Category:deep creek lake
Fracking Opponents Rally As Senate Takes Up Bill
More than 100 Western Maryland business owners and residents held a rally in Annapolis today to call on lawmakers to approve a moratorium on natural gas fracking.
The process is on hold in Garret and Allegheny Counties while Governor Larry Hogan studies regulations drafted by the O’Malley Administration.
Members of the group Citizen Shale want further study, though some want the practice banned outright.
Jess Whittemore, a town councilman in Friendsville in Garrett County, says he believes the underground natural gas drilling will contaminate the water supply, in spite of assurances from the oil and gas industry.
Read More Here: http://www.wbal.com/article/114363/107/fracking-opponents-rally-as-senate-takes-up-bill
Fracking accidents will send tourists to the Shore
If I were to be a responsible Marylander or if I lived in western Maryland, I would think a three-year fracking moratorium would be an extremely good idea. In fact, if I lived in western Maryland and didn’t own mineral rights that made me rich, I would approve a hundred-year moratorium.
I have wondered, a little, about why, with the abundance of American oil and gas again, people think they need to start a new fracking rig right now. Seems it would be better just to relax and wait. Let the grandchildren or the great-grandchildren frack for oil after we are dead and everybody else is pumped dry. They would make real money.
Read More Here: http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/opinion/2015/03/27/different-views-fracking-mason/70579382/
Rascovar: Fracking follies at the State House
For MarylandReporter.com
Shakespeare, as usual, had it right. “Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” That describes the squabbling in Annapolis over hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking.”
It is a phantom issue in Maryland.
Environmentalists and do-gooder legislators are panicked that fracking will mean earthquakes, tainted drinking water, dirty air, despoliation of pristine farmland and other biblical plagues. They want to bar this drilling procedure forever in Maryland.
Never mind that wide-spread fracking has been going on since 1950. In those 65 years, more than one million wells have been fracked, in which a combination of water, sand and chemicals is pumped under high pressure deep into shale formations. This fractures the rock and sends deposits of oil and/or natural gas gushing to the surface.
Low oil prices = No fracking
There’s only a tiny part of Maryland where hydraulic fracturing into the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation is viable — in far Western Maryland, i.e., portions of Garrett County and a bit of Allegany County. The number of farmers who might benefit from oil and gas royalties is very small.
Read More Here: http://marylandreporter.com/2015/03/29/rascovar-fracking-follies-at-the-state-house/
Hello Water! Goodbye Ice!
The ice on Deep Creek Lake is finally GONE! Just another sign that Spring has to be here soon!
Baby boom boosting Maryland's black bear population
A baby boom is boosting the black bear population in Maryland, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
DNR officials estimate that 750 bear cubs were born in western Maryland this season.
As the ice melts on Deep Creek Lake, teams from the DNR are carrying out a rite of spring in western Maryland, tracking newborn black bears.
But before bear biologist Harry Spiker can count cubs, he has to tranquilize the mother bear. Veterinarians give the sedated mother, called a sow, a checkup.
“We look at how healthy the sow is, number of cubs, how healthy they look, and it gives them an idea of the health of the whole population here,” said Ellen Bronson, a senior veterinarian from The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
Read More Here: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/baby-boom-boosting-marylands-black-bear-population/32030480
