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May 3, 2010
Candidate Forum May 5, 2010 at 7PM in Rock Cave
The Southern Upshur Business Association (SUBA) is sponsoring a candidate forum Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 7PM at the Banks District VFD in Rock Cave. In attendance will be County Commission, State Senate and House of Delegate candidates. Candidates for U.S. Congress may also be in attendance. The forum will be preceded by a hot dog dinner starting at 5PM. This is a good opportunity to voice your concerns and ask candidates if they will support measures to strengthen drilling laws and regulations to protect our land and our water resources. Some questions you might ask include:
- Would you support legislation requiring landowner notice before the driller or surveyor comes onto the property?
- Would you support requiring drillers to meet face-to-face with the landowner before the permit application is filed?
- Would you support giving surface owners more say in the in planning and executing well site(s) and access road locations on their land?
- Would you support requiring requiring drillers to pay landowners market value for land taken, as opposed to compensating them for its current use?
- Would you support requiring drillers to compensate for total value of the surface owners for the total value of their losses including roads, well site(s), and pipelines and value of adjacent lands?
- Because Marcellus Shale wells require much more water than conventional gas wells, would you support measures to protect our rivers and streams from becoming dewatered by stream withdrawals?
- Would you support public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing?
- Would you support establishing a waste tracking system for all waste leaving a drilling site in order to ensure proper disposal?
These questions would be best directed to candidates for the West Virginia legislature. Congressional candidates could be asked about their support for the FRAC Act and support for funding additional scrutiny and further study by the EPA of oil
and gas exploration, stimulation, and extraction techniques that could result in the contamination of our surface and groundwater.
What concerns you most about the drilling activity in Upshur County? Attend the forum and get the candidate and current office holders on the record. Find out where they stand so you can support those that support West Virginia landowners.
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