From Paul Rubin

Good evening,

It was great meeting many of you last night. It was wonderful to have had the opportunity for so many in the community to ask some of the hard questions. Thank you for providing copies of the Fact Sheets I requested be distributed. Between the material I presented and the fact sheets, people should have a serious start on understanding the VERY real and serious concerns relative to hydrofracturing. I put a huge amount of research into documenting all the facts I discussed. Much has been provided in a legal context through the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other groups I and others have conducted work for. While the two Fact Sheets provide much of the important information in a synopsis type format, the rigorous documentation behind much of it may be reviewed in my April 9, 2011 comment report that can be read and downloaded at:

http://hydroquest.com/Hydrofracking/

There are two related files related to this report. One is a text report and the other is a series of figures referenced in the report. I urge you to read it, to carefully review the many industry citations and references provided, and come to your own conclusions relative to the risk you are comfortable taking in West Virginia. While I presented the long-term risks to water and environmental quality, I made sure to bring in a solid flavor of real, short-term, risk as is the daily nightmare of the Dimock, PA residents I chose to use as one of many case examples of adverse impact. Some of the Dimock impacts were realized in far less than one year - both water quality and medical problems.

Below, please read the very GOOD NEWS that is just now coming out in the Delaware River Basin where the Delaware River Basin Commission has now postponed their planned vote on Nov. 21 where they were bent on passing extremely flawed and non-protective gas regulations. In anticipation of this passage by the DRBC commissioners, a number of experts, including myself, have prepared extensive affidavits to stop them from advancing drilling after regulation passage. For now, the pressure exerted on them by concerned and informed citizens is having the needed impact as our lawyers further prepare.

To put all this in perspective, my home and property in NYS (also in the Appalachian Basin) overlie the same gas-rich shales as does Pocahontas County, WVa - except much thicker in places than where you are. So, the concerns I voiced for you also apply directly to me. I don't have the additional karst concerns here, but that is minor in the bigger aquifer degradation/water quality picture. Should there ever be a serious hint that drilling could become a reality near my home and well, as a knowledgeable hydrogeologist, I would sell my property and move to an area where the combination of politics, geology and short-term gas exploitation would not place my family, me, or my real estate investment at risk. Similarly, as a hydrogeologist with much experience in contaminant matters, I consider widespread hydraulic fracturing to be THE greatest environmental risk that we will ever face in our life times.

Please read all that I have written, read what other scientists have documented, mentally review all that I said last night and pause and consider if you might take preemptive actions, as I would by moving if necessary, to protect the best interests of people and water quality in wild and wonderful West Virginia. If this were my community, I would first pull for a moratorium, followed by a permanent ban.

Paul Rubin