Is there a media blackout on the fracking flood disaster in Colorado?

[madamesilverspurs]

That's the headline on a blog out of Texas. And it's a question we've been trying to get answered here in Weld County, with no luck so far. Media, print and broadcast, have shown numerous pictures of tipped/toppled/floating/leaking tanks, but the commentary is glaringly absent. Please read these blog posts. And follow the links embedded. This isn't Vegas -- what's happening here will NOT stay here.

http://www.texassharon.com/2013/09/15/is-there-a-media-blackout-on-the-fracking-flood-disaster-in-colorado/

http://www.texassharon.com/2013/09/14/drilling-in-a-flood-plain-dallas-look-at-the-fun-you-missed/

[Cryptoad]

1. Bro Pat Robertson told Colorado

that God was going to smite them if they didn't vote right on the recall vote of the politicians that voted for Gun Control!

ummmmm,,,,,,

[Rebellious Republican]

11. ummmmm,,,,,,

A couple of things about your post that I have to question. First I have never heard anyone refer to Pat Robertson as Bro (as in Brother) here at DU. Yes we do have christians that post here. The ummmmm,,,,,, at the end could lead some to believe that you agree with his premonition. Your low number of posts and short longevity here at DU kinda makes one wonder what your message is. You would have to admit that is kinda CRYPTic.

[TeamPooka]

17. the ummm is a shock response and the Bro is a term of disresect so I think he's attacking Pat. nt

with

[WinkyDink]

28. Sorry, but the "ummmm" is a CLEAR implication that "Bro" was spot-on. "I predicted 'X'; 'X'

occurred. Ummmmmm."

You think that reads as "shock"?? It READS as "See how I was RIGHT?!"

[Cryptoad]

19. You keep working at it at it Bro,,,,,,,LMAO

I am sure all will be revealed!

[Cha]

22. My your "post count is low".. lolololol Rofl

compared to mine, anyway.

[Cryptoad]

23. But,,,

My daddy can whupp your daddy!

geeez!

[Cha]

24. ... Combat

boots!

[Cryptoad]

25. ChaZammmmm,,,,!

[highplainsdem]

3. Found this article from the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_24095949/colorado-flood-evacuations-broken-oil-pipeline-weld-county

[George II]

4. There's been wall to wall coverage on MSNBC, CNN, and long reports on the networks all week.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Re: The fracking angle's magnified effect on pollution or just general toxins in the water? n/t

[pasto76]

5. calm down conspiracy guy

not exactly a media blackout. try and wrap your head around it, there is still a massive search and rescue operation going on right now. Few hundred people are not accounted. Access to some communities is by air only, and the forecast has more rain in it. The contamination reporting and lawsuits will come later.

[madamesilverspurs]

10. #1 -- "Guy?"

#2 -- conspiracy?

Try "legitimate question" from someone who lives in the middle of this mess. There are, in fact, highly toxic substances, including many carcinogens, in the compounds used in fracking. If there is even the remotest possibility that those elements are now leaking into the water supply, EVERYONE downstream deserves to know about that. Preparing for it now would make much more sense than trying to mitigate it later. Why you would object to that is beyond me.

[Koko Ware]

16. I agree these are legitimate questions. As a resident of Colorado, I want to make sure my water's

clean.

Not from a fracked water. The water source is from South Platte River, and most of the upper rivers (Poudre and Big Thompson Rivers) feed into South Platte. All three are flooded, and Weld County is getting the worst part, and it is the heavily fracked part of the state.

We are now being told that there are broken pipes and sewage water going through the water. Some even have don't flush orders. Some are ordered to boil their waters.

We want the answers, and we want them today. We want all oil and gas industries shut down while we do cleanup, and force them to search for their fracking operations elsewhere while we clean up our water and force Frackenlooper to put the fracked water in his god-damn beer.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. K&R

[Historic NY]

7. Lots of interesting writer comments following the news link.....

on Colorado.....

[Sunlei]

8. DUed. , I didn't think about all that toxic fracking fluid lost into flood waters. That is bad news.

[rlegro]

9. Example: NBC News

End of week coverage on NBC Nightly News of the floods was decent, but overshadowed by the program's accompanying coverage of the boardwalk fire on the Jersey Shore. Anchor Brian Williams was in NJ (admittedly a lot closer than Colorado to his studios) and seemed to overemphasize the damage there relative to Colorado. Of course, he grew up hanging around the Jersey Shore. At one point he said something to the effect that the boardwalk is meaningful to many more people than just the regional population. To me, weak-tea attempt to rationalize the full coverage.

