilla has trouble explaining to others “how isolated we sometimes feel.”

Isolated, and sometimes powerless. When the drilling started, she began attending township meetings. According to Priscilla, the supervisors couldn’t or wouldn’t do much, telling residents, “We can’t do this” or “we can’t do that.” But the problems kept building, and two years later, she said, “Their tune has really changed.”

Priscilla bought a house in Marshlands for the quiet, but there constant truck traffic now, and all the road maintenance is staged from across the street.

The road maintenance is also constant. Dump trucks dump gravel. Dozers push gravel. They back up, beeping. As long as the gas company trucks use the road, maintenance must continue to keep the road passable.

Priscilla is polite, soft spoken. She’s a librarian, after all. But her reaction to the situation has surprised even her. “My emotional effects have been rage,” she said, “fantasies about shooting someone. I’ve never had anything like it before.”

“The other side of it is sadness,” she said. “Sometimes I want to play solitaire all day and not talk to anyone.” She recognizes that these are normal emotions under circumstances like these.

“I feel better when I’m doing something,” she said.

She attends and speaks up at township meetings. She and her neighbors have fought to improve road conditions and minimize road dust. And they are working together to show “Split Estate” in Gaines Township at the Pine Creek Methodist Church at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 19.

While she hasn’t leased, she drinks spring water from the mountain behind her, and worries that drilling on adjacent land could compromise her spring and her health.

But for Priscilla, who was trained as a sociologist, the water alone isn’t her biggest concern. “This has really taught me something about the environmental movement,” she said. “They appear to separate out the people. They worry about air quality and water quality as abstractions. I think that’s why some people see environmentalists as enemies.”

Priscilla isn’t even from Pennsylvania. She moved to the area in 1988. “I’ve lived longer here than I’ve lived anywhere. I’ve become attached to it,” she said. Which is why, even though she’s fed up with the drilling, she’s struggling with the idea of leaving.

“I love the people out here,” she said. “I just do.”

Curt Ashenfelter, Executive Director of the Keystone Trails Association, speaks on behalf of the million or so PA hikers he represents

Believe it or not, this blog has been my first time using video in years. I had quite the time of it with this clip. It’s not too late to contact your PA State Rep about HB 2235.

Members of the Keystone Trails Association hiked in Tioga county this weekend.

KTA members put their feet where their heart is.

Not only do they spends hours a week in Pennsylvania’s forests hiking, their Trail Care and Trail Crew volunteers contribute 3000 – 4000 hours of trail labor annually. Member clubs volunteer another 20,000 – 30,000 hours building and maintaining trails. If you’ve been out hiking, you’ve probably walked on their trails.

Now, some of their carefully maintained trails are bulldozed over and replaced with drilling pads, as was apparent this weekend during a hike at their meeting in Tioga County.

Tomorrow, the PA legislature is voting on House Bill 2235, which would put a 5 year moratorium on additional leasing of state forest land until the impact of drilling can be studied and better regulations are in place. The state has already leased 692,000 acres.

KTA members are not the only Pennsylvanians that enjoy our state forests. Call or email your representative today! or click here to use a form from PennEnvironment. Ask them to support (only) the  Levdansky amendment, not any other amendments that would water it down.

Watch Curt Ashenfelter, KTA Executive Director, speak about the organization’s position on HB 2235:

I am working on getting this video posted.

KTA has hundreds of thousands of members, either directly, or through one of their affiliated groups, including

