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Silt Residents Rally Against Gas Drilling in Town

by KREX News Room

Story Created: Oct 2, 2010 at 6:22 PM MDT

Story Updated: Oct 4, 2010 at 3:40 PM MDT

A Silt Mesa resident has turned her property into a veritable billboard, protesting the gas pads that have begun springing up near her home with little to no warning.

“One day, this convoy of trucks just starts rolling through,” Beth Strudley said, standing outside her home and motioning to the new gas pad in the distance. “They started drilling and after 11 days, they were already ‘fracking’. That’s how quick they were.”

It was just the first of several gas pads Denver-based Antero Resources would start constructing in the area. In response to Antero's operations in her backyard, Strudley began putting up large signs all over her property. A large white banner proclaiming, “Antero is going to poison our water,” with an ominous black skull and crossbones sits in her front yard. Smaller signs that say, “We are terrified of what Antero is doing to our water, air and land!” stand next to the street. The messages “FRACKING KILLS” and “ANTERO=POISON” hang in the windows.

“I’m going to protect my family no matter what,” Strudley said. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll tell my message to whomever I can, and hopefully someone will listen.”

Strudley says it didn’t take long for her family, neighbors, and even herself to become seriously ill from the gas pad. She says for the past two weeks, flames reaching 50 feet high have been spewing from on of the pad’s apparatuses.

“It smells like burnt chemicals,” Strudley said. “I don’t know what they are, but they stink. We get really scratchy throats, really sore eyes, and rashes from it. One of my neighbors is so sick she can’t leave the house.”

Strudley says her family immediately stopped using tap water when the first Antero truck arrived. The family has instead been living off of delivered water jugs and even installed an expensive new cistern to start hauling in water.

Strudley says soon after drilling began, Silt residents received a letter from the town warning them that their drinking water was contaminated with high levels of a chemical called total trihalomethanes. The letter says TTHMs form as a result of adding chlorine to drinking water.

“We were at a lecture this past weekend and found out sometimes gas companies inject chlorine into the ground before they frack,” Strudley said. “I don’t know why, but we just thought it was very coincidental that this letter came out right before Antero started fracking.”

Now Strudley is rallying neighbors on the Silt Mesa along with residents in Battlement Mesa, where Antero has also started building well pads near homes. Strudley has even ordered t-shirts and pins--anything, she says, to get her message out.

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Anonymous said on Wednesday, Oct 6 at 7:29 AM

Cont... So the odds are that you're going to get sick, and perhaps even die. Then who is going to look after your family? It certainly won't be the gas company, they will move on to their next phase of destruction. The gas company employees all have to sign waivers of non-disclosure, in case they leave or get fired. So, when there is a serious accident on a rig, why can't the companies dial 911? They have to call their gas company they work for, and wait for them to come out and make an assessment! WTF?? Do they have medically certified personnel that can deal with severed limbs, or other serious injuries? I worked at Sammy's in Rifle for a long time, and we used to get the big wigs from the gas companies in there, and they would live it up big, every night we were open. One night they were telling us of an employee that got smashed in the head by something on the rig, but died before they could make a decision on what to do. We asked Richard, if this happened a lot,..tbc

Anonymous said on Tuesday, Oct 5 at 4:34 PM

I guess the Strudley's don't use gas to warm their houses or gas for their vehicles because that would be hypocritical, right? How do you expect a man to provide for his family without an income? I hope you think about it everytime you flick on your heater or drive your car!!!!! But please don't lose sleep over it because it doesn't affect your family right??

Unemployed because of people like you said on Tuesday, Oct 5 at 11:40 AM

The Strudley's and their neighbors are completly over reacting. I think she needs to have power shut off from her home and not be able to purchase gas or diesel for her and her families vehicles. Do these people not realize that it is a necessity to drill and have our own resources. The work in garfield county had gone down because of people like this. Driving the economy down and forcing people to leave the area in search of work. Driving property values down. the natural gas work in the area creates so many jobs and the entire area is going downhill quick because people dont want drilling

Anonymous said on Tuesday, Oct 5 at 10:52 AM

Honestly, in today's economy, you are attacking the livelihood of your community. Would you rather everyone around you live in poverty? How much business has Antero and other gas companies created for people in th valley Maybe if Strudley had mineral rights to her land, she wouldn't be so bitter because she would be getting paid. My advice is for her to do some real research and stop faking illness to get her point across. Of course there are risks, like with every job on the planet. I bet she drives a real gas hog too!!! Way to boycott!! Get informed of the actual regulations in place to prevent harm to residents.

Beth Strudley said on Sunday, Oct 3 at 10:33 PM

Thank you John and Lindsey for helping us with our message. You did a great job! There are so many more experiences of others with incredible stories to tell you guys! I had three more new stories call me today! People that have been afraid to speak out. Don't be afraid, this is our valley, not Anteros!! How dare they come in and pollute our environment. How can they live with themselves? Now, sadly, that people are sharing stories of friends and family members dying, the gas companies, and others, need to be accountable. The more people that share, the better. I had a terrified Garfield County employee call me today, and share their story, that is horrendous! You won't believe some of the stories! Can't wait for KREX to get them out! Thanks again you guys! You rock!!

Battlement Mesa Supporter said on Saturday, Oct 2 at 9:14 PM

I applaud people like the Strudleys for having the courage to stand-up to big oil and gas. We need more people willing to take a stand to protect the public health and environment from this hazardous industry and complicit politicians. Wake up people, it could be happening in your neighborhood next!

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