Thursday, March 29, 2012

Gas Land

It is the life of a morning reporter.  I rarely get to stray far from home.  First, I'm live in our 5-9 AM morning broadcast, and, usually, again at noon.  I can't travel as far as I would like.   The clock is not my friend.

Back in February, I did get to Susquehanna for a little while.  It was for a story with the aunt of Chris Snee of the Super Bowl winning New York Giants.  It was hit and run journalism.  Get there.  Get the story.  Get out. I saw a lot of things I wanted to photograph, but there was no time.

I vowed to get to Susquehanna County, camera in hand.  Mission accomplished Tuesday morning.  I had an extra day off this week.  It was cold, but clear.  I wanted to get a good look at the gas drilling rigs that now dot the area.

The photo above was taken in Dimock.  Impressions?  The rigs are bigger than they look on TV, and there weren't as many of them as I expected.  It's all relative.  If you feel drilling and fracking is ruining the environment, one is too many.  If you work in the industry, or if you make money from gas drilling, you likely think there should be more.
There was an unusual sight near Montrose-- a mass of flames shooting from the top of something, and it sounded like a jet engine.  I couldn't get close without trespassing, so this was the best I could do.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

Fracking is here, and it's now a fact of life.  We need the gas, and we need the boost to the economy.  We also need to make sure it's done without wrecking the environment in the process.