What the Frack?

By Rosie Dennis

Fracking rig in Western — Photo by Brad Weaver.

For twenty-some odd years we've spent countless dollars bringing in more and more fracking to the Ohio Valley. We've watched our fields and hills turn into shooting flames, polluting our once darkest nights. Progress surely, yet stained with the fear for the future—a future we are currently enduring, frankly it’s more terrifying than imagined.

I can only speak to the environmentally-minded, GenX state of mind and do not make any claims of being able, or even inclined to tie myself to trees, not once.

I bought all the things that saved whales/tigers/pandas and I always find a trash can. However I remember when fracking was "coming to town" and I remember being afraid of the implications, but also wanting to have a better life. I remember thinking it couldn't be that bad—the environmentalist knew it was going to be bad. However, they seemed to be focused on the wrong things, if such an assumption could be made. They worked tirelessly to preserve some of our ancient Appalachian forests and the life encapsulated, from urban expansion. They built trails and cleaned up the litter from the roads. We all saved freaking whales!

Pull focus back to today. Thanks to technology the lens is better, but nothing beats the 20/20 of a rear-view mirror. Far too often in the last few years we've seen the news zoom in about some problem with the industry, but the real problems are never part of the picture.

Light pollution from fracking site in Jefferson County, OH

If you are lucky enough to live where one has not popped up, consider yourself lucky. The pads are loud! The traffic associated with pads is really unsettling when you live in a tiny town or a rural community. Big trucks, 24 hours a day often speeding or unfamiliar with the roads. Its no longer safe for kids to ride bikes all over. Local roads are being beat down. Wildlife is being pushed into our communities, farms are closing, and once star-filled nights are gone.

Now, we see the secondary problems from toxic threats to the environment and our most vulnerable residents. A local company has recently been accused of leaking radioactive and fracking waste into the Ohio River.  That's not to mention train derailments releasing toxic clouds over our area. The Dayton Daily News reported on the matter. "Ohio, which has one of the country's largest railroad networks, ranks 4th in the U.S., with 281 accidents between 2019 and November 2022.”

Those type of stories make the evening news, but what about the impact on our rental community? The prices of rental units has skyrocketed and become unattainable for a lot of local families. This has, in my opinion, added to the increase in unhoused families throughout the valley. This lends itself to more people in need for all of life's essentials, stressing the relief organizations to their breaking points. There simply are not as many jobs for locals as we were promised all those years ago.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao 

Most of people working in the industry don't live here. They come in for work and take jobs that could be filled by local residents while controlling prices of the local housing market. They don't know our way of life. I find it comical to see the bumper stickers complaining about “immigrants” and then see the manifestation of those stickers on an oil field truck. What the frack?

We can continue to wonder what terrifying things lie ahead for us, off in the fields, burning away decomposed dinosaurs—or we can start to earnestly work to be less dependent on these fossil fuels. We can accept real stewardship of our futures and support leaders who want to find balance our transition into a new era of energy independence. Nothing changes overnight, but a few decades is shorter than we might realize and can impact an unknown amount of our future. The whales are pretty happy we paid attention.

Rosie Dennis

Creative & Community Director

13 Creeks Magazine