Just say 'No' to benzene-ified water...
Thoughts on Hydrofracking in NY (and elsewhere)
My $.02, so here goes: Hydrofracking is a way of extracting natural gas from shale deposits. It is currently a hot topic for people in the eastern part of the US, particularly in NY, PA, and W. VA. Fracking as a technique is not new, nor is it new to NY. NY has applied more stringent regulations around its use than other states. States that have been lax have indeed paid a price for not caring about what happens to their water supply.
Short version is this: No. Any profit we can get collectively or privately from fracking will be offset by something far more important: rapidly-deteriorating health and environment to go with it, affecting all of us within drinking distance of a fracking site. And drinking distances can be awfully long.
Money doesn't talk, it screams. Here in NY, Gov. Cuomo is under a lot of pressure to find answers to the state's economic and budget problems. A quick (but dirty) solution would be to allow extraction companies to hydrofrack substantially more across the Marcellus Shale region (map) that extends into upstate NY and in the process introduce tons of seriously toxic chemicals deep into the ground, at or below the watershed level. This will in all likelihood poison the water supply in and around that area, including the water tapped by millions of people in NYC. It may not happen immediately, but eventually it will.
I am not a foe of industrial or economic development. I fully recognize that the lifestyle we have is due entirely to industrial development. I am not some naive Pollyanna that believes cars and airplanes, along with roads and modern electrical and plumbing systems, are naturally-occurring things found in the environment. They need to be manufactured, and this takes science, industry, and a lot of other things. The work required is motivated by the desire to profit from them. Indeed, modern civilization wouldn't exist without easy trade liquidity (i.e., money), and the most reliable way to get it aside from inheriting it is to invent things people want/need or supply things people want/need, such as energy and the fuel used to generate it. People want and need things to make their lives better and easier, and that is where modern inventions come in, and these things need to be powered. But at what point does our desire for these conveniences encroach upon our own fundamental self-interests? When we turn to using means to acquire the materials we use to power our modern lifestyles at the expense of poisoning the very water we drink and bathe in, that's when.
Some have argued that if done carefully and under tight regulation, fracking can be done safely. Let's say that even if extraction companies fully intend to comply with both the word and spirit of every environmental regulation around fracking, does anyone think that the vast amounts of water and dangerous chemicals used in the fracking process will always behave just the way people want them to? Liquids have a way of going where gravity wants them to go and water's adhesive capillary action makes its movements even more unpredictable. And, does anyone who didn't just fall off the back of a turnip truck actually believe extraction companies with literally billions of dollars worth of natural gas for the taking are going to adhere religiously to all the rules and regulations they are supposed to? Even if the NY DEC catches one or more of them having committed a serious violation, it'll still be too late. Once the water table is poisoned, it's poisoned. And the chemicals used in fracking are not "low-grade" toxins. Just one of them is benzene, which is dangerous to all human/animal life in almost any amount. [Note the linked page says that 500ppm of benzene induces illness in humans. Do the math: 500/1000000 = 0.0005. 0.0005 of 1 gal. is 1.89271 ml. That is all that is takes to induce illness in a human: 1.89271 ml of benzene in 1 gal. of water. Imagine the effects it can have on you as you drink contaminated water day in and day out. And you can be exposed to fracking chemicals by breathing them in as well; NPR covered one such set of cases.]
The choice NY has is clear. We either take the quick route and allow a lot more fracking and clean up (financially) in the short-term but pay later with contaminated water supplies (and attendant health and legal problems), along with a damaged environment and tourism industry to go with it. Or, we take the slightly longer but more conscientious route. NY can get its way out of its economic problems without selling out its environmental health and well-being. The dice we're rolling are too big when considering that we're not just rolling them for ourselves but for children who are too young to control their own decisions about whether they live near a fracking site, and for subsequent generations who, like us, need clean water to drink and bathe in.
If you're inclined, either start Googling, or, some light reading:
For sharing your opinion with Gov. Cuomo:
http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php
NY DEC seems fine with fracking:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html
Recent news re where Cuomo stands on fracking:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/nyregion/hydrofracking-under-cuomo-plan-would-be-restricted-to-a-few-counties.html
Can you really count on accurate self-reporting from extractors?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/science/earth/17gas.html
Details on fracking, including the obscene amounts of water used and what chemicals are used:
http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101
My $.02, so here goes: Hydrofracking is a way of extracting natural gas from shale deposits. It is currently a hot topic for people in the eastern part of the US, particularly in NY, PA, and W. VA. Fracking as a technique is not new, nor is it new to NY. NY has applied more stringent regulations around its use than other states. States that have been lax have indeed paid a price for not caring about what happens to their water supply.
