Please forward!
Liability Bombshell: Must-Read Letters From PA and WI Fracking Victims to
Illinois Lawmakers
05/28/2013
The world is not just watching the unfolding fracking bill debacle at the
Illinois state capitol.
As the Illinois General Assembly votes this week on the state's
increasingly suspect fracking bill, residents affected by similar
operations in Pennsylvania and frac sand mining in Wisconsin, Iowa and
Minnesota took the extraordinary step today of releasing unprecedented
letters warning of a "public health disaster" in the making, and called
on Illinois lawmakers to set aside the flawed bill and "swiftly enact a
moratorium."
"We have learned the hard way that regulations -- no matter how
strict they sound on paper -- do not provide adequate protection to
human health or property, especially in tough economic times when the
state agencies charged with enforcing the regulations are understaffed
and underfunded," states the letter signed by impacted Pennsylvania residents,
released publicly this morning, along with links to a eye-opening "List of the
Harmed" health registry of fracking-related afflictions.
As a powerful response to last week's House Executive Committee
hearing on fracking bill SB 1715, where every member on the committee made the
breathtaking admission of having never visited a fracking site, the letter
challenges
exaggerated promises of jobs and revenue, and provides a firsthand look
at the growing health, workplace and environmental costs of Pennsylvania
communities "transformed into toxic industrial zones" over the past
five years.
Speaking on behalf of "communities situated atop vast deposits of
silica sand, which are a necessary ingredient in the fracking process,"
neighboring residents in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota also underscored
the need for Illinois lawmakers to reconsider the rushed fracking bill
in their separate letter:
We are suffering greatly from the industrial strip-mining
and processing of silica sand that has been the direct consequence of
the ongoing shale gas boom in this nation. Our communities, our land,
and our health are in the process of being literally destroyed by it. We beg
you to declare a moratorium on fracking in Illinois, as we are sure that,
should you move forward with this regulatory bill and open your
state to large-scale fracking, the demand for frac sand will increase
further, along with the price--and thus along with the pressure on our
own political leaders to escalate further the devastating practice of
frac sand mining and processing.
Key themes: Recklessness and liability.
Especially for Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa
Madigan, whose apparent backroom brokering of the fracking regulation
bill without scientists or health expert involvement has already triggered
statewide outrage and placed the controversial issue of fracking into next
year's
gubernatorial race -- just in time for cash-strapped counties to
struggle "with infrastructure maintenance, much less improvements,
expansions or hirings needed for schools and services once drillers and
others associated with fracking start moving in," according to a recent Chicago
Tribune review of fracking tax gain.
Illinois, as the Pennsylvania residents note, is not alone in taking
the fracking leap. But given its longer rap sheet, a recent
Pennsylvania poll showed overwhelming support for a moratorium. New York
awaits a decision, as well.
"A well may end up being poisoned a year from now -- and then what?" New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters last month, as he awaits a state health
assessment on fracking. "I
don't want the liability, frankly, and I don't have the knowledge."
In an editorial on Sunday, the L.A. Times scolded Gov. Jerry Brown's
administration and handed over their support for a fracking moratorium as "the
prudent course."
That same message was echoed by the Albany Times Union two months ago: "Whether
you feel that natural gas fracking is the
economic salvation of New York or an environmental disaster waiting to
happen, there is one indisputable fact about it: The science is not in.
Not by a long shot. And that's why a moratorium in New York makes
sense."
Admonishing Illinois lawmakers to "enact a moratorium in order to
take the time to visit areas with fracking, bring scientists and medical
experts into the process, and undertake an environmental and public
health study," the besieged Pennsylvania residents didn't pull any
punches on their warnings: "If you allow fracking to go forward as
planned, you will bring to your state the same horrific experiences we
have suffered in Pennsylvania. "
The full letter is below.
May 28, 2013
Illinois General Assembly
Governor Pat Quinn
Attorney General Lisa Madigan
State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Dear Governor Quinn, Attorney General Madigan, and Members of the Illinois
General Assembly,
We write today to urge you not to allow high-volume horizontal
fracturing ('fracking') for oil and gas in Illinois. We, the undersigned
residents of Pennsylvania, are among the many victims of fracking.
Informed by extensive first-hand experience with the oil and gas
industry and suffering from the impacts of fracking, we implore you with the
greatest sincerity to protect the health and safety of the people
of Illinois and swiftly enact a moratorium on fracking. We have learned
the hard way that regulations--no matter how strict they sound on
paper--do not provide adequate protection to human health or property,
especially in tough economic times when the state agencies charged with
enforcing the regulations are understaffed and underfunded. Also,
regulations cannot prevent accidents, and this is an industry prone to
accidents of an especially frightening nature and whose effects are not
temporary.
The oil and gas industry promises that fracking is safe and that it
will create jobs and bring your state riches, but Pennsylvania's
experience in the past five years tells a very different story. In
short, water contamination has been widespread; our air has been
polluted; countless individuals and families have been sickened; farms
have been devastated, cattle have died, and our pristine streams and
rivers have turned up dead fish; only a fraction of the promised jobs
and revenue for the state have come to fruition; and our communities
have been transformed into toxic industrial zones with 24/7 noise,
flares, thousands of trucks, and increased crime. What's more, the jobs have
made many workers so sick that they can no longer work in the industry.
