WV Frack Fields Flyover, Part 3: #Fracking Activity and the Fate of Mobley, Wetzel County, WV

(This is the third in a series of blogs about our May 10 Marcellus Shale frack fields SouthWings flyover of Doddridge, Wetzel and Marshall Counties. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.)

Now we are above what is left of the community of Mobley in Wetzel County, as assorted fracking-related activities (such as gas processing facilities [see photos below], pipelines and their pig launchers, clustertrucks [AKA lots of big truck traffic on narrow, winding country roads], and silica spewing into the air during fracks at well pads) have nearly driven the community to extinction.

Below, the Mark West gas processing facility.  

Below are some shots from May 9, when Bill Hughes and I took a ground tour of the Mobley area.

Below, the plank on posts once held multiple mailboxes for homes in the area. The mailboxes, like the homes are now gone. The mailboxes that remain are for two EQT gas facilities. 

Below, a close up of emissions (visible in the blurred-vegetation) coming out of a stack at the operation above.

Near the abandoned home above, are the flagged trees, below. The flags mark where another pipeline would be built.