Short version is this: No. Any profit we can get collectively or privately from fracking will be offset by something far more important: rapidly-deteriorating health and environment to go with it, affecting all of us within drinking distance of a fracking site. And drinking distances can be awfully long.
Money doesn't talk, it screams. Here in NY, Gov. Cuomo is under a lot of pressure to find answers to the state's economic and budget problems. A quick (but dirty) solution would be to allow extraction companies to hydrofrack substantially more across the Marcellus Shale region (map) that extends into upstate NY and in the process introduce tons of seriously toxic chemicals deep into the ground, at or below the watershed level. This will in all likelihood poison the water supply in and around that area, including the water tapped by millions of people in NYC. It may not happen immediately, but eventually it will.
I am not a foe of industrial or economic development. I fully recognize that the lifestyle we have is due entirely to industrial development. I am not some naive Pollyanna that believes cars and airplanes, along with roads and modern electrical and plumbing systems, are naturally-occurring things found in the environment. They need to be manufactured, and this takes science, industry, and a lot of other things. The work required is motivated by the desire to profit from them. Indeed, modern civilization wouldn't exist without easy trade liquidity (i.e., money), and the most reliable way to get it aside from inheriting it is to invent things people want/need or supply things people want/need, such as energy and the fuel used to generate it. People want and need things to make their lives better and easier, and that is where modern inventions come in, and these things need to be powered. But at what point does our desire for these conveniences encroach upon our own fundamental self-interests? When we turn to using means to acquire the materials we use to power our modern lifestyles at the expense of poisoning the very water we drink and bathe in, that's when.
Some have argued that if done carefully and under tight regulation, fracking can be done safely. Let's say that even if extraction companies fully intend to comply with both the word and spirit of every environmental regulation around fracking, does anyone think that the vast amounts of water and dangerous chemicals used in the fracking process will always behave just the way people want them to? Liquids have a way of going where gravity wants them to go and water's adhesive capillary action makes its movements even more unpredictable. And, does anyone who didn't just fall off the back of a turnip truck actually believe extraction companies with literally billions of dollars worth of natural gas for the taking are going to adhere religiously to all the rules and regulations they are supposed to? Even if the NY DEC catches one or more of them having committed a serious violation, it'll still be too late. Once the water table is poisoned, it's poisoned. And the chemicals used in fracking are not "low-grade" toxins. Just one of them is benzene, which is dangerous to all human/animal life in almost any amount. [Note the linked page says that 500ppm of benzene induces illness in humans. Do the math: 500/1000000 = 0.0005. 0.0005 of 1 gal. is 1.89271 ml. That is all that is takes to induce illness in a human: 1.89271 ml of benzene in 1 gal. of water. Imagine the effects it can have on you as you drink contaminated water day in and day out. And you can be exposed to fracking chemicals by breathing them in as well; NPR covered one such set of cases.]
The choice NY has is clear. We either take the quick route and allow a lot more fracking and clean up (financially) in the short-term but pay later with contaminated water supplies (and attendant health and legal problems), along with a damaged environment and tourism industry to go with it. Or, we take the slightly longer but more conscientious route. NY can get its way out of its economic problems without selling out its environmental health and well-being. The dice we're rolling are too big when considering that we're not just rolling them for ourselves but for children who are too young to control their own decisions about whether they live near a fracking site, and for subsequent generations who, like us, need clean water to drink and bathe in.
If you're inclined, either start Googling, or, some light reading:
For sharing your opinion with Gov. Cuomo:
http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php
NY DEC seems fine with fracking:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html
Recent news re where Cuomo stands on fracking:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/nyregion/hydrofracking-under-cuomo-plan-would-be-restricted-to-a-few-counties.html
Can you really count on accurate self-reporting from extractors?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/science/earth/17gas.html
Details on fracking, including the obscene amounts of water used and what chemicals are used:
http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101
posted by Matt Campbell at 3:49 PM
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