Aug 23, 2017 2 min read

I was glad to see the Pennsylvania State Senate approved a severance tax on the natural gas industry. Whatever the amount is, it’s not enough.

Needless to say, I am not a big fan of fracking. I live about a quarter-mile from a Range Resource well. My neighbors and I have been subjected to 24-hour noise from heavy equipment, trucks, the constant hum of drills, banging pipes, and country music blaring from speakers.

We’ve also had to put up with the smell of sulfur or something they have released into the air, and it’s so bad it makes you neauseated, and it has aggravated some of the health issues of my neighbors.

They have destroyed the peace and tranquility of living in the country. We cannot enjoy sitting on our porches, or in our yards for picnics, because of the noise and never knowing when they are going to release something in the air. If we do go outside, we need to wear earplugs. Basically, we have to stay in our homes with the windows closed and the volume of our radios and televisions turned up.

We bought our homes to enjoy the quiet of country living. I guess you could say that we’re paying property taxes so Range Resources and the owner of the property where they are drilling can make money and destroy our way of life.

To be fair, Range Resources has offered $750 to some nearby homeowners. Unfortunately, $750 does not go very far if someone wants to get away from everything that has been going on for the past year-and-a-half, and will be continuing.

What the company does not seem to understand is the constant hum of a drill does affect our health. What they are doing is similar to what a prisoner of war goes through during torture.

Everybody who works or goes to that site can do one thing that we can’t – we can’t go home after eight hours to peace and quiet.

Gerald Boling

Eighty Four