Never Mind the Frigging Environment, Fracking Must GO ON!

Don’t “short-circuit America’s absolute explosion in energy opportunity” —USCC President Donohue

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study on fracking, due to be released in 2014, could be used to justify clamping down on the environmentally disastrous technique, which has caused a surge in U.S. oil and natural gas production, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) President Thomas Donohue.

“This could short-circuit America’s absolute explosion in energy opportunity that is creating millions of jobs,” he told business leaders, warning the rules were hurting the economy and “undermining freedom.”

The counter argument offered by critics of fracking, including numerous environmentalists, is that a major shift to alternative energy sources would create at least twice as many permanent jobs as the fickle fracking industry could ever offer.

Water Contamination from Shale Gas Drilling. Source. Image may be subject to copyright. “The major concern with shale gas drilling is the chemicals used in the process. Because the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, shale gas drillers don’t have to disclose what chemicals they use.”  Gas drilling companies maintain that the gas drilling technique they use, called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is safe. However, based on observation of the drinking water in numerous drilling areas, and the fate of many people who live near the drilling rigs, who are afflicted with serious health conditions, we know that fracking contaminates groundwater with dangerous chemicals.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a messy technique that involves forcing large volumes of pressurized chemical fluids and sand deep underground to crack rocks and free trapped oil and natural gas.

“Many believe it will be the rationalization of new federal fracking regulations before the end of this administration,” said Donohue, reported Reuters.

Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, talks to [retired] Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the kickoff of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership at the chamber in Washington, D.C., June 29, 2011. Public Domain Photo.

The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest business lobbying group in the U.S., and a major force in the national politics.

Related Links

• Texas is Fracked! August 19, 2013
• Two More Quakes Strike North Texas Posted on November 29, 2013
• Significant Radioactivity, Salts, Metals Detected at Pennsylvania Fracking Site Posted on October 3, 2013
• Fracking Fluid Likely Killed Threatened Kentucky Fish: USGS Posted on August 30, 2013
• Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water Posted on May 10, 2011
• Ozone Hole, Fracking and Other Issues Posted on April 22, 2011
• Philadelphia: Public Health Prevails Over Private Wealth Posted on March 26, 2010
• Big Oil Hires Top Environmental Assassins March 26, 2010

[Search blog contents, where it hasn’t been fracked (hacked), for other links on fracking.]

Ozone Hole, Fracking and Other Issues

NY Officials Suspend Fracking

New York officials have suspended all horizontal, high-volume hydraulic fracturing until July,  awaiting safety ruling by environmental regulators.

Chesapeake Energy suspends fracking in Pennsylvania after blowout spills toxic fluid into river

The Chesapeake well spewed thousands of gallons of toxic fracking fluid into a nearby waterway immediately after the blowout on Wednesday, said the Bradford County emergency management officials.

“The company said it still did not know the cause of the blowout a day and a half after it occurred.” More…

Ozone Hole Harming Australians

Climate models developed by Columbia University indicate the impact of the Antarctic Ozone Hole is very strong over Australia.

“The ozone hole results in a southward shift of the high-latitude circulation – and the whole tropical circulation shifts southwards too,” researchers said.

The ozone hole has resulted in rainfall moving south with the winds, they said.

“In terms of the average for [the region], about a 10% [of the] change [is caused by by the ozone hole, ] but for Australia, it’s about 35%,” a researcher told BBC. More…

Related Links

• Philadelphia: Public Health Prevails Over Private Wealth
• Big Oil Hires Top Environmental Assassins
• NY sanity questioned as state plan shale gas drilling
• Kudos to Residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania

• EPA admits water contaminated near gas-drilling sites
• ‘Diarrhea water’

NY sanity questioned as state plan shale gas drilling

The Test of Sanity: Clean Water or Shale Gas?

Never mind their door steps, 9,000,000 New Yorkers could have their drinking water fouled

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  warns New Yorkers about the real threat to their drinking water if they drill for shale Gas.

‘Diarrhea water’. A glass of water taken from a residential well after the start of natural gas drilling in Dimock, Pennsylvania, March 7, 2009. Dimock is one of hundreds of sites in Pennsylvania where energy companies are now racing to tap the massive Marcellus Shale natural gas formation. But some residents say the drilling has clouded their drinking water, sickened people and animals and made their wells flammable. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer. Image may be subject to copyright.

EPA is temporarily halting the drive by energy companies to drill for gas in the state’s Marcellus Shale formation, said to contain enough natural gas to satisfy U.S. demand for at least 10 years, Reuters reported.

“We have concerns regarding potential impacts to human health and the environment that we believe warrant further scientific and regulatory analysis,” reported John Filippelli, chief of the agency’s Strategic Planning and Programs Branch on Wednesday.

“EPA has serious reservations about whether gas drilling in the New York City watershed is consistent with the vision of high-quality unfiltered water supply,” he wrote in .

New York City asked the state to ban shale gas drilling in the city’s watershed last week.

You can’t have your clean water and drill for gas near it, too!

Shale gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” uses toxic chemicals that are known to pollute drinking water wells near the drill sites. AMAZINGLY, fracking is NOT covered by the U.S. Clean Water Act.

Despite the natural gas industry’s denials that drilling poses no risk to drinking water, EPA has previously admitted that  fracking chemicals are in fact contaminating drinking water. According to many reports “private wells near gas installations having water that is discolored, foul tasting, or even flammable because of methane that has escaped from drilling operations.”

“Theo Colborn, a researcher with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who has drawn links between fracturing chemicals and a range of illnesses including cancer, said the EPA report indicates the agency was taking a new look at fracturing in light of growing public concern and media coverage.” Reuters said.

“The natural gas industry can’t keep saying it’s clean,” she said.

An environmental impact statement issued in September by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation recommended  that energy companies be permitted to drill in New York’s Marcellus Shale formation.

“We’re pleased to see that the EPA recognizes what the state so far has not, that gas drilling is entirely inappropriate with in the drinking supply for 9 million people,” said James Simpson, a staff attorney for Riverkeeper, a New York environmental group.

New York City officials have warned the city could be forced to build a $10 billion filtration system if shale gas drilling is allowed.

Background:

EPA admits water contaminated near gas-drilling sites

FEWW wrote:

Now, for the first time ever, EPA scientists have revealed that drinking water wells  near natural gas [and oil] drilling operations contain chemical contaminants. They found dangerous chemicals in the water from 11 of 39 wells tested near the Wyoming town of Pavillion in March and May 2009.  Unfortunately, their report  falls shy of concluding what causes the contamination, though it admits the gas drilling is a potential source.

‘Diarrhea water’

In Dimock, Pennsylvania, drilling for natural gas has clouded the drinking water, sickened people and animals and made their wells flammable.

Isn’t it remarkable that two distant communities, one in Dimock, Pennsylvania, and the other in Pavillion, Wyoming, some 2,668 km (1,658 miles) apart, share a common fate by way of their contaminated drinking water, where the only common denominator between them is gas-drilling activities.

Related Links:

• Residents of Dimock in rural Pennsylvania sue Cabot Oil & Gas Corp

• Big Oil Itching to Drill to the Last Straw
• Exxon Pays Peanuts to the Monkeys
• Magnitude 4.0 quake hits Utah near gas fields
• Oil Drilling Likely Caused Texas Earthquake
• NY Quakes Probably Gas Drilling Related