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1. Global warming claims all hot air, says speaker at OU2. Police chief: City can’t stop parties before they start3. Parties spun by OU alums have bootie-shakers raving4. High St. student renters take on big local landlord5. Is another oil and gas land-rush starting in Athens?6. OU student charged with raping 17-year-old7. For most, the journey to Nine Fest seemed worth it8. Tanning parlor fights to get back into uptown Athens storefront9. Oak and Mill fests mellow down easy10. Landowners’ group renews leasing pitch11. City Council acts to ban ‘fracking’ in water supply area12. Wal-Mart asks judge to grant store win in shoplifter’s lawsuit13. OU and city officials urge better fest behavior14. Pills defeated relative when no other drugs could do it15. David Alan Jones16. Electric blue skies, May warmth frame music fest17. Local developers hoping to revive struggling hotel18. Festering fests; down, down deep; and the Golden Rule19. Hall of Fame baseball coach calls it a day at OU20. Graphic design students show off their chops
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Home / Articles / Editorial / Letters / Messing with hydraulic fracturing's like putting a loaded gun to your head
Sunday, June 19,2011
Messing with hydraulic fracturing's like putting a loaded gun to your head
To the Editor:
"Safe" hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is as much of an oxymoron as "safe" Russian Roulette. In both cases, if you play the "game" long enough, the end result is devastating.
Consider the fracking process:
"Safe" hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is as much of an oxymoron as "safe" Russian Roulette. In both cases, if you play the "game" long enough, the end result is devastating.
Consider the fracking process:
1) Shale and rock formations 8,000-plus feet below the earth's surface are fractured, causing fissures and mini earthquakes.
2) As many as 750 chemicals, including millions of gallons of diesel and 29 known or possible human carcinogens (according to a congressional report by Rep. Diana Degette), are pressure-forced into the earth with water and sand to force natural gas out of the ground.
3) When the natural gas is forced above ground, that same mix of toxic chemicals also reaches the Earth's surface causing environmental and health problems for humans and animals.
4) Residual toxic chemicals remain underground, in some documented cases, poisoning wells and waterways.
So how does "safe" fracking occur? It doesn't, unless, as in the only way to safely play Russian Roulette, you don't load the gun or just refuse to play the game. Unfortunately, our elected representatives in the state of Ohio have chosen to load the "fracking gun." Our Senate just passed a bill to allow fracking in Ohio's state parks. But it's not too late; the game's not over yet!
To take action or learn more about fracking for yourself visit: www.theoec.org or www.gaslandthemovie.com or watch the documentary film "Gasland," available on YouTube.
Jackie Deems
Perrysville, Ohio
Also in Letters:
Forest Service apparently on verge of allowing oil-gas leasesWhat good does Ohio University provide to Athens community?City just encourages drunk-fests by closing traffic, recognizing eventsLet’s hope that climate change denial evaporates into stupidityFor decency’s sake, Time Warner, bring back Columbus CBS!Mitt Romney and Palmer Fest celebrants have much in commonWhy is city discriminating against people who want to rent out homes?Health commissioner is ignoring a lot of hard data that questions fluorideIf you’re disgusted by banking folly, you can express yourself locallyCity Council right to challenge state law on fracking regulation
I never cease to be amazed how many liberals pass on such propaganda without checking their facts and then pat themselves on the back for being so intelligent. From the author's comments it's very evident they didn't bother to check any of the tripe posted.
"1) Shale and rock formations 8,000-plus feet below the earth's surface are fractured, causing fissures and mini earthquakes"
How is that you, sitting in your house in SE ohio know more than the antifracturing scientists who have not found one single case of fracturing causing a "mini earthquake"? Oh it's because you saw it in a movie, just like Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" which has at least 13 major flaws, innaccuracies and outright lies.
"2) As many as 750 chemicals, including millions of gallons of diesel and 29 known or possible human carcinogens (according to a congressional report by Rep. Diana Degette), are pressure-forced into the earth with water and sand to force natural gas out of the ground."
99% of what is pumped into the ground is sand and water. No diesel fuel is EVER pumped into the ground. Rep Diana Degette made the same mistake the movie did. They included everything on the driller's MSDS sheet. The diesel listed is used for running the drills and trucks on site. This statement is an outright lie and shows a complete lack by this letter writer of checking any facts for herself. In fact the 3 worst chemicals listed in the movie,naphthalene, toluene and xylene are never ever used in fracking and never have been. There are actually 73 chemicals used in fracking and if you check under your sink you will find almost every single one of them. So does that mean we should quit cleaning our kitchens?
"3) When the natural gas is forced above ground, that same mix of toxic chemicals also reaches the Earth's surface causing environmental and health problems for humans and animals."
The federal government under the commiemander and emperor, tried unsuccessfully to prove this fact with 2 studies and 34 million dollars. In recent testimony before congress, Lisa Jackson, director of the EPA and a huge fracking critic was forced to admit that her studies did not find even one single case where this writer's assertions are true. And this report comes from a woman who wants to stop fracking altogether using scientists who also are against fracking.
http://www.energyindepth.org/tag/lisa-jackson/
http://marcellusdrilling.com/2010/06/list-of-78-chemicals-used-in-hydraulic-fracturing-fluid-in-pennsylvania/
"4) Residual toxic chemicals remain underground, in some documented cases, poisoning wells and waterways."
Another outright lie. To date there are exactly zero confirmed cases of surface water pollution.(See above link to comments by EPA administrator and life long environmental nut Lisa Jackson) And this is from your own scientists and not ones from the gas companies. Zero zilch nada. Anyone can watch a movie, but it takes intelligence to do actual research. If you do actual research you would find that all drilling is encased in concrete and are several thousand feet below the surface water.
In fact if someone is serious about cutting greenhouse emissions and getting off the foreign oil merry go round, fracking provides both. gas is relatively cheap, although if we use it to replace all coal fired plants and replace every gas powered car, we would reduce greenhouse gasses by 25% And our proven reserves will provide for us for the next 75 years.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/06/will-obama-and-big-green-kill-us-industrial-renaissance
And the millions of gallons of diesel fuel comment is the most ridiculous I have ever read. The reason they use sand and water is because they are heavier than oil and they force the oil to the surface. Since diesel is lighter than oil, common sense alone should tell you this is a lie.
No defense of your false statements? Game , set, match.
TRUTH....LIBERAL KRYPTONITE
Yea Steven, the public should believe everything they are told by industry especially that their product is safe. I guess that things like DDT, Agent Orange, Thalidomide, Round-Up, Cigarettes, Viox, Love Cannel, Three Mile, Cuyahoga River, Valdez & Gulf Oil Spill to name just a few disastrous products and environmental messes that industry swore were safe or could not happen. Yep nothing to see here, industry would never do anything to harm the public$$$$$$$$