Smoke & Mirrors, Inconsistencies, and the Sacrificial Lamb

Some have asked that I post the text of the Letter to the Editor I wrote for the Record-Delta. Here it is:


Smoke & Mirrors, Inconsistencies, and the Sacrificial Lamb

Dear Editor:

I live in North Buckhannon and I am mad as…(well you can fill in the blank). What is it about this end of Buckhannon that makes some in the city and county want to industrialize it? Don’t we have an Industrial Park? Aren’t there other properties better suited to housing the danger, property value damage and destruction of our peace that four 80-foot-plus towers of silica sand WILL bring to the more than 200 residents of North Buckhannon? The answer is Yes. Of course it’s Yes. And don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Beware of the smoke and mirrors and inconsistencies that are being promoted by our city’s elected officials, county development authority and the energy corporation they represent, Weatherford International.

I have spent the last two months of my life talking, walking and researching. I’ve talked with everyone from the men who work the natural gas extraction industry to just about every elected official in the city trying to find a reason why anyone would allow such absolute illogic to fester to its current degree even against the will and voices and signatures to a petition that represents nearly three-quarters of the population in North Buckhannon. So why would you care? If you live here in North Buckhannon, you already know why. If you don’t live here, prepare yourself. If the powers that be can make us its sacrificial lamb, their money and influence can find its way to your backyard too.

Let me review. Why should these towers not be located adjacent to Buckhannon residents? They will contain silica-based sand that is manufactured in such a way that it is invisible. The dust becomes airborne and can travel great distances in the wind (check it out at http://www.silicosis-net.org/). Then there’s the maddening truck traffic noise, pollution, damage to city streets and drainage systems, and light pollution. These issues aside, the depreciation of property value of all residents in North Buckhannon is guaranteed (as an example, ask those who live or lived next to the development of Trus Joist more than a decade ago). The mass of voices who have petitioned against this illogical proposition should be enough. Any well-reasoning person should understand. But what we have here is a complete lack of reason. And the proof can be found for anyone willing to take the time and energy that I and several of my neighbors have taken.

I’ll explain by refuting information revealed in a special meeting on July 9 in which the information communicated was agreed upon to be non-confidential. Those in attendance included Pete Galarneau, Dave Thomas, Kenny Davidson, Steve Foster, Skeeter Queen, Dave Rexroad, and Rick Smith:

