Is Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania Destroying the Environment?

So why does it bother me so much that the people here in Northern Pennsylvania now have the ability to receive some quick profit? Am I jealous that these job opportunities don't exist in my hometown of Lancaster, that I don't have my own land to sell off to the Marcellus Shale gas companies? The money would sure be nice to pay these student loans that I cannot afford.

The 'quick fix' of finances would certainly be a benefit to my financial well-being but ultimately I have concerns over the land, environment, housing market, taxes, crime, wildlife and the simple yet calming beauty that lies in the northern frontier of Pennsylvania.

I was sitting in a 70's recliner in my family's cabin just outside of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania today. I beheld the beauty of the birch - a tree that I had once scalped in order to place in my mouth to be reminded of the tingly beverage I enjoyed. Next to it a pine that could be adorned with some lights and ornaments to create a nature nature-scape Christmas. The glass pane was the only thing that separated me from pure nature. Trees that were not planted but grew by the giving hand of God.

Now I sit by a fire of former limbs and stumps that had fallen and now can warm me and cook a traditional family favorite, the hobo meal. Across the street in a open field I can see the bare branches of an apple tree. Just two months prior this tree fed three black bears as my brother and his wife witnessed their foraging. Nature, once barely interrupted, has been making a rebound on this mountain.

Earlier today I recognized some brightly colored signs adorning a street just a mile up the road from the view I just described to you. As I walked the stoned road I read "NO TRESPASSING" on either side until I came to the bright red "DANGER" warning sign to civilians. With my binoculars I attempted to look up on the hillside, but all I could see was a white tank, two bulldozers, and cleared land. Land where drilling was about to begin, or already had, for Marcellus Shale. Just one mile from my nature escape.

I understand the need in this area for income. The economy had hardened these people long before it had ruined mine. I only came here to escape the business of a world 4 hours south while they lived here every day trying to discover a way to make a living. This is a solution for many of them who possess the type of land the gas company's desire. They employ locals and brings newcomers to the area filling downtrodden hotels and outdated restaurants.

The view here is my own. It has been since childhood when I would splash around in the creek that flows behind the cabin after sucking on that birch tree. The view hasn't much changed here. The cabin across the street remains the same almost 30 years later. The open fields where the bears roam can still gain us access to one of the most outstanding beaver dams I have ever encountered. Animals thrive here in what has remained their natural habitat for long before I arrived to be blessed with it.

I could be labeled many things: tree hugger, animal activist, environmentalist, but none of those extremist stereotype descriptions fit my lifestyle. I am a nature lover. I want to see those bears crunch into an apple and then stare at me in disgust. I feel honored to see the beaver home grow by feet every year and witness their gnawing work. The hunters that park along this dirt road explore and hunt this territory as their ancestors have done for many years. We all partake in a minimally interrupted nature here on the mountain.

But one mile down the street, machinery is clearing and digging and blasting. Water comes from somewhere and comes out somewhere else. The signs indicate I am not welcome but did I ever say that they were welcome? What will these machines do to my nature escape? Studies have been done by both sides but it seems no one exactly knows what will happen to this land and this people. What about the creek that flows behind the cabin or the beaver dam? Will they be contaminated?

In my selfishness my only major concern is that the animals will leave before the view does, and then the view will be destroyed with it. What is a cabin in the woods with no woods? What is an escape from the business of life when large diesel driven machines are sucking the quiet woodsy noise out of this air? The worth of this land is the precious mental escape is has given (a buck just popped out and stared at me for five minutes, excuse the pause)… 5 different families heading into their third generation of children. This view has been beheld by all of them.

I know there's not a way to stop this or to give everyone the benefit of the fulfillment I have found at this spot for the 20 some years of my life. Many people require a greater need than this, although, if I could sit them in this chair right now maybe I could convince them otherwise. I want this nature to last beyond me and to be preserved in a way that time has managed continue until this point. My want has to be greater than their need and I do not know that my need is apparent enough to the company down the street that cleared those tasty birch trees.