CURRENT RESEARCH The oil and gas industry now enjoys numerous exemptions from provisions of federal laws intended to protect human health and the environment: http://www.nrdc.org/land/use/down/contents.asp The overwhelming evidence given at public lectures, seminars, forums and websites is that unregulated gas drilling is catastrophically bad for the land, hazardous to one's health, the water you drink, the air you breathe, etc., not only for those on whose land drilling takes place, but for the land and aquifer of those unfortunate enough to be close by. From the gas drilling side in response to these issues comes, well, a great silence. There are no forums disputing these claims as farfetched, no websites proclaiming advanced cleanup techniques, no talk of a compensation package for the people unlucky enough to be close to but not a part of the drilling cash bonanza. And as for the bonanza, I have heard that: a) farmers are getting talked into leasing their land below the real market value; b) the royalty stream for most is a trickle, not a flood; c) the word "lease" is misleading, as the land will likely be ruined for long after the lease expires; d) the companies drilling the land would be impossible to sue if they default on terms or royalty payment—no matter how strong the contract, they can outspend the landowner and tie the matter up in the courts for years. Why are we not hearing from the gas drilling companies on these many alarming facts? Why won't they name the chemicals they use and leave in the soil? Are we just supposed to pay taxes and let Sullivan County get despoiled for the benefit of the few that ignore the facts, and a major industry that clearly doesn't care? I hope that our elected officials at local and state levels are going to protect us and take the necessary steps to safeguard the future. I think it's time for representatives at all levels to become proactive in researching the issue and to enforce regulatory measures before they are too late to be effective, and the damage is done. Keith Wood Cochecton, NY ................................... Smiling stranger knocks, paper in hand, fistful of cash, promising wealth and happiness in exchange for your eternal soul. Not sure you have one, you sign. Later, the clause is enforced. Deal soured, you lose all, including your soul, while he cackles gleefully. What's in the small print? Gas drilling will come to our region—proximity to the Millennium Pipeline. Strangers will promise no harm, yet the land will be pierced, punctured, raped and scarred. The quality of life we enjoy will be compromised, and we will be sacrificed to Mammon. Air will be polluted by trucks and noisy drilling. Water will be poisoned by chemicals the strangers deny using. Some will get rich but won't be able to occupy their homes without severe risk to their health. Others won't be paid but will find themselves embroiled in endless lawsuits with gas companies, their neighbors, the government and lawyers, who did not protect them after all. Some will escape. Others will be trapped by diminished property values. Generations will be sickened. Some will die from exposure to pollutants. Disaster can be averted. Drillers need large leased units to drill. Without enough signers, they may go away. People say, "Everyone has their price." I ask, don't they still love this unspoiled paradise? Would they sell their lovers for the right price? Would they sell their children? For a million bucks, would they permit their grandkids to be poisoned? Would they stand by, for the right price, while their neighbors were being choked? We in opposition are too weak to stop this—too much money involved. Politicians won't stop it—conflicting loyalties. Legions of dueling lawyers won't stop it—self-interest. There is only one powerful enough and in position to save us. That's you, pen in hand, contract on the table. Allan Rubin Cochecton, NY ................................... During a 5-year period in Colorado, the oil & gas industry reported 1,435 spills in excess of 5 barrels. The spilled products included crude oil, produced water, diesel fuel, glycol, lubricating oil, hydraulic fracturing fluids, drilling muds and natural gas leaks. 23% of these spills contaminated water sources. The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division has detected and documented 743 incidents of groundwater contamination from oil and gas facilities across the state. The nonprofit group Endocrine Disruption Exchange analyzed 171 products and 245 chemicals used in the gas drilling process in Colorado. They found 92% of the products had health effects covering a vast range of symptoms and disorders. Hydrogen sulfide, a deadly gas, is found at many gas sites throughout New Mexico. In the San Juan Basin alone, there are approximately 375 wells that contain hydrogen sulfide. Naturally occurring radioactive material can travel up a well hole with gas and its byproducts. Decontamination specialists have disposed of more than 378,696 barrels of this radioactive waste in Texas since 1996. On June 7, 2006, employees at Halliburton Energy