The practice of hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a method to release natural gas and oil from beneath the surface. It is used when other methods are too costly and impractical. But it has its consequences.
It requires large amounts of water in addition to sand and chemicals to be pumped into wells, sometimes to depths of 8,000 feet, in order to release trapped gas and oil deposits. But all of that fresh water is now contaminated and it can then leech back into the aquifers further destroying precious potable water supplies.
One method that may be considered instead, is to provide desalinated sea water for fracking instead of fresh water from the streams and rivers. If the salt is t hen returned to the seas, it may offset some of the reduced salinity caused by glacier meltoffs, that have further contributed to the changing chemistry of the world's oceans.
Many places are beginning to suffer from the practice of fracking, and yet the EPA is continuing its "study" of the problem. Apparently it is most cost effective to the drillers and the energy corporations, but it is devastating to whole communities, which I see as being of primary concern in light of what serves the highest good of all concerned.
For too long, the concerns of the people have been secondary to the profits of the corporation. That is not what our government is supposed to be protecting. The government of the people, by the people, is FOR the people, not the corporations and so WE THE PEOPLE must step up and make the changes required to keep us all safe.
I think we need a different angle of approach. You and I and many others are concerned with the environmental impacts as much as we are the human costs (and yes, they're often very closely linked,) but the sad truth is that if most people aren't directly at risk, they'll ignore the problem.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't already seen it, I suggest watching Gasland, and screening it for others. It provides the hard data we've been trying to share pretty succinctly. It's ~1.5 hours of concise facts, faucets being lit on fire, anecdotes of the health problems and water contamination near operations, and lots of "clean, safe" drinking water samples paraded before the camera.
Carcinogens, Neurotoxins, and liquid plastics are not something you want pumped into the ground water or vaporized in your neighborhood.
I think if we start telling neighbors, friends, strangers the concrete facts, the health risks, we can start a serious social wildfire. Health and clean water are concerns that transcends all ideological, religious, and other divisive boundaries.
No one wants contaminated water, brain damage, or the myriad of health problems that come along with Fracking operations.
But I'm preaching to the choir. Have you talked to neighbors? Do you have the facts and numbers? Have you written to pertinent state legislators?
In reality the EPA's hands are tied and many state Environmental agencies have been disabled by budget cuts and layoffs. We need to mobilize the people, those that haven't yet been silenced by pay
Let me know if I can direct you to any resources.
Thanks for starting to raise your voice.
-rigel