Shocking Report Shows the Insidious Dangers of Fracking – And Why You’re At Risk From It
March 2018
A new report published this month reveals that the dangers of fracking are even worse than we thought.
If you want the short version, here it is. According to this highly authoritative report, there is simply no way that any fracking can happen anywhere that will not endanger human health.
To prepare the report, scientists1 used more than 1,200 peer-reviewed research articles, as well as government assessments and investigations.
The 266-page study was conducted in the US. It’s probably fair to say that fracking processes are fairly similar all over the world, but the report concluded that fracking in the US is contaminating the air and water – and the health – of millions of Americans
Read on to find out why fracking is “the worst thing I’ve ever seen”. And why there’s something about fracking you haven’t heard about. As well as the positive side of fracking.
When oil and gas is difficult to extract by conventional means, fracking is used instead. Fluid that is laden with toxic chemicals is forced into deep rock layers to release the oil and gas.
Initially, fracking was set up in rural lands. Now fracking wells are close to houses, farms and even schools.
“Fracking is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” says Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a biologist who has worked as a public health advocate. She is one of the report’s eight co-authors. “Now we see those risks have turned into human harms and people are getting sick,” she says.
What also comes out clearly in the report is that it’s not just the fracking well itself that is responsible for the dangers of fracking. Fracking is a complicated process – it relies on not just the well, but also a web of infrastructure that extends many miles from the well pad.
Here’s what the report shows about the effects of living close to a fracking well.
Then, we’ll look at the expanding problems, and then – the danger of fracking you haven’t heard of.
The Dangers of Fracking – Close to the Well
People who are unfortunate enough to live, work, or go to school close to a fracking well may suffer from the following problems:
- They may breathe air that is laced with carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) including formaldehyde and benzene.
- Research has shown an increased risk of asthma, a decrease in infant health and worrisome effects on the development of a fetus, such as pre-term births and birth defects. “Pregnant women have a major risk, not only themselves but they’re carrying a fetus whose cells are multiplying continuously,” says Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, a retired Army colonel and the president-elect of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “If those cells get hit by some toxic chemical from fracking, it may not manifest itself for years.”
- It’s not just the air. Waste flows back up a fracked well. The industry calls it “brine” or “produced water,” which sounds safe. But this waste material contains carcinogenic chemicals, it can be flammable and, in many places it also contains radioactive elements from deep below the surface.
- And of course, fracking is repeatedly linked to earthquakes.
- Fracking sites can (and do) catch fire. And they are extremely difficult to put out – because oil and gas companies don’t need to declare the chemicals they use. So fire chiefs are at a huge disadvantage when they face a fire or explosion at a fracking site.
The Dangers of Fracking – Away From the Well
The waste material from fracked wells has to go somewhere (to a “pit” or sometimes to frack new wells).
- It is often hauled by trucks that must weave around narrow local roads.
- A truck spilled approximately 5,000 gallons of fracking wastewater in Barnesville, Ohio in 2016. It crashed beside a stream that leads into one of the village’s main reservoirs.
- In November 2017 a truck carrying fracking waste overturned near Coolville, Ohio and emptied fluid into a culvert that connects to a creek. Tests later revealed the culvert was loaded with barium, as well as strontium, whose isotopes can be radioactive.
- Concern is often expressed about fracking contaminating underground aquifers with hazardous chemicals. Research in Texas and Pennsylvania has now confirmed this to be the case.
- Fracked gas flows via pipelines, whose leaks and explosions are now well-documented. Piped gas must continuously be re-pressurized at compressor stations which are shown to emit methane, fine particulate matter, as well as benzene, formaldehyde and other known human carcinogens.
- The report cites many incidences of fracking-related contamination, including one western Pennsylvania family. “They would see a yellow fog, kind of like a chemical mist coming from the compressor station. Their two youngest children, nine and 11, started having tics where their muscles would go into spasms, those spasms would persist even when they were asleep.”
Sometimes, companies “process” the fracking waste materials – like Antero Clearwater in West Virginia. Antero says it can produce water clean enough to be discharged back into nearby local waterways. But Antero’s website doesn’t detail how this is done. Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and international consultant on radioactive waste, is concerned. “What is radioactive underground is still radioactive when it’s brought to the surface” he says.
