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THE TRUTH ABOUT GAS DRILLING AND YOUR HEALTH
Unbossed: Monday, June 12, 2006
Oil and Gas Drilling May Be Killing You - Part II “My daughter, who was two years old at the time of the hydraulic fracturing would vomit every night when she would get out of the bath tub upon going to bed…” - Thomas McKenzie, Repton, Alabama So, you think that natural gas is a ‘clean fuel’? Well, think again. In fact, it may be killing you right now. This morning I described the different points of air, soil and water contamination that occur during drilling and production. I also discussed some of the toxins associated with the natural gas industry and the effects they have on the human body. In Part II, we will look at the actual, on the ground impacts many families are encountering at the hands of this unregulated industry. As natural gas drilling explodes around the western United States, very few people seem to be asking: what are the potential public health issues associated with this new form of industrialization? Will this industry result in a host of multi-generational diseases and health afflictions unparallel in American history? Click here to read the full story.
Oil and Gas Drilling May Be Killing You - Part II “My daughter, who was two years old at the time of the hydraulic fracturing would vomit every night when she would get out of the bath tub upon going to bed…” - Thomas McKenzie, Repton, Alabama So, you think that natural gas is a ‘clean fuel’? Well, think again. In fact, it may be killing you right now. This morning I described the different points of air, soil and water contamination that occur during drilling and production. I also discussed some of the toxins associated with the natural gas industry and the effects they have on the human body. In Part II, we will look at the actual, on the ground impacts many families are encountering at the hands of this unregulated industry. As natural gas drilling explodes around the western United States, very few people seem to be asking: what are the potential public health issues associated with this new form of industrialization? Will this industry result in a host of multi-generational diseases and health afflictions unparallel in American history? Click here to read the full story.
This story first appeared on ProPublica.
Natural Gas Drilling Rig Kills Cattle
16 cattle drop dead after apparently drinking from a mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas drilling rig.
—By Abrahm Lustgarten
ProPublica has been reporting for months about how natural gas drilling is affecting the environment, but of all the causes for concern we've reported, here's a doozy.
Sixteen cattle dropped dead in a northwestern Louisiana field this week after apparently drinking from a mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas drilling rig, according to Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality and a report in the Shreveport Times. At least one worker told the newspaper that the fluids, which witnesses described as green and spewing into the air near the drilling derrick, were used for a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing. But the company, Chesapeake Energy, has not identified exactly what chemicals are in those fluids and is insisting to state regulators that no spill occurred.
The problem is that both Chesapeake and its contractor doing the work Schlumberger, say that a lot of these fluids are proprietary, said Otis Randle, regional manager for the DEQ. "It can be an obstacle, but we try to be fair to everybody," he said. "We try to remember that the products they use are theirs and they need them to make a living."
"It felt like an appendicitis attack."
The family, which is poor enough to qualify for government food stamps, began buying bottled water for drinking and cooking. Their illnesses finally ended, and Farnelli found something to blame: natural gas drilling in the township of 1,400 people.
Dimock, in a former coal mining region that was economically struggling even before the recession, is one of hundreds of sites in Pennsylvania where energy companies are now racing to tap the massive Marcellus Shale natural gas formation. Click here to read the full story.
10/1/09 Water worries Threaten U.S. Push for Natural Gas By Jon Hurdle PAVILLION, Wyoming (Reuters) - Louis Meeks, a burly 59-year-old alfalfa farmer, fills a metal trough with water from his well and watches an oily sheen form on the surface which gives off a faint odor of paint. He points to small bubbles that appear in the water, and a thin ring of foam around the edge. Meeks is convinced that energy companies drilling for natural gas in this central Wyoming farming community have poisoned his water and ruined his health. A recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency suggests he just might have a case -- and that the multi-billion dollar industry may have a problem on its hands. EPA tests found his well contained what it termed 14 "contaminants of concern." It tested 39 wells in the Pavillion area this year, and said in August that 11 were contaminated. The agency did not identify the cause but said gas drilling was a possibility. Click here to read the full story.
NPR
November 3, 2009
Health Issues Follow Natural Gas Drilling In Texas
A boom in natural gas is underway. New gas fields have opened up thanks to an advanced drilling technique. It allows gas to be extracted from underground shale rock formations. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal or petroleum, though extracting it is still hard, dirty work. And some people who live near some major gas projects are complaining. NPR's John Burnett has this story from the massive Barnett Shale gas deposit in North Texas. JOHN BURNETT: To date there are more than 12,000 gas wells in the Barnett Shale. It's a vast rock formation that underlies 5,000 square miles surrounding Fort Worth. To get the gas to market requires an underground highway of pipelines and compression stations. These big internal combustion engines make noise and spew pollutants into the air day and night. State records show that in the past decade the number of gas compressors in the Barnett has jumped from a few hundred to 1,300, and they're getting closer and closer to populated areas. Mayor CALVIN TILMEN (Dish, Texas): My name is Calvin Tillman. I'm the mayor of a small town of Dish, Texas, the home of free Dish Network satellite TV, and it is also known for 11 natural gas compression stations. Click here to read the full story.Reuters
US Energy Future Hits Snag in Rural Pennsylvania
Friday 13 March 2009
by: Jon Hurdle
A glass of milky brown drinking water from a residential well in Dimock, Pennsylvania, after natural gas drilling operations began nearby.
