A rally at the state capitol in early May brought a few hundred people. It was not nearly enough of a crowd to make its voice heard.
Whether anyone has heard of it or not, there exists unequivocal proof concerning the environmental and human health risks associated with horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking). The study on horizontal “Hydro-Fracking” by the Center on Global Change at Duke University outlines all of the contamination of well water from methane and other chemicals that occurred within the parameters of the study.
The Duke study can be viewed here: http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/. There are four links on that page, and I recommend them all; but for clarity’s sake, I recommend starting with the “WhitePaper” link.
The following passage from the white paper epitomizes what environmental advocates mean when we say how dangerous this process actually is: “During the first month of drilling and production alone, a single well can produce a million or more gallons of waste water that can contain pollutants in concentrations far exceeding those considered safe for drinking water and for release into the environment. These pollutants sometimes include formaldehyde, boric acid, methanol, hydrochloric acid, and isopropanol, which can damage the brain, eyes, skin, and nervous system on direct contact. Another potential type of contamination comes from naturally occurring salts, metals, and radioactive chemicals found deep underground. After hydraulic fracturing, fracking fluids and deep waters flow through the well to the surface along with the shale gas.”
The industry claims that water aquifers and wells are not contaminated by fracking wells, yet the Duke study shows with certainty that this contamination exists to an alarming degree. The oil and gas industry is lying about contamination they know to exist, and they are lying on a national level every time you see a commercial that presents natural gas as the “energy of the future” and the answer to the impending energy crisis. I would also like to note that the “foreign oil” we so desperately need to break away from as a way to combat terrorism mostly comes from Canada, to the tune of 2 million barrels a day; not the Middle East as is often stated by elected officials.
That sort of strategic rhetoric is used in a national propaganda campaign to sway public opinion in support of whatever it is the business interests want to achieve. The commercials that appear on CNN contain flat out lies concerning the economic gains to be had for states that allow hydraulic fracturing to occur. While there may indeed be economic gains made (see this recent New York Times article for a strong argument to the contrary), those profits will be headed to straight to the bank accounts of the upper echelons of the oil and gas corporate elite. This projected profit has been estimated by the oil and gas industry as close to one trillion dollars. That’s one trillion dollars.
Even if this turns out to be yet another giant Ponzi scheme, it’s not hard to see the motivation for the fossil industry’s honchos to use all resources at their disposal to achieve their personal economic goals. The compensation for management and ownership is tremendous, just for the fact of having had a controlling interest in the game long enough for it to become a bubble.
One of those resources is money for advertising, as in a series of ExxonMobil commercials that run on CNN an average of five times a day, saturating the public mind space with corporate newspeak. The premise of one of these commercials is that shale deposits such as the Marcellus formation along the Allegheny Plateau in New York State will produce 100 years of economic sustainability and job creation. The truth tells a much different story. According to www.geology.com: “As recently as 2002 the United States Geological Survey in its Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province, calculated that the Marcellus Shale contained an estimated undiscovered resource of about 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas. [1] That’s a lot of gas but spread over the enormous geographic extent of the Marcellus it was not that much per acre.”
The process to extract 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas would most likely not last any longer than five years at most. At that point the well production would be drastically reduced, and extraction phased out, leaving only the effects of the environmental damage to be dealt with by the local residents. Residents who believed they would be fairly compensated for their personal costs, who believed industry claims that their property would be safe from environmental hazards, would be left holding the empty (except for noxious odors, mounting health problems and slashed property values) bag. These people would have believed hydrofracking to be the answer to the state’s economic woes and the country’s energy crisis. In fact the exact opposite is true of this widely publicized and federally supported propaganda campaign for the monopoly of the fossil fuel industry to continue while actively suppressing the expansion and development of alternative energy.
More from the Duke study:
“The potential for contamination from wastewaters associated with hydraulic fracturing depends on many factors, including the toxicity of the fracturing fluid and the produced waters, how close the gas well and fractured zone are to shallow ground water, and the transportation and disposal of wastewaters.”
The Marcellus Shale is a dense, radioactive shale deposit, the force of the water being pumped into the wells is tremendous, and in many circumstances has unintentionally fractured sedimentary formations above the Marcellus Shale. This unintended fracturing has, and will again, send methane into local aquifers. The force of one million gallons of water being blasted into each well will be strong enough to do that, even without support from the bouillabaisse of toxic chemicals being injected to aid in the fracturing of the shale. Again, shale is very dense; much denser than the porous sedimentary rock and sandstone that exists above it in the formation. As these fractures force the methane to contaminate portions of the water supply, people end up dealing with the disastrous health and environmental effects. The undisclosed chemicals used in the process of pumping millions of gallons of water are equally as dangerous due to the potential for seepage and surface spills, and from being captured in evaporating pits, which release the chemicals directly into the air.
