The document discusses hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and its implications for a rural landowner in Ohio. It provides background on the fracking process and its controversy, noting debates around economic benefits versus environmental and health risks. The landowner's neighbor signed a gas lease for $4,000 per acre, and the document explores factors for the landowner to consider, like revenue, jobs, and uncertainty around long term impacts. It summarizes different stakeholder perspectives and the complex, uncertain research landscape around fracking.

1. To Frack or Not to Frack:
A Workplace Issue
By Greg Byerly,
Ace Employee

2. Scenario
• My new boss owns a cabin and 20+ acres in rural Carroll
County in Ohio. His neighbor called and told him that a
drilling company wants to buy the oil and gas rights to the
land under all of the cabins in their community.
• He’s already noticed that some wells have already been
drilled in the area. It involves something called “fracking” and
apparently involves some sort of horizontal drilling.
• Beta Oil Inc. has offered $4,000 per acre for the gas and oil
rights. Many of the other cabin owners have already signed a
contract. There will also be annual royalties. Alpha Oil has
only paid $2,000 per acre.
• His neighbor says, “they can get your gas even if you don’t
sign a contract, by drilling horizontally under your land – so,
you might as well get the money!”

3. Example: Topic *“Gas Drilling”+ [continued]
• Beta Oil Inc. has offered $4,000 per acre for the gas and oil
rights. Many of the other cabin owners have already signed a
contract. There will also be annual royalties. Alpha Oil has
only paid $2,000 per acre.
• My boss’ neighbors say, “they can get your gas even if you
don’t sign a contract, by drilling horizontally under your land –
so, you might as well get the money!”
• He also told me, confidentially, that the company also owns
over 500 acres of land in another part of Carroll County….
• He asked me, as a recent college graduate, to do some quick
research on oil and gas rights, drilling, leases, etc. He wants
to know if it’s worth pursuing or thinking about.

4. RESEARCH QUESTION
Should rural landowners sell or lease
their mineral rights to permit drilling for
gas and oil using fracking?
What are the potential impacts -- short
and long-term, good or bad -- on the
environment, energy independence,
agriculture, the community?

5. What is “Fracking”?
How Does it Work?
• According to the EPA, hydraulic fracturing (commonly known
as fracking) is a well stimulation process used by the oil and
gas industry to extract underground resources (such as oil,
natural gas, geothermal energy, and water).
• “Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water, sand, and some
trace chemicals under high pressure into a completed
wellbore to create fissures in relatively impermeable geologic
formations such as shale.
• The fissures allow oil or natural gas to flow into the well. The
sand props the fissures open, preventing the resealing of
pathways.
• Combined with horizontal drilling at depths of one to more
than two miles below the earth’s surface, hydraulic fracturing
has unlocked vast stores of natural gas.”

6. Why is Fracking being used?
Where is being used?
• Fracking is a new way to get
gas and oil from geological
formations (e.g., Marcellus
Shale) that earlier methods of
drilling could not reach.
– It utilizes “horizontal
drilling.”
• Originally done in Oklahoma
and Texas by Halliburton
starting in the 1960s, but
recently has expanded into
other states, most notably in
Marcellus Shale in New York,
Pennsylvania and Ohio.

7. Why is it so controversial?
• Extremely divisive issue
– Big companies vs. environmentalists
– Need for energy vs. potential harmful effects
– Previous accidents and disasters
– Impact on rural communities and farms &
agriculture
– Large amounts of money involved

8. Fractured State of Fracking Today
Government Studies/Agencies
Industry
Proponents
Government
Proponents
PUBLIC
OPINION
Anti-Fracking
Groups

9. Industry Proponents
• Economic Growth
– Benefits local economies
– Tax revenue for local, state, and national government
• Jobs & Employment
– High-paying jobs for Americans
•
•
•
•
Lease payments and royalties for land owners
Energy Independence
Natural gas is environment-friendly
Drilling is safe

10. Industry Proponents
Videos Worth Viewing & Websites to Visit

11. Anti-Fracking Groups
• Environmental Concerns
–
–
–
–
–
Ground water pollution & water contamination
Mishandling of waste water generated by fracking
Chemicals used reach the surface, containment pools leak
Lower air quality
Possible cause of earthquakes
• Health Concerns
– Polluted drinking water
– Possible arsenic contamination and radiation risks
• Impact on rural communities and farms & agriculture

12. Anti-Fracking Groups
Videos Worth Viewing

13. Government Proponents
• Revenue!
• Jobs!
Over the next four years, shale is expected to create more
than 200,000 jobs in Ohio and bring in nearly half a billion
dollars in additional revenue to the state.
-- Rob Nichols, Spokesperson for Ohio Governor Kasich
Ohio is not going to walk away from a potential industry.
-- Ohio Governor John Kasich

