Concerns about water pollution from natural gas companies’ fracking operations are well documented, but have you heard about the fallout for the homes of low-income residents in Pennsylvania?
Mother Jones reports that 32 families are being forced out of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park in Jersey Shore, Penn., after hydraulic fracturing company Aqua America bought the property. Residents were notified in late February that they had to leave the trailer park by May 1. Families were offered $2,500 if they got out by April 1 or $1,500 if they moved by May 1, but lawyers later estimated that it cost $8,000 to $10,000 for each family to move.
Some residents reluctantly took the money and left, but others fought back, ultimately building a blockade against incoming construction vehicles in early June. Volunteers, including Occupy Cleveland activists, joined the effort.
Construction has now begun, but seven families remain on site, negotiating with Aqua America for compensation.
Aqua America intends to use the site to pull three million gallons of water a day from the Susquehanna River. And that’s less than a tenth of the total water use that the fracking industry is expected to use once it’s fully up and running in the region.
The fracking industry uses large volumes of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, to crack rock formations and extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Environmentalists and many residents of the area worry that the dirty water that results from the process is polluting groundwater and threatening local people’s health.
Riverdale residents and their supporters have created a website, Save Riverdale Mobile Home Park, to share information about their situation. A relief fund has so far raised $4,620 to support the fight.
Main photo credit: Save Riverdale/Flickr