Fracking company to residents: I'm taking my water and going home
Activists are delivering water tomorrow to a community where residents believe the water supply is no longer fit to bathe in, let alone drink. Holding Rex Energy accountable for its alleged part in the mess will be a greater challenge.
Residents of the Woodlands community of Connoquenessing Township might lose their clean water as of today. Rex Energy, a company that participates in Marcellus Shale gas drilling, had agreed to provide families who say their water was tainted due to fracking with fresh water, shipped in via enormous "water buffalos." Last week, however, Rex sent a letter to the families, alerting them that they'd be losing their water supply.
Marcellus Outreach Butler and community members are holding a water drive tomorrow afternoon, in an attempt to offset the loss. After the drive, there will be a march on Rex Energy's headquarters to hold Rex accountable.
Organizer Diane Sipe said: "In this area, their water is tainted. The [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection] did a test and found elevated levels of toluene. When they came back and tested the water again, they didn't test for toluene." Toluene, a solvent, smells like paint thinner and can be used as jet fuel. "This is a real hardship. You have a private water supply, and you lose that supply, you lose a lot of property value. Who would buy a house without a water supply?" Sipe says. "They need a long term solution. The water isn't healthy to bathe in. The people who live here, they drink bottled water and go elsewhere to wash clothes and to bathe." Families who do use the water supply now have to test their water every six months to ensure their safety, an expensive proposition.
The rally will be held at Butler Farmers' Market in Butler, Pa. You can find directions here.