14. Government Studies/Agencies
• In 2004 the EPA concluded that fracturing presented "little or
no threat" to drinking water.”
• In 2010 Congress directed the EPA to “study the relationship
between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water”
– EPA noted: “Serious concerns have been raised by citizens and
their representatives about the potential impact of hydraulic
fracturing on drinking water, human health and the
environment. These concerns demand further study. “
– A Study Plan was released on November 3, 2011. Initial study
results are expected by the end of 2012, with an additional
report in 2014.

15. Government Studies/Agencies
Conflicting, Contradicting and Non-Conclusive
• Energy Department vs. Environmental Protection Agency
• Oil & Gas Industry vs. Environmentalists
– Lobbyists vs. Lobbyists
• State Regulations & Laws vs. Federal Regulations & Laws
• Local vs. State
• Farmers Rural Communities vs. Urban & Suburban

16. Carroll County (Ohio)
TRANSFORMATION

17. Carroll County (Ohio)
“As drillers strike gas, sleepy Carroll County braces for
boom times” [Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 23, 2011]
• “The state's much-anticipated natural gas boom is no dream
in this rural county south of Canton's Stark County. Not with
three producing wells and hundreds more foreseeable. Not
with men in cowboy hats traversing the town square. Not with
130-foot-tall steel derricks aglow at night like some Cedar
Point thrill ride lost in the countryside.”
• "Where else are you going to find a job working six months a
year making one hundred grand?“
• “Carroll County -- a staid farming community of 30,000 -stands to see about $1 billion in new investment if the rosiest
scenarios come true. “

18. Fractured State of Fracking Today
Government Studies/Agencies
Industry
Proponents
Government
Proponents
PUBLIC
OPINION
Anti-Fracking
Groups

19. Roll the dice?
Take the money?

20. RESEARCH QUESTION &
CONCLUSION
Question
• Should rural landowners sell or lease their mineral rights to
permit drilling for gas and oil using fracking?
Conclusion
•
Having evaluated the potential impacts -- short and longterm, good or bad -- on the environment, energy
independence, agriculture, the community, I believe
landowners can ethically and appropriately lease their
mineral rights and permit gas companies to use fracking to
extract dry and natural gas from beneath their property.

21. Rationale
• Impacts are unknown
– Studies need to be done. The EPA is undertaking a
significant study, to be completed in 2012.
• Government will regulate, courts will decide
– Based on studies and environmental agencies
– Forced by popular opinion
• Leases represent possibilities, not actions
– Regulations can stop, delay, and enforce safety and
environmental protection standards

22. Research Process
1. It was first necessary to get a certain level of background
information.
– This required using online or web-based dictionaries, encyclopedias,
as well as doing basic Google searches. Fortunately, simply using
“fracking” as a search term was generally all that was needed to find
relevant information on both sides of the issue. However, in some
cases it was useful to also include geographic locations (e.g., fracking
Ohio”) or qualitative expressions (e.g., fracking stop*).
2. Since this is a very current topic, it was necessary to find the
most recent information.
– Whether searching for books, articles, websites, statistics, or other
information it was necessary to limit the results by date and, in some
cases, by type (e.g., to find videos, maps, pictures, statistics).
– There have been very few books or refereed articles written on
fracking.

23. Research Process [continued]
3. Evaluating the information found was very important, given
the controversial aspects of fracking.
– The websites of the oil and gas companies tended to extol the
benefits of fracking. These same companies have also frequently
created separate web pages promoting the safety record of
fracking (e.g., Chesapeake Energy’s GreenFrac™ website).
– Similarly, the environmentalists’ websites are often rants against
fracking and frequently to not cite sources for statistics or
acknowledge the factual inaccuracy in some claims.
• Videos, often available on YouTube, were both particularly
good resources to learn about fracking, and often biased on
one side or the other.

24. Resources Used
• I used OhioLINK, WorldCat, and Amazon.com to try to find
books. It was too current of a topic to final many books,
especially in libraries.
• I primarily used EBSCO Academic Complete to find articles.
Most were from popular or newsmagazines.
• Most materials and information were found on the web,
primarily by using Google. I did use Wikipedia, as well as
online encyclopedias available through OhioLINK .
• I used FedStats.gov and USA.gov for background information
and statistics, although these were not used in the
PowerPoint (articles provided the statistics needed).
Note: A separate annotated bibliography is also provided.