What do you know about hazardous waste?

What is Hydraulic Fracturing?

Hydrofracking is the drilling of oil or natural gas thousands of feet below the earth's crust. An explosion takes place to create cracks in the rock and then water, chemicals, and frac sand are pumped into the well. Frac sand holds open the cracks to let the natural gas out and the rest help to make those cracks larger. The chemicals used have become a primary concern and I will list the effects later. Frac sand has also been a huge issue especially down here in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin where a lot of companies want to take this good quality sand from our area.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf

The EPA has a study to "understand the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water resources." This includes information such as post-fracturing stage, lifespan of water in hydraulic fracturing, the outcomes of mixing of chemicals, management of flowback as well as the ultimate treatment and disposal of the waste created DRAFT. "They have also set a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) of zero for acrylamides in public drinking water." The following link talks about the process of sand mining as well as the environmental impacts. Silica Sand Mining. Some of these effects include air pollution and harmful impacts to water resources both on the surface and underground as well as indirect and direct contamination.

Most surface water contamination comes from construction runoff from the mine and the removal of nonmetallic material from the stream channel. These and other effects change the habitats for aquatic life and could potentially change the biodiversity in the area by forcing the organisms to move or by killing them off.

Negative impacts on fisheries have not been an issue in the past as fracking is not a new thing, but with the recent increase in mining the number of nonmetallic mines have also increased which could harm the valuable trout fisheries in the area. Wastewater discharges at the mine include pit dewatering and the wash water used for the process are regulated by the Wisconsin DNR.

Hopefully you see that it isn't just the drilling process, but many things are needed for natural gas to be released for energy.

The New York State Assembly has already made a law to consider fracking chemicals as hazardous waste and what their response will be in case it becomes a problem.

There is at least one U.S. law firm that has made a website just for fracking plaintiffs at Fracking Lawsuit News. There is even a movie about the fight against hydraulic fracturing called Gasland done by HBO and the trailer is located HERE.

Why is fracking so dangerous?

It is unregulated.

In the article entitled "The Fracking Industry Buys Congress" explains why this is still the case. According to Nova Scotia, the fracking process doesn't help create jobs and "Tiny Doses of Gas Drilling Chemicals May Have Big Health Effects". These chemicals and crystalline silica enter our air and water disrupting our endocrine system and can cause health problems such as fetal development, diabetes, and infertility. An Important page to read is Sand Mining Surges in Wisconsin.

Not only does this process use a LOT of water (millions of gallons), but for a 4 million gallon fracturing operation 80-330 TONS of chemicals are also used. The New York State's Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) made a list of chemicals and additives used during hydrofracking. Here are only a few listed.

http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101

According to the EPA, many fracturing fluids are toxic chemicals that are dangerous to both humans and wildlife if exposed and some cause cancer. Human exposure to these chemicals occur by consuming contaminated drinking water, breathing polluted air from flowback wastes stored in tanks or through direct skin contact by workers or spill responders. EARTHWORKS lists the chemicals that have 10 or more health effects and there is concern of radioactive materials in the wastewater from natural gas wells in their website for "Hydraulic Fracturing 101". In New York they are unclear how dangerous the radiation levels need to be in order for people to be exposed to be seriously in danger. Radium causes bone, liver, and breast cancer but no one knows yet how much a person can handle. There was a letter written to DEC warning about the disposal of drilling waste and testing will need to be made as well as considerable monitoring. More on that article at Marcellus Shale.

In Ohio, they have had earthquakes due to natural gas drilling. A drilling animation can be located HERE. Obviously, I'm on the "NO" side of this issue and would like to know your thoughts.