Fracking Moratorium Urged by U.S. Doctors
Fracking Moratorium Urged by U.S. Doctors
By Alex Wayne - Jan 9, 2012 10:48 AM PT
The U.S. should declare a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in populated areas until the health effects are better understood, doctors said at a conference on the drilling process.
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Fracking injects water, sand and chemicals into deep shale formations to free trapped natural gas. A boom in production with the method helped increase supplies, cutting prices 32 percent last year. The industry, though, hasnt disclosed enough information on chemicals used, Paulson said, raising concerns about tainted drinking water supplies and a call for peer- reviewed studies on the effects. The EPA is weighing nationwide regulation.
Weve got to push the pause button, and maybe weve got to push the stop button, said Adam Law, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, in an interview at a conference in Arlington, Virginia thats the first to examine criteria for studying the process.
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A top scientist at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that fluids used in hydraulic fracturing contain potentially hazardous chemical classes. The compounds include petroleum distillates, volatile organic compounds and glycol ethers, said Christopher Portier, director of the CDCs National Center for Environmental Health.
MORE:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-09/fracking-moratorium-urged-by-u-s-doctors-until-health-studies-conducted.html
http://www.waterpollutionlawyers.com/benzene/
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)for all harm their process causes.
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)...that might occur.
Oil companies have all the money in the world...literally. They can fund it.
asjr
(10,479 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)then they shouldn't have any problem with drinking the well water where they're drilling.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)civil litigation as well. When their own money, mansions, stocks and savings are at stake they will not be so caviler about the entire process. Making them drink the water and live in the polluted area is also a real good idea.
april
(1,148 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)gtar100
(4,192 posts)Until the EPA really starts to do what its name sake implies, these people won't stop fracking because they believe they don't have to worry about the consequences. Maybe when they start drinking their own filth will they start to get a clue. By then, however, it'll be too late for the rest of us.
It is time to put the oil industry into public hands and make it entirely not-for-profit. Then we can force all these executives to clean up with their own bare hands the messes they have made of the earth. Remember, they don't care if you or your children get cancer from their pollution.
Marnie
(844 posts)Rural people are more restricted in their water supply and more likely to rely on well water.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)otohara
(24,135 posts)now expect to be trashed by the oil/gas industries.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)...these Marxist, anti-Americans physicians are. They're trying to turn us into a European Socialist country. Pretty
soon, this country will look like Greece, if we listen to these yahoo doctors.
The NERVE of these anti-capitalist Marxist, Socialists!
Bronson
(1 post)Evidently there are other dangers from drilling in a populated area:
'Harlan City Police Cpl. George Young said his understanding of the incident was that while the company Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation was drilling for gas on Grays Knob mountain, a 4-inch ceramic ball, weighing approximately one pound was deflected into the Harlan ARH Hospitals direction, making a hole in the ground approximately 6-inches wide and 5-inches deep. He said the balls were supposed to be deflected toward the mountains and he felt it was an equipment malfunction which caused the ball to fall into a populated area. He said it was just an odd coincidence.
Harlan ARH Hospital CEO Dan Stone said two employees of the hospital were outside enjoying the beautiful weather when they observed an object hit the ground causing debris to come up from the ground."
Read more: The Harlan Daily Enterprise - Debris from gas well falls from the sky
http://www.harlandaily.com/view/full_story/16740080/article-Debris-from-gas-well-falls-from-the-sky?instance=secondary_news_left_column
Ilsa
(61,698 posts)and we give them all kinds of ridiculous tax breaks and handouts to do it.
Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)How much damage must be done before they are willing to have a moratorium?
An investigation?
A return of campaign contributions?