Fracking our water

Fracking is a process for extracting natural gas from shale located deep in the earth’s crust. Frackers drill vertically about a mile deep into the crust of the earth and then drill horizontally for some distance. They then pump under very high pressure about 4 to 5 million gallons of good potable water per well with enabling chemicals to fracture the shale and release methane gas from it. The water that returns in the well, which is only a fraction of the water that was pumped into it, is highly toxic. It contains not only the toxic enabling chemicals, but also heavy metals and radioactive materials released from the shale. The fracking water is first left in pools for evaporation and the remainder is containerized and shipped off to public water treatment plants for processing. The process was exempted during the Bush Administration from the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. [1, 2]

Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has partnered with Clean Water Action, Protecting Our Waters, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Sierra Club of Southeastern PA, PennEnvironment and other groups to host a Open Forum on Gas Drilling in the Delaware River watershed.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 5:30 – 7:30 PM
WHERE: City Council Chambers (4th Floor), City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
WHY: Hydrofracking introduces highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene, and radioactive elements including radium 226, as well as hydrofracking constituents such as diesel fuel, hydrochloric acid, and worse, into Philadelphia’s water supply — the cleanest part of our watershed, the Upper Delaware river. Regulators have been completely unable to protect public health from this deep type of gas drilling which is so new that its risks are only beginning to be studied.

Notes:
1. NY Times, February 27, 2011, Drilling Down: Regulation Lax as Gas Wells' Tainted Water Hits Rivers , By IAN URBINA … A method to extract more natural gas often produces wastewater laced with radioactive or other toxic substances. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html

2. Democracy Now!, March 4, 2011: The environmental contamination and human health risk associated with the extraction of natural gas using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” was little known across the United States for years, until a documentary film brought the issue to the national stage. Josh Fox directed the film Gasland, which chronicles the devastation affecting communities where fracking is taking place, and the influence of the natural gas industry over regulation of the techniques and chemicals used in the process. The industry aggressively attacked the film, especially when it was nominated for an Academy Award this year… http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/4/natural_gas_industry_attacks_oscar_nominated