Canfield resident urges caution over gas well

An engineer advises against drilling a well at the school.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- The school board should be careful when considering whether to allow a gas well on the C.H. Campbell Elementary School property, a resident urges.
Thomas Zurawick, of Bradford Drive, told the board at its Wednesday meeting that he took issue with a description of the proposed location as a "remote area."
A story last month reported the school district's business manager Rich Archer as saying the well would be in a remote area of the property.
"I can guarantee you that there is no remote area in the middle of this residential area and certainly not on school property," Zurawick said.
He is a registered professional engineer in Ohio and was involved with the drilling and operation of the first gas wells in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, he said. He said he also was a sales representative for Gasearch Inc., a corporation that drilled most of the gas wells in this area.
He was a school board member from 1988 to 1991. During that time, he said, a contract for a proposed gas well at the high school property held the school board liable for property damage or injuries from a fire or an explosion. That well was never drilled, but another well was drilled later on the hill behind the high school's parking lot.
What public should know
If the board does decide to go forward with the well, he said, the proposed contract should be made available to the public.
He said area residents should be aware that drilling will mean huge, heavy equipment for clearing, removing trees, building slag roads and hauling. He said there will be 10 days of continuous noise, and unsightly steel cyclone fences around oils tanks, the well head and production units. He said expansion of the school also would be hindered.
Archer had said last month at a special board meeting that the district could see 250,000 from the well in free gas and royalties over 20 years.
Breaking that down to 12,500 a year, Zurawick said, it's not enough to even pay a part-time janitor.
Board members and administrators said they are only exploring the idea at this point and thanked Zurawick for his comments.