LEWISBURG — Ramifications of natural gas drilling into the mile deep Marcellus Shale — economic and environmental — are being studied by about 15 members of the League of Women Voters of the Lewisburg Area.

Leagues across the state were asked to do the same by their state office and complete reports by March. The state office will analyze the comments and look for a consensus, according to Lewisburg league member Ann Heath, facilitator for the local group.

At the group’s regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, members will hear Bucknell University geology major Molly Pritz present background on the issue. Her talk will be at noon in La Primavera Restaurant, Route 45. The public may attend.

Pritz works closely with Bucknell professor Carl Kirby. He said this week the new form of drilling used to access this deep source of gas creates environmental concerns that have not been adequately investigated.

Permitting, drilling go on

“The permitting and drilling goes on apace,” Kirby said, “while the regulators attempt to keep up with an overwhelming workload.”

Marcellus Shale lies under more than half of Pennsylvania, most of West Virginia and a portion of western New York state. It is densely compacted, which is why the gas has stayed there for 400 million years, Pritz said. The air, water, land and wildlife consequences from drilling could be far reaching.

According to geology.com, production of commercial quantities of gas from the shale requires large volumes of water to drill and hydraulically fracture the rock. A mix of undisclosed — because they’re proprietary — chemicals are needed in the hydrofracking process.

It is known that these chemicals are highly toxic, said Pritz, whose senior thesis is on the geochemistry of frack water. Altough the gas drilling companies won’t tell her what’s in the water when it goes in, she has been able to obtain samples of what comes out. The samples, however, are diluted by the earth’s natural subsurface water and earthly brine.

Truck manifests tell tale

By watching in-coming truck manifests elsewhere, Theo Colborn, an independent Colorado scientist, has identified 300 chemicals in the mix, according to Scientific American magazine.

Pritz is confident the frack water, once understood, can be treated to be made safe. The greater risk, she said, is from frack water that leaks, untreated, into aquifers, possibly from underground fissures, and frack water that is accidentally spilled from trucks hauling it.

Geology.com explains that hydrofracking is done by injecting water or gel under very high pressure into an isolated portion of a well bore. The high pressure factures the rock and pushed the fractures open. Millions of sand grains are then forced into the fractures to keep them open so the gas can flow into the well.