(Continued from part 1)
I wrote the following for the two hundred and fourth issue of The Culture of Awareness Weekly Newsletter.
On Dec. 31, 2011, right before the Northstar 1 injection well near Youngstown was forced to shut down after just a year in operation, the strongest recorded quake happened at a 3.9 magnitude 1.
The well was immediately shut down, and further research revealed the obvious: the quakes were tied to its activity 1.
The first Youngstown earthquake happened just 13 days after the well began operation in Dec. 2010, and the quakes and tremors stopped shortly after it was shut down 1. Dips in seismic activity were measured on holidays and any other day the well was not in use 1.
According to researcher and seismologist Won-Young Kim, the injection of the chemical water was the cause of the quakes 1. The pressure from the water injection caused a nearby ancient fault to rupture. 1
4. Dangerous Chemicals Are Added to Fracking Water
Dangers of Fracking lists a few of the chemicals added to the water used for fracking.
As you read the list, keep in mind that these chemicals are added to water, pumped underground, and either pumped back down once retrieved to remain in deep underground reserves or left at the surface for treatment plants that, again, don’t have the capacity to deal with them.
In any case, they pollute the environment.
Here are just a few out of the 600 chemicals used:
Mercury
Lead
Uranium
Radium
Methanol
Formaldehyde
Hydrochloric acid
Ethylene Glycol 2
Hopefully, you don’t need me to tell you why we shouldn’t be pumping these chemicals 10,000 feet underground.
There have been numerous reports of fracking water contaminating local water supplies 2, which is why we have videos of people lighting their tap water on fire. One can only imagine the harm these chemicals cause when they contaminate any water supply. This leads to our final fact…
5. Fracking Contaminates Local Water Supplies
Despite the measures taken by oil companies to prevent groundwater contamination, such contamination is common. Methane gas, along with the aforementioned chemicals, leaches out from wells and contaminates groundwater 2.
Methane concentrations are 17 times higher in drinking-water wells near fracking sites than in wells near frack-free places 2. Contaminated well water becomes drinking water for unsuspecting people in nearby cities and towns 2.
Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been documented near fracking sites 2, and cases of sensatory, respiratory and neurological damage due to drinking the water have been reported 2. The rest of the contaminated water which remains underground is not biodegradable 2.
The wastewater that isn’t pumped back underground is left to evaporate in open air pits, which releases harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere 2. This creates acid rain, contaminated air and ground-level ozone 2.
The facts on this issue aren’t pretty, and ignorance will only be bliss until they start fracking in your hometown.
Oil extraction was dangerous enough before fracking, but now, we have even more to be concerned about. We need to take a stand, because it won’t go away if we don’t rise up and demand it come to an end.
History has proven we can only change the world through dedication and the refusal to give in.
Hopefully, these facts will awaken those of you who’ve been in the dark and encourage you to contribute to an anti-fracking movement that’s doing pretty well but needs more passionate contributors.
Unless we take a stand, fracking and all these other things we know are wrong will continue indefinitely.
Sources:
- “Fracking Practices to Blame for Ohio Earthquakes” by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science:
https://www.livescience.com/39406-fracking-wasterwater-injection-caused-ohio-earthquakes.html
- Dangers of Fracking:
https://www.dangersoffracking.com/
By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness, July 4, 2016 – https://tinyurl.com/zku8nb5