• NCTA - Allegheny National Forest Chapter (Tidioute, PA)
  PA Trail Dogs (Lock Haven, PA)
  Sierra Club – Pennsylvania Chapter (Harrisburg, PA)
  Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (Easton, PA)
  Forest Coalition (Boiling Springs, PA)
  Wilmington Trail Club (Wilmington, DE)
  Potomac Appalachian Trail Club-North Chapter (Carlisle, PA)
  Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (Vienna, VA)
  North Country Trail Association (Lowell, MI)
  Mountain Club of Maryland (Baltimore, MD)
  Cleveland Hiking Club (Cleveland, OH)
  Susquehannock Trail Club (Ulysses, PA)
  Quehanna Area Trails Club (St. Marys, PA)
  Asaph Trail Club (Wellsboro, PA)
  Allegheny Outdoor Club (Russell, PA)
  Warrior Trail Association, Inc. (Waynesburg, PA)
  Sierra Club-Allegheny Group (Pittsburgh, PA)
  Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy (Pittsburgh, PA)
  Butler Outdoor Club (Butler, PA)
  Woodbourne Forest & Wildlife Preserve (Montrose, PA)
  Susquehanna Trailers Hiking Club (Laflin, PA)
  Sierra Club-Otzinachson Group (Orangeville, PA)
  Pocono Outdoor Club (East Stroudsburg, PA)
  Springfield Trail Club (Secane, PA)
  Schuylkill River National & State Heritage Area (Pottstown, PA)
  Philadelphia Trail Club (Philadelphia, PA)
  Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy Inc. (Southeastern, PA)
  Friends of the Wissahickon (Philadelphia, PA)
  Chester County Trail Club (West Chester, PA)
  Berks Community Hiking Club (Shillington, PA)
  Batona Hiking Club (Broomall, PA)
  Appalachian Mountain Club-Delaware Valley Chapter (Newtown, PA)
  Allentown Hiking Club (Allentown, PA)
  York Hiking Club (York, PA)
  Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club (Harrisburg, PA)
  Mason-Dixon Trail System (Wrightsville, PA)
  Lebanon Valley Hiking Club (Lebanon, PA)
  Lancaster Hiking Club (Lancaster, PA)
  Cumberland Valley AT Club (Boiling Springs, PA)
  Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club (Reading, PA)
  Ridge & Valley Outings Club (Bellefonte, PA)
  Mid State Trail Association (Huntingdon, PA)
  Standing Stone Trail Club (Lewistown, PA)
  Alpine Club of Williamsport  (Williamsport, PA)

A frog sunbathes in Lathrop Township. Credit: Frank Finan

Today we have a reader submitted photograph.     

Frank Finan has been keeping watch on a Phelps/Chief drill site in Lathrop Township in Susquehanna County.     

He noticed some new activity over the weekend. Workers were using their magically absorbant wood chips to fill in part of a waste pit on the drill pad.     

As he took pictures, he noticed a dead frog. 

Click here to see where the frog was relaxing.                More from Frank Finan

For your entertainment, I’ve imagined for you how his conversation with authorities will go, should he choose to make a report.     

Resident: We’re really concerned. Animals are getting sick. Some are keeling over and dying. We’re worried about our environment and our health.
DEP: What are you talking about? This process is harmless. Like the industry says, it’s just water, sand, some salt, and less than 1% Coca-Cola.
Resident: Well, how about this frog?
DEP: Oh. (Pause. Deep breath.) A frog like that probably died of natural causes. It could be a lot of things that caused it.
Resident: But I’ve lived here my whole life, and I seldom see frogs that have died like this. Plus, it’s in the waste pit on the drill site.
DEP: Don’t worry about it. What you’ve probably got there is a frog that was doing the backstroke. It was probably so happy, it just died right then and there.
Resident: (silence of the speechless, not the stupid, kind)     

A flyfisherman waves to us. When we crossed over in the morning, ten fishers were wading in the stream. They were still there at noon, standing out of the frame on the right bank, drinking beer and finishing lunch.

We visited Marshlands on the first weekend of trout season.

It had just rained, and we passed numerous pickups left on the side of the road as trout enthusiasts ventured into the cold water.

Watrous Road was unusually quiet. Residents believe that the gas companies chose not to run trucks before noon so that the fishers wouldn’t get to see their full impact.

The valley and nearby towns of Gaines and Germania are surrounded by state forest. Tioga State Forest wraps around the south and east. State Gamelands 64 is to the north, and Susquehannock State Forest lies to the west. The streams run into Pine Creek.

Native brook trout had been driven out of the area in the past, but they were beginning to come back. The residents wonder if the drilling will kill them off or drive them out.

The wetlands in the valley are supposed to be protected. Some agency has posted signs at every rill and culvert along the road: waterbody; no refueling; keep moving, no parking; wetland boundary. Residents hope the signs show some agency is looking out for their delicate environment, but fear they are an attempt for Ultra to dodge liability by blaming individual truckers if something goes wrong. 

It’s definitely not enough.

“Our whole ecosystem in this valley has changed,” said Cindy Kalbach. The heavy morning dew from the wetlands is gone. Fawns used to be born in yards, but they haven’t even seen a deer or heard a coyote this year. There are fewer birds, no bears, and the silence of the spring peepers is unsettling. 

