Feb 23, 2014 | Voice of Russia
Concern has been mounting among residents of the US states of Ohio and West Virginia over health risks from chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing activities or fracking. Waste from gas fracking sites is brought to landfills but no tests for radiation or other health-damaging effects are actually done. There is also the twin threat of worsening air and ground water pollution and the depletion of local freshwater resources.
About 100,000 liters of chemicals and more than 18 million liters of water are used per frack. Water mixed with sand and chemicals is injected into a borehole at high pressure and factures the rock. The gas or oil released during the process is pumped out. The boreholes are lined with steel pipes and have protective cement casings. Fracking wastewater cannot be returned into a water body. It remains underground. The problem is, however, that that with each new frack the cement expands and contracts and eventually cracks and then the fracking fluid seeps through and contaminates the water table.
Kip
Rondy, co-owner of Green Edge Gardens in Amesville, Ohio, was among
those recently arrested for blocking the K&H Injection Well in
Athens County. He fears that fracking might cause irreparable harm to
the ground water and aquifers.
"There are a lot of ways
for something to get into the aquifers. Even with all of the technology
available, there is no way to know for certain that the aquifers won't
be contaminated," he told reporters.
Rondy, 64, who has
had a farm in Lincoln County, W.Va., for 10 years, lashed out at
extractive industries for taking materials and wealth away from an area
and leaving its people impoverished as little infrastructure is built
for the long-term benefit of the area.
"The reality is we are being duped… The areas end up being depleted and worse off than what they were before," he said.
Still
worse, drilling companies refuse to disclose the chemicals they use in
the fracking process, claiming it’s a trade secret, despite possible
dangers to workers and health staff.
"First-responders,
medical responders and hospitals need to know what they might be dealing
with," said Chuck Wyrostok, of the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra
Club. He urged tighter environmental monitoring of fracking.
"There
are several stages in the process that should have inspectors on scene.
"They don't have enough to do that... Casings can fail over a period of
time. Fluid can get into the aquifers, water can be poisoned and there
would be no way to fix it,” he said.
When their neighborhoods are polluted by fracking, where will people go?
Voice of Russia, News and Sentinel
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