A week ago, the Scranton Times-Tribune revealed that oil and gas development
from fracking damaged the water
supplies of at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and
businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, as indicated by state
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) records. The Times-Tribune
notes that this number is not comprehensive; an exhaustive analysis was
made impossible by DEP's lack of transparency, poor record keeping,
potentially inadequate testing procedures, and lack of cooperation with
the investigation. Regardless, with around 4,000 wells drilled during
that four-year timespan, these 161 cases show how common and extensive
water contamination is from fracking operations. These numbers are not
surprising given the high rate of well casing failures. By the gas
industry and the DEP's own data, well casing failure rate in
Pennsylvania is 6.2% (rising to 8.9% in 2012). Failures occur when the
layers of cement and steel that encase the well--providing a barrier
between the toxic fracking fluid and freshwater aquifers--are damaged or become
corroded. Even with the most careful workmanship cement can
shrink, crumble, and crack as it ages.
Because the chemicals used in fracking operations are highly toxic,
water contamination is a very serious problem. Although the industry
blocks attempts to know what chemicals and combinations are used, we
know that it is a cocktail whose ingredients are selected from a
possible menu of around 600 chemicals. Those include many known
carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. They include chemicals such as
benzene, toluene, hydrochloric acid and petroleum distillates. In
addition to the chemicals used by the industry, the operation releases
many hazardous materials from the shale itself, including radium,
uranium and radon, arsenic, and mercury. Cows that have consumed water
contaminated with used fracking fluid (flowback waste) have quickly
died, and land where it has spilled has been scorched.
For us, fracking has been a public health disaster. Victims
experience symptoms ranging from headaches, dizziness, burning eyes,
sore throats, rashes, hair loss, severe nose bleeds, nausea, blood
poisoning, liver damage, intestinal pain, neurological damage, cancers
and many more. Many fracking victims who have suffered these health
symptoms sign legal agreements that force them to forfeit all rights to
speak about what has happened to them in order to settle with
multi-national oil and gas corporations. Although many cases have been
hidden from the public eye through these non-disclosure agreements, we
have compiled a 'List of the Harmed' that now well exceeds 1,000. Our
efforts to create this lay registry of healthy problems in an attempt to
compensate for the legally enforced silence of our medical community.
After extensive lobbying by the oil and gas industry, the Pennsylvania
State Legislature passed Act 13, which, among other things, places a gag order
on doctors who deal with victims of fracking and who wish information
about the possible chemicals to which their patient may have been
exposed.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project - an initiative of
medical experts - is working with Pennsylvanians
affected by fracking and has concluded that health impacts are serious
and that we still do not have enough scientific data to make an informed
decision or to be able to claim that ANY regulations will protect
public health.
One major, uncontrollable problem is hazardous air pollutants, which are
emitted from wellheads themselves, as well as from flares,
dehydration devices, compressor stations, and the thousands of diesel
trucks that are needed to service each well. Silica dust--a known cause of
lung cancer and silicosis--is also a problem in an around drilling
and fracking operations. We live with the knowledge that our children
are breathing in hazardous air, and are left to wonder what and how
severe the ramifications will be in their future.
Our environment has been transformed seemingly overnight from
beautiful countryside and farms into toxic, heavy industrial zones.
Commutes that used to take 30 minutes now take two hours because of the
truck traffic. Many of our schools and playgrounds are blanketed in
carcinogenic silica dust. Towering flares light up the night sky, while
health-damaging levels of noise penetrate our homes 24/7. Only a small
fraction of the promised jobs and revenue have materialized, with most
jobs going to out-of-state workers and most revenue accruing to a only
few individuals. Meanwhile the community has had to pay for road and
bridge damage, increased accidents and need for more emergency workers,
and we've had to live with increased crime rates.
In addition to the water contamination, air pollution, industrialized
communities, increased crime rates and ruined farms, we've also
experienced countless spills, blowouts and disasters. Communities have
been evacuated because of explosions and uncontrolled leaks and fires.
As we have experienced the horrors of fracking firsthand for years,
we have also carefully followed the industry in other parts of the
country and watched the science that has emerged. We have followed what
is happening in Illinois with great dismay. We are certain that your
proposed regulations will not protect the health of Illinois residents,
your farms, communities, environment, and everything that makes Illinois
special. Please, do not make this mistake.
If you allow fracking to go forward as planned, you will bring to
your state the same horrific experiences we have suffered in
Pennsylvania. The oil and gas industry cannot and must not be trusted.
We implore you to enact a moratorium in order to take the time to visit
areas with fracking, bring scientists and medical experts into the
process, and undertake an environmental and public health study. This is the
only responsible course of action, and far too much is at risk to
do otherwise. We would be glad to speak with you, and we invite you to
our homes and communities to see fracking and its impacts first-hand.
Speaking on behalf of a broad network of communities, sincerely,
Ron Gulla, Hickory, PA
Adam Headley, Smithfield, PA
David Headley, Smithfield, PA
Grant Headley, Smithfield, PA
Linda Headley, Smithfield, PA
Ray Kemble, Dimock, PA
Jenny Lisak, Punxsutawney, PA
Matt Manning, Montrose, PA
Tammy Manning, Montrose, PA
Randy Moyer, Portage, PA
Vera Scroggins, Silver Lake Township, PA
Craig L. Stevens, Silver Lake Township, PA
Read
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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