CHARLESTON — Horror stories on the ill health effects that surfaced in a recent summit are a major concern of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition in its quest to gain strong regulations in this legislative session on Marcellus shale gas drilling.

So far, two proposals have been crafted, but OVEC’s project coordinator, Carol Warren, doesn’t feel either meets her group’s goals to protect the public.

For now, Marcellus shale drilling has been confined to the Northern Panhandle and some parts of north-central West Virginia, but Sen. Mike Green, D-Raleigh, feels the process ultimately will move into Raleigh and Fayette counties.

Green says he is confident the committee he chairs, Senate Energy, Industry and Mining, can reach a compromise bill that will satisfy both the environmental concerns and the needs of industry.

At a recent gathering sponsored in Pittsburgh by the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP), Warren recalled that many residents of Texas and Arkansas where such drilling has occurred for some time told of the damage done to the public’s health from emissions associated with the industry.

“These people just had horror stories about the health effects,” Warren said, as she prepared to attend an interims committee Monday in Charleston.

“That’s the one thing not even being talked about here, the health effects to people. Air emissions apparently are a substantial factor in causing people to be sick in Texas from the stories we heard and also in areas like Wyoming.”

Scientists have discovered some of the chemicals involved in the drilling have turned up in the blood of residents.

“In some people, up to a dozen chemicals are being found in their blood from air emissions,” Warren said.

“And we’re not even talking about the regulations of air emissions or the cumulative effect of air emissions here in West Virginia.”

What is on the table in talks for now are concerns over water withdrawal because of the hydro-fracturing, or “hydro-fracking” as it is commonly known, that demand millions of gallons per “frack,” and there must be a source of water in the process.

“Folks are worried about large, large amounts of water repeatedly being removed from our streams, resulting in not enough water to municipal water supplies or making the level of rivers very low at times when they aren’t usually low,” Warren said.

“Right now, water withdrawals are only required to be reported if they’re over a certain amount. They don’t actually have to ask permission to withdraw the water. They just report it after the fact.”

If such operations aren’t conducted near a source of water, the companies rely on large trucks to haul it in.

“That’s another problem for a lot of people because you’ve got these huge trucks on small country roads taking very heavy loads of water to and from these sites, and it has a very bad effect on the roads,” Warren said.

What’s more, the presence of such vehicles on country roads could pose a potential traffic hazard to folks unaccustomed to sharing the asphalt with them, she said.

“And there are several hundred chemicals that are known to be used by the companies from time to time,” Warren said.

“Some of them are quite toxic. These are being put into the ground and not all of the water that is put into the ground comes back out. But there’s a good amount that does. So the disposal of that water is another concern for the people. Where are they taking it? Is it being treated? It comes out very briny. We heard about salt being present in it and having a bad effect on the mechanisms that some water treatment plants that were taking the solution. And now, most of them are not taking it any more.”

For some landowners, any drilling process needs additional regulation, since companies are only required to give a 15-day notice for public comment, Warren said.

“These drilling operations take up about five acres,” she said.

“The drills are huge. There are lights. There is noise. There is the real possibility of pollution and considerable disturbance to the surface. You have to dig pits to keep the production waste in for a while until they can truck out.”

While the industry doesn’t have carte blanche, since some existing regulations are in force, “the Marcellus shale drilling is a completely different animal,” Warren said.

“We’re not regulated properly to take care of the concerns with that,” she added.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com