As a surprise to most of us, gas bearing shale underlies much of the state of Maryland. Specifically, the Taylorsville Basin runs northeastward from Richmond to Annapolis, under Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert, St. Mary’s, and Anne Arundel Counties. In Pennsylvania and other states, hydraulic fracturing of natural gas (fracking) has endangered health by polluting drinking water and has lowered property values.
Fracking refers to the process of extracting natural gas and/or oil from tight rock formations below the surface using fluids, gases, chemicals, and proppants at high pressure to break apart and release hydrocarbons present in the rock. This includes activities ancillary to this process such as lateral or non-linear drilling, wastewater storage, and other well stimulation methods such as acidization. To read more about the background of fracking, please visit the Sierra Club national website here.
On Thursday, October 29, the Transportation, Housing, and Environment Committee of the Prince George's County Council held a public briefing to consider proactively banning fracking to protect our health and livelihoods. Prince George's County Sierra Club members attended to testify on behalf of banning fracking within the state. Here are some of the main outcomes from the meeting:
All three of the Committee members present were receptive and seem to be in support of the ban
Several were not aware of the possibility of fracking in the county
The Committee members were interested in the impact of fracking on the environment, health, water quality, and wells.
To read the testimony of Pringe George's Sierra Club for the ban on fracking, click here.
To get involved in Prince George's County contact Martha Ainsworth (martha.ainsworth@mdsierra.org), or Zack Gerdes (zack.gerdes@mdsierra.org).
To read more about gas basins on the east coast, click here.