Nearly 150 citizens from Shalersville and Paris townships as well as from Kent met Thursday night to hear the dangers of well-drilling for oil and gas throughout the county.

ORGANIZED BY THE CONCERNED…, THE GROUP WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT “HYDRAULIC FRACTURING,” ALSO CALLED “FRACKING,” WHICH EXTRACTS NATURAL GAS THROUGH DEEP DRILLING OUT OF SHALE OR COALBEDS.

FRACKING OCCURS WHEN,…..

SO (A LITTLE CHANGE MAKES IT CLEARER)

Close to 140 Shalersville and Paris townships, and Kent residents met for an information session on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing organized by Concerned Citizens of Portage County at the Shalersville Town Hall on Thursday.

Residents of Portage County are receiving proposals from gas companies looking for signing joint lease contracts with residents to perform fracking in the area.

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking, is a method of extracting natural gas through deep well drilling usually out of shale or coalbeds. Fracking occurs when, after a well is drilled, a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected in high pressure to open up fissures through rocks allowing natural gas to flow MORE EASILY easier out of the well.

Portage County, as well as a large part of Ohio, is located right above the Marcellus Shale formation, which the Ohio Department of Natural Resources considers to be the largest exploration play in the eastern U.S. “EXPLORATION PLAY????” WHAT THE HECK? TO HAVE THE LARGEST POTENTIAL FOR GAS IN THE EASTERN U.S.

Created in the summer of this year, Concerned Citizens of Portage County MEMBERS WANT TO INFORM THE PUBLIC…(A GROUP CANNOT BELIEVE)

believes in the effort of informing the public about the dangers of natural gas drilling through fracking.

Julie Buck of Shalersville, one of the speakers (DON’T NEED AT THE MEETING. IT’S ASSUMED) (DON’T EVEN NEED ONE OF THE SPEAKERS) (COULD USE JULIE BUCK OF SHALERSVILLE, A MEMBER OF THE CONCERNED CITIZENS GROUP) at the meeting, said she was offered a lease of $350 per acre three months ago by a broker representing an energy company.

She said she was inclined to sign the lease and get the most of it when she realized her neighbors were about to lease their lands, but that she changed her mind after attending a meeting in Paris Township in which she learned about the dangers of the method.

At the meeting Buck said she met Lori Gourley Babbey, member of Concerned Citizens of Portage County, as well as other residents who also had been offered lease contracts and wanted to learn more about fracking.

Buck and Babbey said when brokers visited their homes early this year they mainly talked about how much money the residents could make by signing the contract. The women said the brokers never touched on the subject of water contamination or how their properties could be devalued for having a well, which the residents said raised concern among them.

Giving the ending time of the meeting, after 10 p.m., the gas companies THAT ARE allegedly sending brokers to propose lease contracts could not be contacted to confirm or contradict the information given by the residents.

Babbey said the group will meet again to distribute more information about fracking before the showing of “Gasland,” a documentary by Josh Fox on natural gas drilling on Dec. 1, but a date has not been set yet. BUT SHE JUST SET A DATE… OH, A DATE FOR ANOTHER MEETING?

WHERE WILL THE VIDEO BE SHOWN?