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The U.S. Forest Service is updating the management plan that will guide land uses in the George Washington National Forest – 24 percent of the land in Rockingham County – for the next 15 years. The GW Forest includes drinking water sources for an estimated 52,635 residents in the the County and the City of Harrisonburg. The entire western portion of the forest in Rockingham County is underlain by Marcellus shale and, under traditional forest planning, could be open to natural gas mining using the hydraulic fracturing process that has been linked to serious water contamination in communities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors and the Harrisonburg City Council directed their top administrators to write U.S. Forest Service officials before an October 5 workshop on forest planning alternatives. The letters ask forest officials for a ban (county) or a moratorium (city) on any hydraulic fracturing gas mining on the forest.
View the letter from Rockingham County (PDF)
View the letter from the City of Harrisonburg (PDF)
View the letter from the City of Staunton (PDF)
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Rockingham Supervisors Consider Gas Mining Near Bergton
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors is considering whether to allow a Houston-based energy company to mine natural gas in the Bergton area. Using a process called hydrofracturing, the Carrizo (Marcellus) company plans to inject high volumes of water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to break down the shale rock formations and release natural gas, with potential for contamination of ground and surface water.
To learn more about this process and the application in Rockingham, click here.
Ask your Supervisor to Take a Sensible Approach to Gas Mining. The County Should:
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Restrict the Carrizo company's special use request to a single, short-term exploratory well, instead of a blanket approval of a long-term, poorly-understood production well.
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Work with state officials, water quality and industry experts to establish responsible practices in Rockingham for natural gas mining; addressing well site locations, wastewater disposal and other considerations needed to ensure that floodplains, groundwater and surface water supplies are fully protected.
Please call or email your supervisor and ask them to implement safeguards to protect citizens, water, agricultural, and wildlife. Click here for your Supervisor's email address or phone number. Not sure which district you live in? Call the County Election Office at 564-3055.
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