The study done by the Center for Global Change at Duke University has shown ample evidence that hydraulic fracturing is a destructive technique that will have untold consequences on local natural aquifers located in upstate New York, as well as the health and well-being of the state’s residents. Natural aquifers that supply well water in various locations around the country have shown 17 times the methane levels found normally in ground water. There are two separate isotope identifiers scientists used to identify methane that exists naturally and methane that has been released into the environment due to hydraulic fracturing.
The argument being smeared all over CNN regurgitates the premise that this will be a boon for local economies, as well as a crucial factor in getting away from the foreign (Canadian, not Saudi Arabian) oil we rely on. As I said previously, whatever economic boom is to be had will be fed to the bank accounts of oil and gas CEOs, not the local communities.
The jobs that will be created will be for extraction and will last approximately three years, according to the estimates concerning the amount of trapped gas to be extracted. That was the initial estimate; this new “100 years of energy” line has been created by the industry to sell the public on the idea this will save us from our energy and economic crises. What they are not telling you is that once the gas supply starts to dwindle down, so too will the jobs, the tax revenue (which will be minimal because industry lawyers know how to circumvent tax codes), and the integrity of the natural environment.
We will most certainly be left with the toxic after-effects of hundreds of millions of gallons of our local water supply being infused with 600 chemicals, to become some sick cocktail of cancer-causing, endocrine-disrupting, nervous-system-stammering sludge. The evidence is out there if you choose to do the research. GASLAND has been a great eye-opener to many people who were previously unaware of just how destructive this extraction process has been to people all over the country.
I suggest we look to alternative energy resources; take the subsidies and tax credits currently being slid under the table to the oil and gas industry and give them to small businesses all over the country that are creating and innovating new ways to produce and utilize alternative energy.
One better idea …
For instance, Thermal Mass Construction Inc. is a Green construction business that has developed ways to utilize geothermal, solar, and thermal mass (insulated concrete) lined with radiant tubing and powered by circulation pumps, to build commercial and residential structures that are 100 percent off the grid for good. The reliance on the ever-shrinking supply of fossil fuels is currently driving prices through the roof. The people at Thermal Mass Construction want to deal with this issue in a way that empowers people and local economies for the long term.
There are 180 million homes in the United States, and they consume a lot of oil and gas for heating fuel. If the building/retrofitting of thermal mass homes became supported by tax credits, subsidies and grants, the existence of millions of homes that are 100 percent self-sustaining would immediately impact the amount of coal we would burn for electricity, and the amount of oil we import and consume for heat. The push to accomplish this would put people back to work building, retrofitting, designing, CAD drawing, assembling, and finishing a completely efficient and sustainable housing stock.
Again, these homes can be built 100 percent off the grid — or as close to that level of efficiency as one’s budget allows. The amount of thermal mass the structure has will determine, in large part, the level of efficiency your heating and cooling system will have. So a home can gain enough thermal mass in the garage, geo-cell, and first floor to sustain a very efficient energy retention system; this allows you to stick-build the rest of the structure.
Thermal Mass Construction can retrofit an existing structure in phases, depending on your budget, and each step you take will garner you a great deal of energy efficiency. This is one answer to the monolithic cataclysm that is the oil and natural gas industry. This concept immediately makes a dent in your personal contribution to the destruction of our natural resources. It takes the money you were paying for electricity, heating and cooling, and within the first month of living in your thermal mass home, puts it into your pocket.
OK, that’s enough personal plugging; thank you for listening.
The truth is, there are many answers to our energy problems that consist of innovative conceptual designs. We don’t often hear anything about alternative energy or green building in the mainstream media. As I have said before and will continue to say, these media outlets (CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS, etc.) are centralized conglomerates that have vested interests that connect to oil and gas in one way or another; don’t look for glowing support from them any time soon.
Yet solutions exist, and it is up to the public to search them out and become educated about sustainability. Drilling for natural gas is not a clean energy alternative to petroleum. It may burn marginally cleaner than oil or coal, but the extraction process, as stated by the Duke study, is toxic and destructive to our collective environment. The industry has greased many paths in New York State on the road to fracking the northwest corridor, but in the end, on the eve of the final Monday in this legislative session in Albany, June 20th, 2011, the fate of our water supply remains unsure. The water withdrawal bill has passed, and if it is implemented and overseen effectively by the gutted staff of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), it may actually protect the New York water supply to a certain extent. However, the DEC has lost 894 employees over the last two years, making it very difficult to oversee much of anything let alone an out-of-control oil and gas industry raping and pillaging our water supply. This issue needs national attention; please learn more about it and contribute your voice.