[George II]

15. They'd been reporting on the floods for a week, the fire was a one-day thing

[rlegro]

12. By the way

I zeroed right on quotes to the effect that the Colorado floods are the result of a 500-year or thousand-year meteorological event. Here in Milwaukee, we had flash flooding along the Lake Michigan shore a couple years ago when eight and more inches of rain fell in about an hour in some areas. A meteorologist said the exact same thing: It, too, was a 500-year event, in terms of traditional probabilities. But now, as another professional said later, events statistically only likely to happen every 500 years are likely to happen every 100 years. And that in turn means 100-year events might now happen every five or ten years.

[Overseas]

14. K&R. Thanks for highlighting this. Hope we can stop the crazy rush into fracking.

We need to put more money into conserving oil and developing solar and wind before we zoom ahead with such toxic extraction from shale.

[polynomial]

18. The words of the profits are written on the subway walls

You would think Homeland security would broadcast an update about how this could affect the health/food/ water supply.

But with a laugh and chuckle a real snooty smirk, this must be national security stuff, secret details we the people need not know. Hey they balance nature to terrorist now. Maybe only enough time lag those insider stock market types need to flush their holding into the tax payer free speech market.

Oh yes the secret trillion dollar derivative is churning faster than a Navier stokes computer algorithm for J.P. Morgan. Americans have no need to figure out what the hell is going on. Just a little more time to get the Cayman Island free speech money laundering cleaned and free to spend
Again.

Seems more like a stall when Bush our first responder sat for an extraordinary amount of minutes in front of students at an elementary school before he got up to say after the second plane hits the other tower: “ little boys and girls I have to leave now.”

With reactions like that it is said at least seven minutes expired before Bush got up to respond to the tragedy. Is that what we need as a president of such poor real response, of course not, or worse President Bush knew the second plane was to hit. The Bush moment is obvious, now we have the Obama media moment.

Besides laundered Cayman Island money we have the Jama-rama in commercial overtime and journalist bonus free speech money profiteering swindling America in narrowly selected grief spots in Colorado’s catastaphy. Please understand I don’t blame Obama its and other famous saying and we could do it in concert. “It’s the stock market stupid.”

Yes, I am being cynical and reflective of the mischief, or outright crime of doing nothing. Now the nothing is to black out the news. I believe it’s true

But the words of the profits are written on the subway walls! Simon and Garfunkel. That's what is left when you don't have electric power. Not really, now they are written in the Du blog…a new age fan.

[Igel]

20. Nobody's said probably because nobody knows.

IF a well head's flooded, it might shut down. Might get ripped off. Might stay open.

If methane's venting, no big deal. If it's fracking solutions, it might be: But look at the torrent of water and work out the dilution factor. You might have 4x and 5x "strengths" of those substances (in purely homeopathic terms).

That assumes that all the companies have taken boats and choppers into the flood zones and checked out their wells. But if they had boats and choppers they'd probably be used for search and rescue operations.

Even the scary picture of the tank that was tipped assumes it was empty. Sometimes they are, sometimes they're part full, sometimes they're empty. And again, if it was methane ... Meh.

[madamesilverspurs]

21. As it happens,

two of my doctors don't share your lack of concern.

But then, they're just doctors . . .

[sikofit3]

27. Not so fast

I think your being a little light hearted about this situation probably from a lack of knowledge on the chemicals and the amount of flowback water each well has either stored in open pits or in those containers. If you think dilution is what is going to make this situation ok I think you might want to look into how a few spills into the Susquehanna River tributary in PA resulted in those down river not being able to drink the water because it failed the EPA standards even after going through the water treatment plants. Maryland is currently suing a company in PA for polluting the Chesapeake Bay where MD gets some of its drinking water and that is way far down stream from where these "spills" occurred in PA. If I lived in those ares in CO I would not drink the water even if they told me I could and boiling it will not take those chemicals out of it and in fact boiling it will release methane into your house which is an explosive and an asphyxiate. However, there will continue to be a media blackout on this so we will never know anyway.

[randr]

26. A huge media campaign is currently on in Colorado

supporting fracting and all associated companies. I would not look to the media at this time to bite the hand that is feeding them.

[randr]

29. An important resource

These Coloradoans should consider petitioning ATSDR for a health consultation if there is a toxic release--qualifies under a part of the Superfund Law which was not exempted by the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
One way to do that is via the DCS ATSDR survey.
http://www.damascuscitizensatsdr.org/
Received this note from friends at DamascusCitizens.