Location: Union Court House

Date & Time: Wednesday August 4th, 2010 @ 3:30pm

Description: The SavetheWaterTable organization has requested to be on the agenda for the August meeting of the County Commissioners of Monroe County. We will share our findings and research but largely, are interested in hearing how the County Commission’s exploration of the topic has progressed since our proposal for a temporary moratorium on hydraulic fracture (so that its potential impacts in our karst region can be better understood) was presented (at the July meeting).

Source : MonroeCountyWV.net

Title: Monroe County Commission : Public Meeting Concerning Gas/Oil Drilling

Location: Circuit Courtroom in the Courthouse in Union

Description: The Monroe County Commission has scheduled a public hearing for Monday, July 19, 2010 at 6:00 pm. The County Commission has arranged for representatives from Gordy Oil Company from Houston, Texas to be on hand to answer questions or to address concerns in reference to the oil / gas drilling that will begin in Pickaway around the third week of August.

Start Time: 18:00

Date: July 19, 2010

If our gatekeepers fail to protect us from contamination originating in hydraulic fracture drilling, I pledge to erect a permanent monument in a high traffic area to their perpetual shame. My future grandchildren will know each one by name.

Based on the results of drilling in the US, it is currently the opinion of the founders of this site that other forms of natural gas drilling (that do not inject into the earth millions of gallons of a cocktail containing carcinogens, neurotoxins and the like) pose a lesser threat to our water table. Might we suggest that the county commission find the opportunity and the mettle to pass a moratorium on that single type of drilling.

It is not horizontal drilling nor is it vertical drilling that pose so great an inherent threat to our water sources, but it is specifically hydraulic fracture drilling that does so. To allow it to proceed unregulated and unchecked in Monroe County, (or anywhere else for that matter) is anti-constitutional by allowing a process that has been proven to infringe on the public’s right to health and safety.

I would like to meet the politician that could retain their office (or sleep soundly) after they allowed a process (they had been duly informed posed an imminent threat to the public) to proceed cart blanche on their watch and subsequently contaminate the water table.

The question “Does the county commission have authority to pass an ordinance or moratorium to halt Hydraulic Fracture Drilling until it can be proven safe in Karst regions?” was raised by the Monroe County Commission. The answer lies in WV State Law.

What does the Law say?

Chapter 7-1-3kk of the West Virginia Code states as follows in reference to county commissions, “In addition to all powers and duties conferred by law upon county commissions, commissions are hereby authorized to enact ordinances, issue orders and take other appropriate and necessary actions for the elimination of hazards to public health and safety and to abate or cause to be abated anything which the commission determines to be a public nuisance”

A meeting activating a request for fact finding and action by the Monroe County Commission to protect the residents of Monroe County.