Forbes on firefighters

Gas drilling will be a burden

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA - Harry Forbes, Pike County commissioner, thinks firefighters aren’t going to get much out of the gas drilling activity that is gripping Pennsylvania counties and townships.

Recently, he attended a huge seminar in Bradford County for 300 people on all aspects of gas drilling.

“It was a terrifically informative meeting made up of a wide sampling of commissioners from several Pennsylvania counties and townships,” Forbes said. “Bradford County commissioners even invited a commissioner from Fort Worth, TX where they have been drilling for a number of years.”

In attendance were representatives from Penn State University, which hosted the event with the Bradford County commissioners, the Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, as well as other experts.

“They explored every conceivable aspect of gas drilling, from getting a solid contract to protecting the environment to compensating townships for damage to roads,” he said. “But there was something missing. There was no mention of the need to help local fire companies who are called out to handle accidents or fires at drilling locations.”

Typical fire companies are under enormous pressure, apart from the demands of drilling, just to cover the usual incidents they normally cover, he said. “All of our fire companies are experiencing a shortage of volunteer fire fighters as it is. What’s going to happen when they will be called out to respond to accidents and fires at gas drilling operations?”

Forbes said that there should be some kind of impact fee that is a part of a gas drilling company’s contract or agreement with a township. Just like in compensating townships for damage to roads, there should be some kind of assistance to fire companies too, he said.

The Fort Worth commissioner said that they have as many as eight to 10 emergency calls a day in some areas, not all of them directly connected with accidents at the drilling sites, but for things like accidents on roads and other incidents.

“He said that the gas companies have their own firefighters who know what chemicals are being used in drilling, so that’s not a problem,” Forbes said.

Because the federal government has exempted the gas companies from laws that protect the environment and companies claim that exact content of the drilling fluids are proprietary, concerns have been expressed at public meetings that the use of some chemicals in drilling could do harm not only to the environment but also to individuals.

“The Department of Environmental Protection knows what these chemicals are and they are on top of it,” Forbes said.