Taxpayers can't be left in the dark on fracking tests
Published June 11, 2015
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, June 10, 2015.
Regardless of one’s view on fracking, the state’s testing process in Stokes County has been a public-relations nightmare. From its initiation right up to its implementation, the community has been shortchanged.
A close-lipped work crew that jumped the gun on a drilling site, starting almost a week ahead of the published start date, is just the latest and most obvious example of a government process that has gone wrong in keeping citizens informed. The operation was originally scheduled to start Friday, but nobody notified the public that’s footing the bill of the change. The confusion needlessly ramped up an already controversial situation. It raised “suspicions that the new timeline was done to mute opposition to the project,” as the Journal’s Bertrand M. Gutierrez reported.
Workers from Patterson Exploration Services, hired by the N.C. Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources, began honing a drill site in Walnut Tree, outside Walnut Cove, on Monday, the Journal reported. It plans to drill 1,750 feet deep to get a better idea of what potential shale-gas reserves, if any, are in the Dan River Basin.
Fracking is a method of shale gas extraction that has worked well in states such as Ohio that have carefully regulated it. That regulation is key, because fracking can pose significant environmental threats if proper caution is not taken.
Walnut Cove commissioners granted the state permission to use town land in outlying Walnut Tree for a test well. While some public notice and opportunity for public input has been given, there has not been enough, especially given the sensitive nature of this situation.
Walnut Tree is predominantly black. The state NAACP is considering a lawsuit to stop the full-scale drilling. The head of the state NAACP, the Rev. William Barber, recently suggested to the Journal that he considers the Walnut Tree situation a case of environmental racism.
We’re not convinced that’s the case. But we do know that the state has fallen far short in keeping the Walnut Tree residents informed.
Walnut Cove commissioners should demand that the state do better by the residents of Walnut Tree. They deserve nothing less, and a whole lot more, really. After all, they are among the taxpayers footing the bill of more than $90,000 for testing in their neighborhood.
