Report: Barrington not viable for fracking

BARRINGTON--More than 20 residents attended the town of Barrington fracking committee's presentation Monday, Aug. 25, where they explored several details about the fracking process. While the committee insisted fracking in Barrington was highly unlikely due to low economic viability, committee member Tim Acomb went through an extensive slide show not only explaining the fracking process from a neutral standpoint, but also explained specifically how it would look if fracking came to Barrington.
Some of the conclusions drawn from the report indicated fracking could pose a threat in areas like noise, air pollution and increased truck traffic. The impact of the heavy industry is likely for a brief period. The committee also added the Marcellus Shale located in the town of Barrington is so thin it would not be economically viable for gas companies to develop, as there are much more viable areas located in the Binghamton area and along the border of Pennsylvania.
However, if it were to come to Barrington, Acomb said the town could hypothetically fit 24 five-acre drill pads within its borders. Adding each pad can contain up to six wells, they could be organized in a way so they would fit into Barrington on slopes of less than 15 percent. Acomb said taxes would also initially go up if fracking is allowed in the area due to the need to budget for legal services and additional inspectors.
Acomb went over the well casing failure rate in the 1980s and 1990s, adding "the multiple layers of steel casing and cement provide a very significant protection barrier between the gas in the production tubing and fresh water source behind the conductor casing." He said the failure rate of these casings in Ohio was 0.1 percent, with 12 failures out of 12,000 wells. In Texas, there was a failure rate of 0.01 percent, with 21 well casings failing out of 134,000. Despite the low rate, Acomb said the casings do fail at times and can have significant impacts when they do.
Some of the numbers reviewed during the meeting indicated one in four wells would not be economically successful enough to pay back their production costs, which means the land owners would see little to no money from the gas produced. Acomb said it can take up to 35 days for one well to be completely fracked, adding per well will require an estimated 547 round trip truck trips to and from the site. He added most of those trips would be for fresh water, which would most likely be drawn from Keuka Lake.
Some crowd members expressed concerns of fracking fluid being spilled into Keuka Lake. Acomb said even 5,000 gallons of a concentrated solution of the chemicals were spilled into the lake, it would not have an impact due to the dilution factor. However, he said it would have an impact on the property owners near the spill, who would have to stop taking water from the lake for a period of days or weeks.
One crowd member voiced her disappointment with the committee for not deciding not to allow fracking in the area, but the committee members reiterated they were not charged with coming to a decision. They were appointed by the Barrington town board to research the issue and make suggestions, but it is ultimately up to the town board to decide what action to take.