The Dangers of Fracking – To The Workers
I have to admit this was something I hadn’t considered. I was horrified at the risks ordinary people are being forced to take. But this report clearly identifies the dangers of fracking to the people who actually work in the industry.
And it does NOT make pleasant reading.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, fracking has created 1.7 million jobs. That sounds good. But those workers are often exposed to extremely dangerous conditions. “These are killing jobs,” says report co-author Dr. Sandra Steingraber.
Why haven’t we been hearing about these killing jobs though? The report suggests several reasons. Injuries don’t show up in the data because:
- Many workers are non-unionized sub-contractors. This means their employers are not required to report any injuries to them
- The oil and gas industry is exempt from certain worker safety rules.
- Many doctors and health care providers that service the industry, rarely mention anything negative about fracking due to a “code of silence“.
- Workers themselves rarely report injuries or hazards, for fear of losing their jobs.
- If workers do seek help for their illnesses, they may be given reasons (e.g. allergies, bed bugs) far removed from radioactive poisoning.
Tests have shown levels of benzene in workers at levels known to raise the risks of leukemia.
Some (former) workers have explained how they hauled radioactive waste water from fracking wells – without any safety clothing other than a flame-resistant coat. Some workers worked in bare feet. Their employers knew that if the public saw workers in hazmat suits, they would be worried. (You can read more about this on Shalefield Stories.- it makes for grim reading).
But Fracking Has Given Us Energy Independence!
Indeed it has! Fossil fuels supply the U.S. with a majority of its electricity. About 60 percent of the gas produced in America and 48 percent of the oil now comes from unconventional oil and gas deposits – fracking. Fracking has helped ease America off foreign fossil fuels.
Abundant – and relatively cheap – gas is great for the plastics industry too. They’re planning to expand massively.
And again, that sounds great!
It Doesn’t Factor In the Dangers of Fracking and Fossil Fuels
But this fracking boom doesn’t take into account the dangers of fracking to public health. Nor the dangers to the world’s climate.
The oil and gas industry still insists that it’s taking strict safety measures and there is no danger to water either. Anything that contradicts this view is immediately labelled “fake news” and dismissed as un-scientific and un-American.
But it’s becoming more and more difficult to dismiss the science on fracking.
- In 2009 there were 6 peer-reviewed articles about the public health risks of fracking.
- In 2011, there were 42 peer-reviewed articles about the public health risks of fracking.
- Now in 2018 there are more than 1200.
Some US states are listening to the scientists. New York, Maryland and Vermont have banned fracking, and even Florida’s state legislature is seriously considering a ban.
It’s interesting. As negative impacts on health and water supplies continue to mount, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for fracking companies to get investors to back them, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Within the past decade, energy companies…have spent $280 billion more than they generated from operations on shale investments” according to the article. Now shareholders are putting fracking companies under more pressure to generate profits. That generally means safety takes a back seat.
Iowa, Ohio and Wyoming have introduced a bill which criminalises protest activities like the ones undertaken at Standing Rock.
Conclusion
This report – and others – show us that, even with the best will in the world, fracking simply cannot be safe.
I think it’s terrible that Big Business can put our health at risk. Profit is good – but profit at the expense of public health – particularly water, our most precious resource – is not.
I think it’s terrible that peaceful protest is now being outlawed in some states. Whatever happened to government being “of the people, by the people, for the people”? Peaceful protest should always be allowed – and safe. There should be due process, and workers should be safe in their jobs.
Certainly, profit and jobs are hugely important.
But why do jobs have to be in fossil fuels? The Scandinavian country of Norway was heavily invested in natural gas (a fossil fuel). It is re-training workers so they can find jobs in solar and wind energy instead. That seems like a good plan.
Because there are no jobs on a dead planet.
1 The report was prepared by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group, Physicians for Social Responsibility and released by Concerned Health Professionals of New York.
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Warm regards,
P.S. Want to live a simpler, more green and ecofriendly life? (It’s been shown to increase happiness!). You can download your FREE green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here. Get it now!
Related:
- What it REALLY means to have fracking close to you
- How much are you paying to subsidize fracking? (Spoiler alert: it’s quite shocking how much you’re paying).
