Ladies and gentlemen,

Those who attended the SWTO Meeting 001, THANK YOU kindly for your interest and your support.  You are our charter members, and from you, our organization will live or die.

Thank you graciously to our presenters, Fritz Boettner of Downstream Strategies, Lewis Baker from the WV Rural Water Association, Dale McCutcheon and Laurine Yates, educated and concerned MoCo citizens.  Thank you as well to all attendees who offered their thoughts, opinions, and research – or even just silent support.

I believe we had a productive information sharing session, and that was truly what we needed as a first collective step.  We now must assume that despite minor [even major] idiosyncrasies in our perspectives or approaches or fields of expertise – everyone that was in the room last night is fundamentally on the same page:

We agree.  And we agree that the consequences of not acting now are profoundly unlovely and long-lasting.

And so we will now set out to accomplish the impossible – to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing in Monroe County (that is, unless it conforms to the Clean Water Act).  Now we will set our powerful collective human resources into motion; we will organize and we will strategize – and then we will get moving.

It begins by forming the ranks and structure of our organization, and by defining its intentions, processes, and timeline.

All this and more, to discuss:

Next Tuesday, 7pm, Senior Citizen Center.

We hope you will join us.

~SWTO Team

This site is dedicated to sharing information centering around preserving and protecting drinking water sources.  The immediate need of greatest urgency that we are aware of is located in Monroe County WV.

Reportedly Hydraulic Fracture Natural Gas Drilling will be starting in Monroe county this year.  The Monroe county Assessor’s office has a list of nearly countless leases to mineral rights on file.

Make no mistake about it, there is nothing “natural” about this process.  It IS NOT merely drilling a tidy well to tap an underground natural gas deposit.   It involves drilling vertically to the Marcellus shale bed, at widely varying depths (depending on the region), then the drill is directed horizontally for great distances.  Once the well is drilled, then the ground is injected with millions of gallons of water (per well) laced with chemicals under great pressure to create artificial fractures in the shale and release the gas found within it.

In a region like ours that has a Karst composition (regionally interconnected underground water) this WILL contaminate water supply over a wide area.  There many other inherent logistic-related factors that create additional problems.

Most lessees are completely unaware of this. If you have already leased your land, please consider attending the public meeting to establish ordinances that ensure water quality is maintained.

What can you do.

MOST IMPORTANT: Register here so we can keep you informed #1 Research Hydraulic Fracture drilling (educate yourself) #2 Once you have a handle on it (spread the word) #3 Attend a public meeting coming soon (to establish ordinances that prevent contamination)