Fracking poses hazards to human endocrine systems

[caption id="attachment_21954" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fracking site[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---“I'd just move out. I figure I'd have enough money to do that. So no problem,” was the answer a rural landowner gave to a journalist's inquiry about the impact of “fracking” on his land in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana and the future of that land, including the potential for water contamination and other environmental issues.

That response from the landowner, however, overlooks an important issue. Even those who move away from the area, collecting their money or “rents” for use of the land by contractors establishing natural gas facilities, can have continuing health problems related to the initial use of the land. These health problems can follow an individual or family in permanent ways, as established by health and environmental research.

“Fracking” is the abbreviated term for a type of natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing. New research has established that many of the chemicals used in the process can disrupt the body's hormones. That recent has recently been accepted for publication in Endocrinology, the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

What researchers have determined is that these chemicals interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system. These chemicals which are formally called endocrine-disrupting chemicals or EDCS are found in manufactured products such as those in certain foods, air, water and soil. However, these become more intensive in the fracking process. Research has established EDC exposure is linked to health problems such as infertility, cancer and birth defects.

One of the study's authors, Susan C. Nagel, PhD of the University of Missouri School of Medicine says, “With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure.”

What are those long-range concerns for the public interest? Nagel in some ways answers the question as she told interviewers, “Fracking is exempt from federal regulations to protect water quality, but spills associated with natural gas drilling can contaminate surface, ground and drinking water. We found more endocrine-disrupting activity in the water close to drilling locations that had experienced spills than at control sites. This could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to EDCs.”

Other study authors include: C.D. Kassotis, J.W. Davis and A.M. Hormann of the University of Missouri and D.E. Tilitt of the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

Environmentalists and fracking proponents at loggerheads in UK and US

[caption id="attachment_6940" align="alignleft" width="225"] Natural gas drilling sign[/caption]

Gordon Matilla----It isn't just the United States and the Keystone Pipeline, as well as shale gas, where the oil and gas companies are looking to make a killing in the energy production but the UK involved as well in the debate over the environment and energy needs, as folks deliberate opportunity versus environmental risk.

Energy stories have dominated the British press for some time with accent on energy production, as protestors are determined to the stop progress at the Balcome fracking site.   The energy industry looks to making Britain a self-sufficient nation with respect to natural gas and job creation.

And the US is seen as an example for exporting Shale gas as the UK looks also to fulfilling nine years of gas demand. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, is in favor of the plan, even as President Barack Obama continues to try to balance the needs of the US and the concerns of environmentalists.

Proponents of natural gas believe the Shale Gas drilling could bring about bring a serious boost to the UK economy and create over 74,000 jobs, especially in the North West

Envronmentals in the UK, however, argue against fracking for the same reasons they are concerned about the process in the US, that it harms the environment. Specifically they are concerned about the chemicals that release pollutants into local water and cause fires. They also worry about earthquakes, as two minor ones have occurred near Blackpool.

In the US proponents of fracking say natural gas has more benefits for energy than other sources such as coal. That's because it can burn cleaner. Furthermore leaders in the gas industry point to the economic growth as another major reason for developing natural gas.

Opponents like Michael Kelly, who is the media liaison for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project maintains, “There are so many unknowns about this that we're creating a mass health experiment, and it's being conducted without the consent of the people who are most likely to be hurt by it.”

Earthquakes a ticking bomb from "fracking" and nuclear power

[caption id="attachment_14981" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hanford plant - wikimedia commons[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - While politicians claim they know the answers to the nation's energy needs,  risks to people and their environment remain of serious concern to scientists, especially those risks involving earthquakes, death and disease from the processes that had been once touted as safe.

Worries regarding the San Onofre reactor in California, recently shut down because of a radiation leak and damaged equipment,  have once again caused scientists to worry about the nuclear waste and the active reactor at Hanford in Eastern Washington as well.

