Published: December 1st, 2011
Authors: Ian Urbina and Jo Craven McGinty
Picture: In this picture is a natural gas well. These wells are used to drill gas out of the Earth. This particular well is located in an area away from many people, but in the above link to an article you will see that a well is located at a man's home in Pennsylvania.
Summary: When a boy named Scott and his family allowed for a lease of a gas well on their land, they expected better results. They thought that nothing bad would happen and that the property would be left as it was before the drilling took place. Instead of that, many years later, the well was just covered over and instead of taking the waste away, they left it there. His family wasn't notified of this policy and some of the contaminates were leaking into the ground through the pond liner. As a result, their water started to getting filthy. It says in the article that some home have to buy water tanks and drink only bottled water because the covering up of the gas waste started contaminating their water, leaving it unable to drink. Once this started happening, many law suits started occuring because the land owners were not notified stuff like this would happen. After these law suits, more families are being protected and companies are giving out more information about the drilling. There are many recommended things to do before you should consider accepting a lease now a days. By signing a lease you are accepting what these companies are going to do to your land. You have to take into consideration what may occur in future do to these drillings.
Opinion/Reflection: I think that people should listen to the companies and check out some drilling sites before signing into a lease with a company. If you do this, you can see how peoples lives are effected and the consequences that they recieve for leasing out their property. Some of the consequences like I mentioned above are not have clean water. I don't think I would be able to live without my tap water!! Also I would get very distracted and bothered by the amount of noise. Since they would have to build a well, there would be alot of construction. This construction would tare up my land and I would get very angry as an adult. I don't think leasing is a good idea and thats my opinion. I would only lease my land if I got paid a TON of money!!!!!
Questions:
1-Should gas well drilling even be going on in the U.S.??
2-Who and what could this drilling effect in the long run?
3-Is suing the drilling companies a good idea?
4- Is it fair that the companies didn't have to pay for families water tub refils at all?
Opinion/Reflection: Wow, I agree with Sarah, before agreeing to the company's "terms" I would check out some drilling sites to get a better picture of what was going to happen and the long term effects. This also adds to the whole bottle water vs. tap water situation because unfortunately Scott's family was forced to buy bottled water because their tap water was being contaminated. I don't think I would lease my land for any amount of money, the noise contributes to late night headaches, and it would probably take a very long time. Just like Sarah said, I don't think I would be happy with a company tearing up my land. I would do more research and try to find an eco-friendly way to drill the oil, or maybe I would even keep it there for a long time!
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: I think that suing these companies would be a very good idea because it would send two messages. First to other drilling companies that it is not okay to leave all the waste there. Secondly, it would tell people to think twice before leasing their land because not all the terms are written in the lease.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteWow! That's insane. People should really check the lease before accepting anything. I also think the companies should tell the people signing the lease what is going to happen to their water because it's not very fair for the family who is going to live there on that land. That is still your fault though, the person who is signing the lease, for not being more careful and understanding what may happen to your water. Scott's family didn't pay attention, and now they have contaminated water and have to pay the expensive prices of the water bottles. They also have to listen to the occurring noise of the construction. I know I would never lease my land for this, and it's also not very healthy for the environment to be drilled and stuff.
Answer to Question 3: I would sue the company! That is not fair at all! The company didn't even tell the family about the waste, and what the family is going to go through because of the drilling. It is partly the people's fault for not understanding or asking question about the lease, but the company didn't say anything to them which is also a problem. It hurt their water which is a very valuable resource because it was contaminated by the drilling, and that's not fair. Therefore, they should sue the company.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that the natural gas companies could do that. They can just come in with your "permission" and leave a mess behind when they are done. Ofcourse, the natural gas company would just show the ensuer the lease and signature of agreement and continue on their way and keep drilling and creating trouble for the entire communtiy. Luckyily for them, the companies are starting to responiblity for their actions and are now trying to keep local water clean and protected. On the other hand, the lease signers should have been more aware of what was to come.
Answer to Question 3:
I think that I would try and sue the drilling company. I do not think it would matter to the company though. They make so much more money then if you sued them and won. That's the problem, unless the problem becomes widespread, you are on your own against a large comapny.
Opinion/Reflection: I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the company didn’t tell the family that the drill was going to be left there! The nerve of that company! This whole problem could have been solved if they just removed it. I believe that companies should tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I think it is good that lawsuits are being held against companies that have not told the truth because I think we need to teach them a lesson. It occurs to me that stuff like this still goes on globally, but probably mostly in the United States of America. I know that I would never let any company drill into my land because it would completely devastate my land and water in it. If that were to contaminate my tap water, I would be in big trouble. I can’t live without my tap water because I use it for everything like washing my hands, taking a shower, getting a drink, etc. Even if I was to get paid a million dollars, I wouldn’t allow it. After watching videos in class, I see how dirty water can affect people, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. I believe that it is the company’s full responsibility to tell of everything in the contract or the lease!
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 4: I think it is completely unfair that the companies didn’t have to pay one penny for family water tub refills. It doesn’t make sense to me why they didn’t have to. Don’t people see that the companies are directly manipulating us? The companies know that they can get away with things like this, and it isn’t fair at all. The companies might say that the owners of the land didn’t read into the lease so it is their fault, but deep down they know it is their own fault. Something should be done to stop these companies.