Congressional Democrats Warn of Gas Fracking Dangers

authordefault
on

Just days after an explosion rocked a hydraulic fracturing site in Pennsylvania, Congressional Democrats released a report detailing the dangers associated with fracking. Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been investigating the dangers of fracking for years, and their new report has some startling new information about the risks, and which areas of the country are facing the biggest threats.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) summarized the major findings of the report asย follows:

Over a five-year period from 2005-2009, companies used more than 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 different chemicals and other components, including chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens or are federally regulated because at certain levels they are known to be quite harmful to human healthโ€“such as benzene, lead, and diesel fuel.

Two fracking products contained hydrofluoric acid (hydrogen fluoride in water). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, โ€œYou could be exposed to hydrogen fluoride if it is used as a chemical terrorism agent.โ€ Hydrofluoric acid can eat through hard rocks. According to the CDC, swallowing only a small amount of highly concentrated hydrofluoric acid or even splashes of hydrofluoric acid on the skin can be fatal. It can cause a wide range of very serious health effects.

Many of the fracking fluids contain chemical components that are listed as โ€œproprietaryโ€ or โ€œtrade secret,โ€ so the public cannot know what chemicals are being stored, used, or disposed of in their communities or near their drinking water sources.


In addition to reporting on the dangerous chemicals used in fracking, the House Committee also showed which states are being pumped with the most fluids. At the top of the list is Texas, where more than 3.5 million gallons of toxins have been pumped into the earth, followed by Colorado with 1.5 million gallons over the four-year period studied. In Pennsylvania where the recent fracking well blew, 747,000 gallons of toxic fracking fluid were used from 2005 โ€“ 2009.

Over the four year period studied, more than 21.5 million gallons of fracking fluid had been used throughout the United States, utilized by only 14 different oil and gas companies. The industry uses more than 650 different types of fracking fluid solutions, and the report found that at least 95 had 13 different components that are known carcinogens.

The leak in Pennsylvania has been stopped for now, but as this new report shows, there are other areas of America that are poised for even greater disasters than we saw inย Pennsylvania.

authordefault

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine, and his articles have appeared on The Huffington Post, Alternet, and The Progressive Magazine. He has worked for the Ring of Fire radio program with hosts Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, and Sam Seder since August 2004, and is currently the co-host and producer of the program. He also currently serves as the co-host of Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV, a daily program airing nightly at 8:30pm eastern. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009.ย  Follow him on Twitterย @farronbalanced.

Related Posts

on

Nigel Farageโ€™s party was told by Offshore Energies UK to rethink its plan to thwart clean energy.

Nigel Farageโ€™s party was told by Offshore Energies UK to rethink its plan to thwart clean energy.
on

Lobbyists are pushing for the UKโ€™s AI boom to be fuelled by gas.

Lobbyists are pushing for the UKโ€™s AI boom to be fuelled by gas.

โ€œToothlessโ€ reforms to CAP funds are failing to protect vulnerable workforce, experts say.

โ€œToothlessโ€ reforms to CAP funds are failing to protect vulnerable workforce, experts say.
Analysis
on

Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.