While folks in California are watching what happens to the nuclear energy issues, hydraulic fracturing has been in the headlines too.  Hydraulic fracturing is the process used to extract natural gas, an optional energy source that has been highly touted by the oil and gas industries.  But concerns about the environmental damage caused by this process has caused more and more people to wonder what's the solution for finding new energy and whether or not it is worth the risks to the environment to have nuclear energy and hydraulic fracturing as methods of meeting the growing demand for energy.

On April 5 Common Dreams reported that a  US Geological Survey research team has determined that the process of drilling for oil and natural gas is responsible for many of the earthquakes that have occurred in the United States from Alabama to the Northern Rockies.

In the Pacific Northwest there are folks who continue to raise concerns about the Hanford Nuclear Plant in Eastern Washington State.  While most of the reactors were shut down many years ago, there remains a consistent concern that the nuclear waste and lack of safety precautions and proper oversight will continue to create the potential for a major disaster that could impact the Columbia River, a waterway that feeds into much of the Oregon - Washington lands.

Hanford, Washington is the site of the nation's first full-scale plutonium development facility.

In 1962 farmers reported many of their animals were born with severe deformities and nightmarish effects to function that became increasingly a concern for the residents surrounding the nuclear plant as well as people who lived in regions bordering on Canada.

240,000 people live in the immediate areas surrounding Hanford.   People talked about miscarriages, birth defects and rare diseases impacting children that increased following the development of the plant at Hanford.  Spiegel Online reports the story of a family's experience related to the time when in the 1960's,  when a farmer's wife, Juanita Andrewjewski,  created a "death map" of the area near her house.  She put crosses for heart disease and circles for cancer on that map.   Not long after this map was created, 67 people had been affected with these diseases.

Stewart Udall called Hanford the "most tragic chapter in American Cold War history."  He was Secretary of the Interior under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Initially folks took pride in the fact that Hanford had been chosen as the jewel in the crown of nuclear development, but that pride soon turned into great fear.  As Spiegel reports, residents of the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, " are among the most highly radiated humans on earth."

Although Hanford closed down in 1989, it continues to have a live reactor as well as nuclear waste.  Only half of the waste has been entombed at a price in the billions, as the project of decontamination continues.  Nevertheless, the potential leaks and the age of the material and equipment pose substantial risks, and it will take approximately 15 more years of the decontamination process to complete the housing of the nuclear waste.

210 earthquakes happened in the Hanford area during 2010, the strongest measuring 3.0. But the fact that these earthquakes aren't so severe is not reassuring to environmental scientists and others. "The leaking underground tanks and the contaminated groundwater moving toward the river mean a radioactive future for the river unless the mess can be cleaned up in time to avoid a serious radiological disaster," says Glen Spain, a regional director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). "The legacy of vast amounts of nuclear waste … is still a ticking time bomb."

‘Fracking’ may turn paradise to hell on earth

[caption id="attachment_14308" align="alignleft" width="225"] Marcellus Shale tower[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - As gas prices continue to move ever upward, people are clamoring for the solution to the problem of energy. In the middle of this clamor is the debate over natural gas, with T. Boone Pickens as the lead drummer of the band and Newt Gingrich as the drum major for this type of solution, but is it a solution or one that will simply create more problems now and in the future?

In Natchitoches, Louisiana, several years ago, the local public auditorium was filled to capacity with folks seeking to make a fortune by selling bits of land in the area, as the gas giants of industry moved to town, with representatives in offices right off main street. The Haynesville Shale is one of the largest finds for natural gas. People were paid for the rights for underground maneuvers that promised to bring energy to the surface and riches to the economy.

But questions soon came about what the consequences might be to land and people from the water problems that had been found in other parts of the country. A local service person said to this reporter, “I know there might be a problem. But I will have the money to move, if I have to.”

The pristine beauty of Natchitoches Parish appeals to the senses in wonderful ways. It is one of the areas that could be imperiled in the natural gas exploration, if some scientists and the experience of folks in other regions develops in that paradise of the Steel Magnolias.

The hardest fact is while some people could move away, if the risks become evident,  many could not, and that makes the questions about the natural gas lines a worry for the future. Questions have arisen also about the potential of fracking to cause earthquakes, with some scientists and others pointing to earthquakes in Virginia and Ohio as linked to natural gas exploration. Many maintain that even if fracking does not actually cause earthquakes, the process can speed up the potential of that catastrophic result.

