Natural Gas Companies Leave Landowners in the Dark

A recent report indicates companies behind processes involving hydraulic fracturing are aware of the risks implied by this technique and communicate them to shareholders but fail to inform the public opinion.

The current legal framework compels enterprises to reveal the emerging threats posed by their operations, that include damaging leaks, spills and explosions, Los Angeles Times reports.

Even under these circumstances, private landowners still don't know what to expect, since no authorized voice is helping them evaluate the risk factors.

Quite often, representatives from major companies are interested only in putting their hands on valuable surfaces. This appears to be the case of Chesapeake Energy Corp., whose intention of increasing its profits while using private land was called a mere "land grab."

Environmental Working Group, an organization from Washington states that profit always ranks first in a list of priorities, leaving the safety of landowners far behind, who are usually not aware of what they're exposing themselves to.

Shooting water mixed with chemicals underground is never a risk-free procedure. Somehow, Cabot Oil & Gas, failed to inform a couple owning a much-needed 3.5 acres of their land in Dimock, Pennsylvania, of this risk.

After they leased the land and carried on with their work, authorities revealed that operations polluted well water consumed by the landowners and 18 other families. Surprisingly, the company rejected this finding.

The same strategy is adopted by other major players, thinking contamination as a result of their practices is a rare incident.

"No one is going to go out there and say something like, 'At one of every 10,000 of our wells, we may have an incident.' No one will do it," declared Jack Norman, chief executive of Elexco Land Services, a company that operates in the property acquisition sector.

Moreover, authorities say landowners don't take their time to understand the risks implied by their decision, when it comes to an agreement with natural gas companies, especially when they are being pressured to sign the contract.

The news is significantly important, since Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the contamination of well water in Wyoming might be correlated with controversial hydraulic fracturing techniques.