1. Let’s start with the pro-silo battle cry: We’ll get 160 jobs at an average salary of $75,000. Not really. If you think about, the average energy worker doesn’t make that kind of money (I asked them). To even come close to making that cash you have to be one of the engineers or chemists or top-end administrators, or you have to pull consistent 80-hour-plus work weeks. Next, you have to ask, where are the jobs coming from? They will most likely come from West Virginia but don’t assume that means they are local. If fact, businesses seldom if ever guarantee that their application pool will be directed to one small town or county. And they cannot guarantee that the workers will live in the area in which they work, and they cannot guarantee that they will shop in one place or another, etc., etc., etc.
2. Next: If we say no to the silos we are saying We are Closed for Business. No. This too is a fallacy. The argument that this tends to conjure is that the petitioners of North Buckhannon don’t want business. I have yet to talk to anyone who has this view. The central argument, which this statement tends to muddy over, is that we don’t want the storage tanks located next to residents (many of them elderly) and young children of Buckhannon. Have your business here Weatherford, but do it in a socially responsible manner. What’s more important? Money or lives? And please remember that our state motto is now Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia. Hundreds of people suffering from industry is not Wild, Wonderful or very West Virginian.
3. I want to keep jobs in West Virginia. If this cannot be resolved in 30 days we are pulling everything out. Wrong again. Weatherford is not going to leave West Virginia. Why? There is a geological formation know as the Marcellus Shale that runs deep underground from a line extending around Upshur County that parallels I-79 and runs the width of West Virginia to the west (http://www.wvsoro.org/resources/marcellus/index.html) There has been renewed interest in the pockets of natural gas that are stored in the fractures of this shale but, until the occurrence of soaring oil prices, has been to expensive to extract. Not now. Weatherford will not leave all this potential profit to its competitors. In fact, that’s why we’ve seen such a great influx of energy corporations into this area. Competition. If you look into the geological documents concerning the shale, you’ll find that there is a “hot spot” in Upshur County. Add to this that Weatherford currently continues to bring in equipment, trailers, and has asked that the water main be moved where their main business warehouse will be located (CJ Martin’s Property). Weatherford can stay…will stay. But the silos have to be placed somewhere else.
4. But there’s no other place to put the silos. Cop out. There are other places if one does what our elected officials were elected to do: serve the people. These other properties have access to rail and utilities. If someone tells you that there is no other place, review the special public meeting of May 29, recorded by Video Imaging, and you will find inconsistencies in this statement. In one instance it is argued that there is no other place and in the next instance it is revealed that they had been talking to the owners of other places. Smoke and mirrors. Inconsistencies.
5. But the silica sand will be controlled and contained. Seriously? Something invisible can be controlled and contained? Get online and search for yourself. You’ll find many other towns who now suffer from such arguments. There is plenty of evidence that people in these communities have become sick, that their property values have tumbled and that these people have moved out to save what life and liberty they once had.
6. The sand is just like the sand you played with in your sand box. No. It comes from very special quarries in Texas, Minnesota and Canada. This “sand” is commonly referred to as a propant. It is very fine, polished, strong and its particulate size is tinier than that of the head of a pin. It has to be able to “prop” open the shale at the pressures underground. Being so tiny and therefore light, it can easily become airborne and invisible. Its size is nothing like the sand in your sand box. And when it finds its way into your lungs, it settles in very deep so that over time it forms into a cancer called silicosis (don’t believe me? Ask those who suffer from it as I did)
7. Buckhannon is no different than South Charleston. No argument necessary.
8. We’ll paint the silos green and put strawberries on them. Condescending.
9. Well, I used to live in North Buckhannon. But you don’t now.
10. Didn’t you know that when you bought your home near a railroad that industry would be coming? No. I didn’t. None who have signed the petition did. We like our peace of living and if that means a train whistle blows every now and then, fine. In fact it has become a part of the West Virginia backdrop for the residents here. With this argument in place, perhaps we should consider moving a chemical plant like one in South Charleston next to City Hall. There’s a railroad track there, too.
    
    And then there is the document that you can view as public record that was used to apply for permits by Weatherford. What is applied for is not consistent to what they are now planning. What was 40-foot silos is now 80. What was 10 trucks per day is now 40. What will it be next? The storage of acid, nitrogen, concrete and other hazardous materials necessary in the natural gas extraction industry? We can’t be sure because Weatherford now has a history with us. And West Virginians never forget.
    
    Even if you don’t live here, your children may be playing on the swings at the Head Start two blocks away. Perhaps your child is involved with youth soccer down at the end of Cleveland Ave. Perhaps you enjoy coming over to the city park. Maybe you go to school at the Eberle Tech Center.
    
    Now it is up to the ethics of our elected, for the people, governance to make a decision: The voices of its citizens who have struggled to make their lives the best they can be OR the fallacy of arguments from a company that will reap what they can before the energy crisis is over and leave behind shattered memories for which they will take no responsibility.
    
    Can’t our elected officials see through the smoke and mirrors and inconsistencies? Do those on city council who have bought into, and in some cases, created disinformation really want the citizens they represent to be sacrificial lambs?
    
    The Good Book would not have agreed.
    
    
    
    -Peter Galarneau, Jr.
    Spokesperson for the COALITION AGAINST THE CONSTRUCTION OF
    WEATHERFORD SAND SILOS IN RESIDENTIAL NORTH BUCKHANNON