Event information: Shale gas follow-up meeting, June 27, Warren, PA
After doing an abbreviated workshop in Oakmont, PA, we traveled north to Warren County for a shale gas follow-up meeting with a group that was trained in March 2018. They are monitoring the Conewango Creek watershed and are members of the Conewango Creek Watershed Association. Follow-up meetings are the perfect opportunity to collect quality control samples from volunteers, review ALLARM’s shale gas database, ALLARMwater.org, and answer any questions that may have arisen since the training.
After just training new monitors at a shale gas workshop, this follow-up meeting was an opportunity for me to hear some of the questions and concerns that can arise after a workshop. It was interesting for me to hear about the different things that people had on their minds. This meeting served as a reminder that the volunteers who monitor know their water best and are most up to date on the different activities in their area. At this meeting, some volunteers mentioned that in trying to educate themselves more on fracking pollution events, they found it difficult to gain full access to scholarly articles and information. I was able to have a conversation with one of these volunteers who felt as though he should have access to research and articles in order to better understand the possible outcomes of a fracking pollution event. I agreed with him and was frustrated that this type of information was hard to access by someone who would benefit so much from it. This conversation was interesting because it made me appreciate being a part of a college more and having access to information constantly. This is a privilege I frequently overlook but was glad to revisit during this meeting.
The Conewango Creek Watershed where this group is monitoring