June Chappel: Washington PA
Excerpt from “Shalefield Stories - Personal and Collected Testimonies”
Published by Steel Valley Printers
January 2014
Location: Hopewell Township
Exposure: • 15-million-gallon frack waste pond 200 feet from home
• Condensate storage tanks 500 feet* from home
• Combustible flare 500 feet* from home
• Seven horizontal shale gas wells 900 feet* from home
Harm: • Industrial dishonesty/disregard: Minimal competence in managing industrial accident
• Loss of property value.
My name is June Chappel. I have multiple condensate storage tanks beside my house. I’m calling for a halt to fracking near people’s homes.
For my son, my husband, and me, the years of 2008-2010 revolved around: drilling, fracking, flowback, and flaring.
Drilling: 900 feet* from house: Our house vibrated 24 hours per day, for 7 days per week. It was horrific.
Fracking: 900 feet* from house: This was nine days of heart pounding noise. It was constant 24 hours per day.
Flowback: 200 feet* from house: Range Resources placed a 15-million-gallon fracking waste pond 200 feet* from my house. The fracking waste pond is where unnamed liquid chemicals were stored open to the air. The fracking waste pond was a vat that smelled like a can of gasoline or kerosene and was longer than a football field.
Flaring: 500 feet* from house: This is the activity that caused the industrial accident behind my house. In September 2009, Range Resources placed a large blue pipe 500 feet* behind our house that was to be used to burn away unwanted gases. We had to go outside at 4:00 a.m. to rescue our beagles due to the extreme noise and heat caused by the flame from this pipe. We found our dogs cowering in their dog boxes. This flame lit up the night sky and sounded like a 747 jet within my home.
A few days later, I returned home to find a local volunteer fire department and fire truck at the fracking waste pond. We could see several little fires burning around the edge of the frack waste pond! The protective liner under the frack waste pond was melting! Range Resources drilling company demonstrated minimal competence in managing this industrial accident. In addition, the local volunteer fire department didn’t have the knowledge needed to manage this industrial accident. Someone in the company told me that they are “learning as they go.” This negligent “learning curve” could have ended in a man-made disaster.
How am I doing today as of July 2012? On February 26, 2010, I lost my dear husband, Dave, to an unrelated illness. Regarding drilling, I still deal with the post-traumatic stress of having lived through the three years of drilling activity. The several condensate storage tanks that sit 500 feet* from my house are a constant visual reminder of what occurred here. The deer have not returned to the land that the fracking waste pond had occupied. My property value has decreased. I have petitioned Range Resources to buy my property so that I may move in search of health and peace. The response from Range Resources was “We’re not in the business of buying homes.”
- June Chappel
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*Responsible Environmental Management of Oil and Natural Gas in New Brunswick Rules for Industry (February 15, 2013)
“The operator must not locate an oil or gas well head or a battery or a flare end, or a compressor station or a gas conditioning plant within: a) 500 metres [1640 feet] of an elementary school, middle school, high school, hospital, or nursing home; b) 250 metres [820 feet] of a dwelling; c) 250 metres [820 feet] of a place of outdoor public concourse such as a playground, fairground, outdoor theatre or campground; and d) 100 metres [330 feet] of any other permanent building, railway, pipeline, or public road.”
“Well pads are not permitted within 250 metres [820 feet] of a water well or a spring or a reservoir serving as an individual water supply, or within 250 metres [820 feet] of a surface water intake feeding into an individual water supply.”
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