A recent investigative report by Earth Focus focuses on the natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale. Experts worry about drinking water contamination and other health consequences in population centers and ask the question whether natural gas development is worth the risks.  They relate the scientific worries about fracking chemicals that leak into water systems, the kind of chemicals that can cause a variety of cancers.

A YouTube video series details the issues involved in fracking and the specific investigations that reveal how concerned folks should be about the long-term consequences of the process involved in natural gas exploration and development.  As much as any visual representation of the problem, is the relating of facts that are uniquely disturbing. The series looks at real people and real events, in asking the question, “Is it worth it?” with reference to health problems that have been tied to fracking.

While some of the questions referencing energy development have been tossed about on national news programs, this account of that “untold story” drives home the need for serious research before folks consent to the potential destruction of more than just property, but the long-term problems related to health as well.

The Halliburton Loophole, put forward by Dick Cheney and energy company executives, exempted the fracking process from regulations related to maintaining clean water and preserving the integrity of the environment. It is that loophole that has created the burgeoning industry that opponents worry may become even greater as gas prices continue to rise and as politicians and their supporters ignore the warnings about the environment and the health of people near the fracking sites.

If some scientists and geologists are right in their assessments, 'fracking could turn the Natchitoches Parish paradise to a hell on earth, as may occur as well in other places where people continue to trade environmental security for immediate gratification through gas.

Water imperiled by 'fracking' in drought of Ark-La-Tex

[caption id="attachment_6940" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Natural gas drilling sign"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Texas is going through a period of record-breaking drought, a situation that has caused massive wildfires; and two attorneys are challenging hydraulic fracturing because of its negative impact on water.

While the EPA continues to investigate the issues surrounding “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing, a process used in drilling for natural gas,  Ark-La-Tex  folks have reason to worry because of the process of pumping water and chemicals into the ground to break up shale rock, which is the process used to extract natural gas.  These questions are of concern to environmentalists who have witnessed problems in Pennsylvania and other states from efforts to drill for gas.  In fact Chesapeake Energy has suspended drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania in April 2011 after a large spill of toxic fluid into a natural waterway there.

The lack of sufficient water is now the main concern in Texas.  As the attorneys point out, it requires millions of gallons of water to open a single well.

“When news reports say the current drought is now the most severe since record-keeping began 116 years ago, it is time to reassess all discretionary uses of water,” said Arnold,  one of the Houston lawyers involved in litigation against some of the companies that have allegedly polluted water and lands of their clients.

“If you’re using millions of gallons of water in a process that is suspect in the first place, that’s certainly a place to cut back, if not a practice to consider suspending until the drought eases.”

Arnold & Itkin LLP,  the law firm involved, has represented clients who have had land contaminated through the fracking process.    A law requiring companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in the fracking process goes into effect in 2012, but the attorneys are worried about the problem now because of the Texas drought.

As the attorneys point out,  “Fracking remains a potentially dangerous and, during a drought, wasteful practice.  “While water conservation is a civic duty we can advocate, refraining from contaminating groundwater and endangering people is a legal duty that we are certainly ready to take action to see enforced,” Arnold said.

According to climate experts, approximately 20% of the United States is experiencing drought. In  Texas - Lousiana – Arkansas, the drilling for natural gas is part of what is called the Haynesville Shale.  Proponents of natural gas exploration tout the area as being the biggest  gold mine of gas in the country.  Louisiana, already having been under siege on the Gulf from oil seepage into the soil and waters of the coast, has been one of the states where politicians and business folks in oil and gas have been most vocal about the positive opportunities afforded from natural gas.

In Natchitoches Parish, for example, there have been grand rallies in support of natural gas drilling, and big deals have included large parcels of land, including Northwestern University.

But Texas attorneys are warning of the risks of fracking to the water supply, given the dry conditions.  They underline the continuing threats of fire and reduction of clean water from a process they say imperils folks who are not conscious of the problems that hydraulic fracturing can cause.