Are You Out of Your Fracking Mind?

Saturday, September 19^th, the Appalachian Festival was rushing with excitement with music blaring and families enjoying locally grown foods. A table called Engage Mountain Maryland was brightly lit with florescent orange that automatically flashes people to come over and see what they are about. This spunky lady named Judy kindly asked the people who surrounded the table questions that could relate back to her organization. She finally then explained that Engage Mountain Maryland is a program of “residents who have a rising concern about Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking.”

Engage Mountain Maryland Table
In the orange is Judy and a visitor signing up
for daily updates on events

Fracking is the act of using huge amounts of water, chemicals, and equipment to break rocks underground that contain gas. All the residents who are a part of the program all speak of their own opinion about fracking and just want to educat local communities about the risks fracking can cause. Fracking not only effects the soil and air, but takes a damper on the economy, environment, and creates health risks. The table was full of pamphlets, statistics, and facts about fracking and the many issues it causes in depth. The technique of fracking can contaminate nearby water wells making it unusable for livestock, pets, and even humans. Water contamination is not the only health risk that fracking develops, but the air pollution can cause birth defects, low birth weight, and respiratory illness. Judy connected with a student named Michelle, who provided that she lived in Baltimore, by saying that, “if a truck full of methane traveled through Baltimore and if an accident was to partake, the whole town of Baltimore would blow up due to the amount air pollution from fracking.” Michelle stood by surprised and retorted, “I was unaware how much fracking took part in Baltimore air.” Judy also explained how Western Maryland is the “Maryland’s Gold Mine” and Engage Mountain Maryland is trying to fight fracking from coming here because it will ruin the beautiful view of the mountains and the agriculture. If fracking was to appear in Western Maryland, Western Maryland would be another example of “poor land management” and fracking would “alter the balance of nature to industry.”

 If people live near gas wells, the property value of their house could deplete tremendously. According to Engage Mountain Maryland’s property value pamphlet, “homes located within 1km to 1.5km (.9 miles) of a gas well experience an overall reduction in property values as high as -10% to -22%, or more.” The property value decreases because the water could be contaminated and owners would need to find a new drinking source. For Frostburg, Deep Creek Lake offers 60% of Garrett County’s property tax. If companies were to frack near lake resorts, this could lose over $10 million in tax revenue.

                The table over all was informational of how lenient government is with gas companies. Judy was very helpful and she was very educated about fracking and could answer anyone’s questions with facts and reliable sources. Judy gave out pamphlets and told surrounding visitors that we could gain more information here.