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Public Input on Fracking

State officials met with Tidewater communities this week who are trying to learn as much as they can about potential fracking on 84,000 leased acres close to the Chesapeake Bay.

Some of the sites are at the doorsteps of  George Washington and Robert E. Lee's birthplaces.

The region may have the most stringent regulatory protections and the commitment of two state officials to protect the area's heritage, but that may not last.

While rural communities here have been working to promote tourism through heritage sites, vineyards and oyster trails, some of the neighbors have been signing leases with the Texas-based Shore Exploration & Production Corporation.

The tiny company wants to flip the leases to big oil companies that can drill the relatively small Taylorsville Basin shale deposit. Holly Harmon is on the Westmoreland tourism council. She's worried fracking operations change the area.

"I don't know if you spent much time out here but you can't go very far before you're walking over a creek, a stream, a river, a pond, a lake, and all of that is what our heritage and culture is and has been since the beginning of our country. We feel that it is imperative that our officials wake up from the oil and gas induced trance, and provide true leadership on this issue. That means following science, not the money."

Molly Ward, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, said the state is concerned with the overuse of the Potomac Aquifer, which potential fracking operations may ask to tap into for the millions of gallons of water needed to break the shale to release natural gas.

"It's something we have talked to the governor directly about and I will actually tell you it keeps folks up at night."

Ward said protecting the aquifer is the reason behind a recent interagency agreement between the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy and the Department of Environmental Quality to further protect the Tidewater. But she and Maurice Jones, Secretary of Commerce and Trade, warned the agreement may not survive after Gov. Terry McAulliffe's administration. She said residents should go to the attorney general to cement local government authority on drilling and fracking.

Meantime, Kenneth Snow, the landman for Shore who has been obtaining leases said people are knocking down his door to lease their land.

"Every time the paper writes a nasty article on us I get ten phone calls from people saying I've got this land I want you to come lease."

Tidewater communities are planning several more informational meetings on the potential for fracking in the area.

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