Cyclone residents expressed their opposition to a proposed injection disposal well at a public meeting at the Hilltop Volunteer Fire Hall last night.
Catalyst Energy, Inc., wants to convert a gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone into an injection disposal facility, bringing fracking waste from across the state into Cyclone to be reinjected into the depleted well.
Resident Jeff Eschbaugh expressed concern for the effect on the City’s water wells, remembering prior mishaps at the site.
“Well, they they ruined the Bradford third sand here, putting 1200 pounds of pressure on this. So we don’t even know where all the fissures and stuff are at down there, where the stuff is going to go. But you’re putting twice as much pressure on it as they did back in the 50s. And they were doing that back down here when Pennzoil was running the injection and our water smelled like sulfur.”
One resident brought a Tidewater Map of the City from 1937 which showed the City peppered “like buckshot” as he said, with abandoned wells, saying that a simple miscalculation could contaminate the entire City.
“It only has to go 2000 feet up to get in. This is the porcupine. It can go anywhere it wants to go because everybody here’s got a hole in their backyard that they don’t even know about.”
As the meeting proceeded, tempers began to flare, with one resident asking Catalyst’s owner “I’m asking you as the owner, what are you gonna do? Not follow the regs. I want to know what you personally are gonna do to fix my water when you *** it up. ”
DEP approval of the project is still pending.