I’d like to thank the Anniston Water Works Board for speaking common sense about drilling through Coldwater Springs. Anyone who gets their drinking water from this aquifer needs to understand what’s being debated.
As general manager Jim Miller said, the springs recharge themselves by collecting freshwater from a 125-square-mile area. Any local drilling for natural gas would likely penetrate the top and bottom of this underground aquifer layer. If these unseen seals don’t hold up under untold pressures, the water supply for 80,000 residents and major employers like Kronospan, Honda and Jacksonville State University could be contaminated.
An engineer friend told me, “It’s just a matter of time before these frackers destroy a major aquifer. And when they do, the ‘shale oil revolution’ will come to a screeching halt.” This sounds like the voice of truth to me. As Miller says, “anything man-made can break.”
Given the current level of safeguards and knowledge, somebody’s major water supply is going to be spoiled. Let’s not let that happen to us. Speak out now.
The federal Bureau of Land Management has tentatively scheduled a meeting in Montgomery on Thursday, Sept. 6, to discuss oil and gas leases in the Talladega National Forest.
Susan Di Biase
Jacksonville