Services in Farmington, New Mexico spilled 30 to 60 gallons from a 600 gallon tank of acid. This chemical was used for the hydraulic fracturing of gas wells. The spill sent a toxic cloud into the neighboring community resulting in a mass evacuation of 200 residents. There are a number of cases in the U.S. where hydraulic fracturing is the prime suspect in incidences of impaired or polluted drinking water. These cases have been reported in Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and other states. Residents have reported changes in water quality or quantity following fracturing operations of gas wells near their homes. Laura Amos and her family lived in Garfield County, Colorado. In May 2001 while fracturing four wells on their neighbors' property, the gas well operator "blew up" their water well. Fracturing opened an hydrogeological connection between their water well and the gas well. "Immediately our water turned gray, had a horrible smell, and bubbled like 7-Up," she writes. "Tests of our water showed 14 milligrams per liter of methane. . . In the spring of 2003 I became very ill. I spent months in doctors' offices and hospitals. I was eventually diagnosed with . . . a very rare condition of a tumor in my adrenal gland." Although the gas company repeatedly denied it, evidence later surfaced that a fracking fluid, 2-BE had been used for the gas drilling. 2-BE can cause a long list of health problems including tumors of the adrenal gland. "After tons of problems, mistakes, spills and damages, they finally finished the well and pipeline yesterday," an Arkansas landowner, James Weaver, wrote. "My land is a mess. My artesian water well is contaminated. My ponds are still full of their chemicals. My creek is flowing with their chemicals from the west side to the east and down into the City Lake." Dr. Theo Colborn, the author of Our Stolen Future, describes the gas-drilling process as follows: Fracturing of wells is the practice in which millions of gallons of fluids are injected underground, creating a mini-earthquake that facilitates the release of natural gas. The gas industry claims that 70% of the material it injects underground is retrieved. While the fate of the remaining 30% is unknown, the recovered product is placed in holding pits on the surface and allowed to evaporate. This results in many highly toxic chemicals being released into the air, as well as being dispersed into local surface waters. The condensed residues remaining in the pits are taken off-site and dealt with in two ways: (1) They can be re-injected in the ground posing concerns for aquifers, or (2) they can be "land farmed" by which they are incorporated into the soil through tilling. Land farming can release toxic chemicals to the air via volatile substances and dusts, or result in accumulation of mixtures of toxic metals in the soil. If allowed here in Wayne County, this fracturing process would extend a mile or more below the earth's surface into the Marcellus Shale bed. This ancient rock formation extends across the entire length of PA to Wayne County and into Sullivan County as well. Similar beds of shale exist in Arkansas and in Texas where the same deep-bed fracturing process has been underway for many years. Many of these tales of environmental devastation, of few of which are related here, emanate from these communities where the same gas drilling procedures proposed for Wayne County has been taking place. If we think our government is going to protect us, it is unlikely to happen given the current state of government regulations which have been either gutted or rewritten to benefit the gas industry. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations who will live on this beautiful land and depend on its air and water, to protect against this harm that people have suffered elsewhere due to irresponsible, under-regulated gas drilling. Ron Hine Damascus, PA 23-MINUTE RADIO INTERVIEW: http://www.prx.org/pieces/20015 What are the health hazards of gas drilling? Dr. Theo Colborn, author of Our Stolen Future discusses the health impacts to humans, wildlife and domestic animals in areas of gas drilling. She shares with your listeners the truth behind the industry claim that they only use sand, water and soap in the drilling process. She exposes the chemicals they actually use and the extreme heath dangers of these chemicals. Research has documented that 91% of these chemicals are hazardous to health as result of being skin and sensory organ toxicants, respiratory toxicants, gastrointestinal and liver toxicants, neurotoxicants, kidney toxicants, cardiovascular and blood toxicants, immunotoxicants, carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, wildlife toxicants, developmental toxicants and endocrine disruptors. Historically, these chemicals have not been properly handled, causing air and ground water pollution. As air and water are mobile - this affects us all!
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What in your heart of • |
DCS • Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. • P.O. Box 147 • Milanville, PA 18443