I love you. Please stop poisoning yourself to heat your house! I have to urge anyone living in Pennsylvania to take the time to read this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html) about natural gas wells in PA. It is terrifying.
In case you absolutely refuse to read the whole article, I have pasted some excerpts below. I promise that these excerpts are not wildly out of context. Instead they give you an idea of the gist of the article.
In case you have been living under a rock in Pennsylvania that is not made of shale, here is a general description of the fracking process:
The [natural] gas has always been there, of course, trapped deep underground in countless tiny bubbles, like frozen spills of seltzer water between thin layers of shale rock. But drilling companies have only in recent years developed techniques to unlock the enormous reserves, thought to be enough to supply the country with gas for heating buildings, generating electricity and powering vehicles for up to a hundred years.
...
But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.This leads to the problem:
With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.
...
The radioactivity in the wastewater is not necessarily dangerous to people who are near it. It can be blocked by thin barriers, including skin, so exposure is generally harmless.
Rather, E.P.A. and industry researchers say, the bigger danger of radioactive wastewater is its potential to contaminate drinking water or enter the food chain through fish or farming. Once radium enters a person’s body, by eating, drinking or breathing, it can cause cancer and other health problems, many federal studies show.
...
Under federal law, testing for radioactivity in drinking water is required only at drinking-water plants. But federal and state regulators have given nearly all drinking-water intake facilities in Pennsylvania permission to test only once every six or nine years.
Last, but not least... in fact very importantly:
In December, the Republican governor-elect, Tom Corbett, who during his campaign took more gas industry contributions than all his competitors combined, said he would reopen state land to new drilling, reversing a decision made by his predecessor, Edward G. Rendell. The change clears the way for as many as 10,000 wells on public land, up from about 25 active wells today.
...
“I will direct the Department of Environmental Protection to serve as a partner with Pennsylvania businesses, communities and local governments,” Mr. Corbett says on his Web site. “It should return to its core mission protecting the environment based on sound science.”
Please excuse my rant, but...
While I have nothing personally against Mr. Corbett, serving as a "partner with Pennsylvania businesses" needs to have its limits! Otherwise, all of the other Pennsylvania businesses, communities and local governments are going to end up losing out! If you are relying on sound science you are going to need data. If you are refusing to collect or look at data, don't call it science! It is simply ignoring the problem.
I have spent a lot of time studying climate change and sustainability, which are massive, global, all-encompassing environmental issues. It is often tough to figure out a solution (and in some cases a cause). In these fields I have shown patience with people that do not quite understand or refuse to believe it.
However, in the case of fracking, I refuse to show such restraint. The whole thing is too straightforward. You are literally pumping chemicals into the groundwater! Then you are taking what comes back out (even more toxic and radioactive chemicals) and sending it through a filtration system (that is un-/under-tested for such chemicals) before dumping these chemicals into our rivers! The cause is obvious, the solution should be, too!
Pennsylvania, please help yourselves by drawing attention to this issue that is affecting every major river basin in our land-locked state!
Thank you,
Sean Diamond
Please note that all excerpts are from the recent New York Times article:
Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
By IAN URBINA
Published: February 26, 2011
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