by Nick Kyriacou

On April 4, 2017 Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a state-wide fracking ban, ending the years-long debate about whether to permit fracking! While Maryland may have banned fracking within the state, there are numerous pipelines criss-crossing our state that carry fracked gas to Dominion Cove Point LNG export terminal, owned by a foreign corporation, located in Lusby, MD on shores of the Chesapeake Bay.

Currently, foreign corporations are planning to drill pipelines under the Potomac River and we are opposing all new pipelines! In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline is being built as we speakcarrying fracked gas into Maryland. The highly toxic fracking chemicals used to produce fracked gas is poisoning our water, land and air.  

Western Maryland sits atop part of the Marcellus Shale.  In 2011, then-Governor Martin O’Malley commissioned a study to examine the risks of fracking.  Marylanders are worried about noise, air and water pollution, and harm to the state’s thriving outdoor recreation and tourism industries.

Using the results of the research, Maryland Governor O’Malley proposed a set of regulations aimed at protecting air and water, and requiring companies to submit drilling plans and offset leaks with other pollution reductions. The recommended regulations were not finalized before O’Malley left office, and they were never put into effect.

In the absence of regulations, Maryland’s legislature passed a moratorium bill that keeps fracking from going forward in the state until 2017 and requires the Department of the Environment to adopt regulations by 2016.

On October 2, 2014, the University of Maryland School of Public Health issued the 173 page report entitled “Potential Public Health Impact of Natural Gas Development and Production in the Marcellus Shale in Allegany and Garrett Counties.”  The Hazard Evaluation Summary was as follows in likelihood of negative public health impacts:

• Air Quality (high)
• Health care infrastructure (high)
• Occupational Health (high)
• Social determinants of health (high)
• Cumulative Exposure risks (moderately high)
• Flowback and production water related (moderately high)
• Noise (moderately high)
• Earthquakes (low)

The conclusion, as indicated by the Maryland Environmental Health Network and the Chesapeake Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, is that Maryland should not proceed with hydro-fracturing at this time.

The study also examined how community residents perceived and experienced fracking in Doddridge, West Virginia, which has similar demographic and health profiles to Maryland's Allegheny and Garrett Counties.  The findings were that the rapid environmental change brought about by fracking, in areas like Doddridge County, is affecting the physical, mental and emotional health of the residents of the area. This may happen if fracking is allowed in Maryland's Allegheny and Garrett Counties.

If fracking is allowed in Maryland, another concern is the strong potential of the release of methane into the environment.  Methane accounts for 80-95 percent of the makeup of fracked gas and is thought to have a global warming potential of roughly 30 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Emissions linked to hydraulic fracturing, the method of drilling for natural gas commonly known as “fracking,” can be detected hundreds of miles away in states that forbid, or strictly control the practice, according to a new paper published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

Maryland does not need to approve fracking in Maryland and be a contributor to global warming - a true Maryland climate dilemma.