Drilling, baby, drilling

Behold the lead story in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer Metro section: Oil and gas drilling in Ohio sinks to low level, but boom expected soon.

For many of us in Ohio, the boom has already begun. Here's what it looked like yesterday about a half mile from my house:



All of the houses in that video were built when municipal laws prohibited drilling in residential areas. A few years ago, state legislation usurped home rule and now you can erect an oil derrick just about anywhere in Ohio.

The regulations governing the wells are strange and convoluted. You have to amass 20 acres of mineral rights (for most wells) in a collective "pool." They have to be contiguous, but that's about it. Hence, a property owner may have no say about a well going in 100 feet from their property line while someone a half mile away is in on the royalty pool. Add the phenomenon of horizontal drilling and things get really twisted. I was obliged to learn about all of it for this in depth feature I wrote in September 2009.

A voice enters the vid at about 1:20, but it's not the fellow walking towards me in the frame. It was a man who pulled up to the intersection of the side street next to where I was recording. The man pictured in the vid, however, seemed a bit miffed by my presence. As I was leaving he yelled this at me:

"This is good for everyone. This benefits everyone."

An operating well a few miles from the one in today's embedded video.

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Gassing on

A couple of months ago, I wrote an in-depth feature about natural gas and oil well drilling in Ohio for Cleveland Scene and a companion blog entry. For anyone who's interested in keeping up with the serious side of Erin, I've written a follow up story to "Drill Baby Drill" for today's paper.

This issue is also garnering attention from other sectors of the media. Our local NPR radio station featured Oil and Gas Drilling in Ohio: Not in My Backyard? this morning on "The Sound of Ideas."

My readers come from far and near, but what is happening here in densely populated areas of Ohio is truly stunning. I urge anyone who's interested in drilling or land owner rights to give this story a read.

Drill Baby Drill ... and drill and drill and drill and drill ...

Last week, Cleveland Scene ran a feature I wrote on urban oil and gas drilling in Ohio. The story unleashed a flurry of online controversy that my editor Frank Lewis wrote about for this week's paper.

As most of you know, I normally write humor and essay. The drilling story was a nice departure that required droves of research and interviews, but the aftermath of comment wars was sure difficult to take at times. I'm getting those tell-tale hang-ups as well. It's funny how people behave.

In the end, I hope the story ignites a few appropriate fires. This issue begs different points of view and plenty of attention.

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Drill Baby Drill

I've written an in-depth feature for this week's Scene: Drill Baby Drill.

I've previously noted on these pages that I worked for BP for years and that my husband is a pipeline operator. I put gas in my car and heat my home with natural gas. Most of us do; and many of us take gas and oil for granted. That changes when an oil derrick is erected next to your house.

Ohio is home to a great deal of oil and gas drilling. There were some 64,000 wells operating in Ohio in 2008. Courtesy of a practice known as "urban drilling" the wells are getting closer and closer and closer to the people--particularly where I live. The Cuyahoga Valley area has long been known for its rich pockets of oil and gas.

My family has lived in and around the Cuyahoga Valley for six generations. My great grandfather's farmland is now part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, so I feel a certain way about this place, from the natural habitats to the industrial underbelly of the city. After all, Dad was a machinist. I grew up surrounded by milling machines and lathes. But the wells? The wells are new.

When you purchase an older home next to an asphalt plant, you know what you're getting into; but when you purchase a brand new home in a suburban neighborhood and someone plops a tank battery and a wellhead next to it, that's a different story. You may hate it; or you may love it--particularly if you're reaping monthly royalties from that hole in the earth.

I urge every Ohioan to read my feature and the companion blog. The same goes for those in other states that condone urban drilling. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts on this topic. You can comment here or on the Scene pages (registration is a breeze), or you may email my editor Frank Lewis.