All it needed to start the job was a special land-use permit from the four Republicans and one Democrat on Rockingham County’s Board of Supervisors.
Carrizo didn’t even come close. Concerned about controversial drilling methods, the supervisors never voted on the permit, and recently the company shelved its application following a two-year pursuit, ending its immediate hopes of exploring for gas.
The rejection in Rockingham County was yet another hard knock against companies trying to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale closest to Washington. Negative publicity about water contamination at drilling sites in the Chesapeake Bay region and out west in Texas, Wyoming and Oklahoma is raising concern even among those who support gas exploration.
Virginia has 7,700 natural gas wells in operation, but none extracts gas from the rich Marcellus — a prehistoric shale formation that runs from Ohio to lower Virginia and entombs one of the most bountiful gas reserves in the world, according to the Energy Information Administration. No other company has approached Virginia since Carrizo abandoned its permit application.
Maryland has also slammed the brakes on gas exploration. Last March, the O’Malley administration put off decisions on two permit applications to search for gas in the Marcellus under Garrett County until the completion of an exhaustive study next year. The state wants to know if a hydraulic fracturing process known as fracking, which uses high pressure blasts of water mixed with a chemical cocktail to break the rock and unlock the gas, is safe.
One man’s opposition
Rockingham County’s opposition to Carrizo was led by one man, Pablo Cuevas, a Republican supervisor whose district covers Bergton. The county already has about 20 gas wells, so residents are familiar with drilling operations. But alarmed by reports of chemical water contamination from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Cuevas investigated Carrizo and Marcellus drilling in those states with a pit bull’s determination.
Cuevas learned what the Marcellus Shale Coalition of companies that support drilling says all the time. Drilling in shale has an upside, bringing in billions of dollars in tax revenue and jobs, along with lease payments and gas royalties from companies to property owners.
But he also encountered a downside: Some residents complain of well water contamination and the strong stench of chemicals from fracking. Others say mechanical noise from the operation of the well persists through the night. Motorists complain of massive truck convoys that ruin roads.
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