Dimock, Pennsylvania - When her children started missing school because of persistent diarrhea and vomiting, Pat Farnelli began to wonder if she and her family were suffering from more than just a classroom bug.
After trying several remedies, she stopped using the water drawn from her well in this rural corner of northeastern Pennsylvania, the forefront of a drilling boom in what may be the biggest U.S. reserve of natural gas.
"I was getting excruciating stomach cramps after drinking the water," Farnelli said in an interview at her farmhouse, cluttered as a home with eight children would be, while her husband, a night cook at a truck stop, slept on the couch.
Gas Drilling Too Noisy For Some in Johnson County
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It's called "Big Daddy." To neighbors who live near it, it's a big deal.
"I wish it would shut up," said neighbor Skip Bryant. "Big Daddy" is EOG Resources' big compressor station that sits just south of Mansfield in Johnson County. It's about the size of a small grocery store with four 20-foot tall turbine engines inside.
July 30, 2008
10/1/09 Water worries Threaten U.S. Push for Natural Gas By Jon Hurdle PAVILLION, Wyoming (Reuters) - Louis Meeks, a burly 59-year-old alfalfa farmer, fills a metal trough with water from his well and watches an oily sheen form on the surface which gives off a faint odor of paint. He points to small bubbles that appear in the water, and a thin ring of foam around the edge. Meeks is convinced that energy companies drilling for natural gas in this central Wyoming farming community have poisoned his water and ruined his health. A recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency suggests he just might have a case -- and that the multi-billion dollar industry may have a problem on its hands. EPA tests found his well contained what it termed 14 "contaminants of concern." It tested 39 wells in the Pavillion area this year, and said in August that 11 were contaminated. The agency did not identify the cause but said gas drilling was a possibility. Click here to read the full story.
b
y John Burnett Vast new natural gas fields have opened up thanks to an advanced drilling technique. While natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal or petroleum, extracting it is still hard, dirty work. Some people who live near the massive Barnett Shale gas deposit in north Texas, have complaints. Health and environmental concerns are prompting state regulators to take a closer look. RENEE MONTAGNE, host:A boom in natural gas is underway. New gas fields have opened up thanks to an advanced drilling technique. It allows gas to be extracted from underground shale rock formations. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal or petroleum, though extracting it is still hard, dirty work. And some people who live near some major gas projects are complaining. NPR's John Burnett has this story from the massive Barnett Shale gas deposit in North Texas. JOHN BURNETT: To date there are more than 12,000 gas wells in the Barnett Shale. It's a vast rock formation that underlies 5,000 square miles surrounding Fort Worth. To get the gas to market requires an underground highway of pipelines and compression stations. These big internal combustion engines make noise and spew pollutants into the air day and night. State records show that in the past decade the number of gas compressors in the Barnett has jumped from a few hundred to 1,300, and they're getting closer and closer to populated areas. Mayor CALVIN TILMEN (Dish, Texas): My name is Calvin Tillman. I'm the mayor of a small town of Dish, Texas, the home of free Dish Network satellite TV, and it is also known for 11 natural gas compression stations. Click here to read the full story.
T
he compressor station is necessary for EOG to extract natural gas from the ground as part of its drilling operations in the Barnett Shale. When CBS 11 News was on site, only the large fans inside the compressors were running. Although it was loud, neighbors say it's nothing compared to when the engines fire up. "When I first moved out here, it was quiet," said Bryant. "Now I feel I'm living next to an airport. It's a constant war." Neighbors say the compressors are at their loudest at night and during weekends, when residents such as Bob Walker like to relax outside. "Soon as I hear it, I think to myself, well I might as well go back inside," said Walker. Neighbors have complained in the past, so EOG built walls around the station. However, the energy company put up only 3 walls instead of four and a roof. Neighbors say as long as "Big Daddy" is not fully enclosed, life in the country is not the life they bargained for. "You never know when it's going to turn on," said Debora Garza. "I can hear it throughout the house, and at times it has woken me up at night. It's impossible to get any peace and quiet." EOG Resources released the following statement: "EOG Resources is concerned about its neighbors in the communities where we operate. We address operation site on a case by case basis to minimize the impact on our neighbors."