“Drilling is like a virus that slowly spreads out,” said Cindy, “and what they leave in their wake…”

This used to be a paved road. Cindy Kalbach watches the surface of Elk Run Road surface fly away--and breathes the dust.

Cindy wants to get the word out about what is happening in her area. She’s tried Anderson Cooper, Good Morning American, and Erin Brockovich, to no avail. “We are people that no one is helping,” said Cindy. “We were the guinea pigs.”  

Drilling has been going on in Marshlands near Gaines, PA for at least two years. Cindy will not lease, even though Ultra has been by twice. But a guy named Bergey  owns thousands of acres there, and the majority of wells drilled so far are on his land. “He’s made $6 million off leases in Gaines,” said Cindy. “Our property values have gone to crap.”  

Her husband was a Navy Seal in Vietnam. He fought for the U.S., and in the process got doused with Agent Orange, damaging his lungs. He still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.  

“It was his dream to live out here,” said Cindy. “He came here for peace. For health, a piece of mind, and beauty.”  

But it’s been anything but peaceful lately. Some neighbors have signed leases for drilling, and others haven’t, “setting people against people,” said Cindy.  

The truck traffic has been relentless and occurs around the clock. Tensions between residents and industry workers has been escalating, with the only roads to some residences closed or impassable for weeks at a time.  

Herman Gilbert, who residents describe as a hermit, snapped after his road was closed for three weeks. He tried to drive over the fabric that workers were covering with gravel. Instead, he injured both of them.  

Other rural neighbors are getting fed up in ways that out-of-state workers may not comprehend, said Cindy’s son Sean. These people were born in the area and will probably never leave. “That valley is their world,” he said. “They’ve only got their piece of land, and they feel like the world’s forgot them.”   

“This is where I live. This is where my family chose to make a home” said Sean. “My parents suffered hardships to get the American Dream–their home–and because somebody wants to make a lot of money, it’s getting trampled on.”  

“We have been so content here,” said Cindy. “We have future plans here. I wanted to start a business. But who’s going to drive here now?”

Stephanie gestures to the scenic view next to June's home, an unused tractor in the foreground and new wells in the background. Ninety wells have been drilled in Stephanie's township, with at least 170 more on the way.

“It’s completely divided our community,” said Stephanie about the Marcellus development in her area. 

Places that should feel safe, don’t anymore. 

It started with two break in attempts. Stephanie suspects the workers, most of whom are transient, not from the community or the state, and who spend enough time on the property to know her family’s routine. 

Stephanie has installed security cameras.

Even though no drilling is happening right now, every day she sees workers from several companies who travel the new road near her house to inspect, operate, and maintain the well pads, impoundment pond, and transmission stations. 

She can’t necessarily turn to her neighbors. In fact, it was her neighbor who signed the drilling lease on the property before selling it to Stephanie. The neighbor has continued to lease acres next to Stephanie’s property to drilling companies for more treatment facilities. 

Her home doesn’t shelter her from the venting gases that waft up the hill. And contaminants, known and unknown have entered her home and her body. She, her husband, and her children drank the contaminated water from their well for a year and a half before they found out it contained heavy metals and VOCs. They only got it tested after their dogs got sick. 

And even though home no longer feels safe, it’s hard to find shelter elsewhere. “Our whole community revolves around the church,” Stephanie said. “People yell at me when I go there now.” They see Stephanie drawing attention to her problems as a threat to their interests, since many people expect great royalty checks when their properties are drilled. 

Stephanie gets a royalty check, but it’s not enough. In fact, it doesn’t even pay for bottled water. “I’ve had to go back to work just to pay for water,” Stephanie said. 

I highly recommend you listen to Stephanie tell her own story: 

Stephanie is thinking of leaving the home she built in 2007. It has become valueless now that her water is contaminated, and she's worried about the health effects of living next to these new industrial sites.

Gazing across Stephanie's flowback pond are Stephanie Hallowich, members of the Lincoln Place Action Group, Hannah Abelbeck, and Ron Gulla

If the freshwater impoundment pit were a few feet wider, it could be regulated as a reservoir under Pennsylvania law, which guides the placement, construction, impacts, and discharges of man-made bodies of water. No permit is required for the impoundment, filled with fresh water drained from Cross Creek Lake.