We have a potential very serious issue facing Mesquite and much of Clark County called Fracking. On Nov. 12th, 2019, the Nevada BLM will hold a lease sale for 574,075 acres of land in the Ely District. Over 100,000 of those acres are in the East Mormon Mountains and the Tule Desert. The land is just north of Mesquite and will threaten the water that we rely on including Mesquite, Henderson, Las Vegas, the Moapa Band of Paiutes and Clark County as a whole.
On Friday, Nov. 8th, at 11:30 am, I will be, in conjunction with the Moapa Band of Piutes, and the Sierra Club, along with others, will host a press conference outside city hall to denounce the BLM plans to allow gas and oil development in our local Southern Nevada community waters.
I have done considerable research on Oil and Gas development and will give you a brief explanation of why we must stop this now. To begin with it is an ecological disaster to the land. Heavy machinery, trucks, other building and equipment will turn pristine and scenic areas into industrial zones. Frequently the method used to obtain the desired gas and oil is done by Hydraulic fracturing of the earth by injecting millions of gallons of water, plus chemicals and sand underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in the underlying geology to allow natural gas to escape. 90 percent of oil and gas wellS use this method. Hydraulic fracturing fluids contain a variety of toxic chemicals such as diesel fuel, acids and acetone. In addition, hydraulic fracturing can release hazardous substances that are naturally occurring into the environment, such as arsenic, mercury, and radioactive materials. All of these substances present risks to our underground sources of drinking water. Our water! Hydraulic fracturing is exempted from the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. State regulations are, if any, weak and uninforced.
This is just a brief over view of Fracking. It gets worse as you research it, and I encourage everyone who cares about our community to do just that. I will be attempting to meet with the Governor in a few days and seek his help, as well as other officials that represent our city and surrounding communities.
It’s okay to use natural gas as long as it’s produced in another state. We’re starting to sound more and more like our Californian liberal neighbors. I came here from Colorado and we had fracking pretty close by and my water was clean and tasted better than most places. Natural gas is a cheap form of energy and is better than windmills that kill thousands of birds every year. Maybe our Native American should worry about the killing of eagles that is accepted by the government
Agree?
Are you serious? Fracking is extremely safe. Not sure where you did your research, Mr. Mayor, but you need to go back to school!
Agree
Mr. Mayor,
If memory serves me correctly, You, MRBI and the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce just celebrated the coming of natural gas to Mesquite. The lot of you, along with Southern Nevada Gas, stiffed current ratepayers for the cost of the pipeline, and apparently think that fracking (involved in 90% of gas production) is someone else’s problem. Your Group, Mr. Mayor, have been advocating for workforce housing, daycare centers, economic development related tax abatements and other taxpayer supported schemes to lure business to our Town. The BLM is providing the potential for profitable Corporations to settle in the area, employing a highly paid local workforce that won’t need any of those gifts, and you are against it? Please tell us this is just “electioneering” on your part, otherwise, things don’t add up.
I haven’t been one of the mayor’s fans truthfully but he is exactly right about this. I am for energy independence and thankfully we already have it. I am for business growth and thankfully we are in a great period of growth. I have worked in the fracking industry and I have seen the environmental destruction. This is nothing I would wish on my enemies much less my friends and families in this community. Fracking uses up millions of gallons of good ground water and then you are left with millions of gallons of contaminated hazardous waste water that is ultimately dumped back into the ground and will eventually contaminate what little water you have left. Due to my environmental background in this industry I could likely keep my mouth shut and personally capitalize on this new development but I would have a hard time looking my friends in the eye afterwards. Look into Hydraulic Fracturing and its impact on water Resources, this is just one of several reasons why you don’t want this in your community.