There were more like 200 people there last night. At least 80 of us were in the student center spillover area watching it remotely on a screen.
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 11:08 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Spills of drilling chemicals worry experts > > > http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/2230375/Marcellus+Shale++Spills+of+drilling+chemicals+worry+experts > > Transport, disposal said to be greatest risks > > By Krisy Gashler •[email protected] • February 23, 2010, 10:30 pm > > > DRYDEN -- Two chemists and an endocrinologist spoke Tuesday night about the > science and > potential health effects of unconventional natural gas drilling to roughly > 100 people at Tompkins > Cortland Community College. > > The lecture was sponsored by Shaleshock, a citizens' group that opposes > hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale without greater study and more > regulatory oversight. > > Decisions about gas drilling will be guided by the state's experience with > environmental cleanups such as Love Canal in Buffalo, but also by an > understanding of how the country's current energy sources affect our foreign > policy, said William Klepack, a Dryden physician and medical director for > the Tompkins County Health Department. > > Even with no additional chemicals added by gas companies, the water that > flows back from hydro- > fracked wells has enough heavy metals -- and often radioactivity -- to be > classified as hazardous waste, said Ron Bishop, a biochemist at SUNY > Oneonta who has also worked in construction with gas drillers. > > But because of state and federal exemptions granted to the natural gas > industry, the water does not have to be tested or handled as carefully as it > would be if it were created by another industry, Bishop said. In some parts > of the Marcellus Shale, radioactive materials occur naturally at levels 250 > times the level normally regulated by environmental agencies -- but natural > gas drillers aren't even required to > test for radioactivity, he said. > > "Call your legislators," he said. > > The precautionary principle in science and medicine asserts that if an > action could cause severe, irreversible harm, the burden of proof is on > those who want to carry out the action, said > > Thomas Shelley, a chemist and chemical safety and hazardous materials > specialist. Based on this principle, the European Union has banned use of > hundreds of chemicals that are used across the U.S., Shelley said. > > The state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft regulations on > gas drilling list > 257 distinct chemicals that could be used in hydraulic fracturing; > compound-specific toxicity > data on many of those chemicals and their effects on human health and the > environment are "very limited," he said. > > "We're looking at a vast unknown," Shelley said. "Remember the > precautionary principle? We don't see any of it here." > > Of the fluid used to fracture a natural gas well to release the gas, 99.5 > percent is water and sand, > Shelley said. However, because one well can require 3 to 5 million gallons > of water, that equates to 10 to 30 tons of chemicals, Bishop said. > > The risk with chemical use is not from the actual hydrofracking process but > from transport and > disposal, Bishop said. > > "Hydrofracturing is not the boogeyman under the bed; it is not going to > hurt you," Bishop said. > "You're more likely to have problems with transporting the 10 to 30 tons of > chemicals to the > drilling site." > > That kind of accident has occurred, Shelley said, citing an incident last > March when a tanker truck > filled with hydrofluoric acid overturned in Pennsylvania, requiring > emergency crews to close the road and evacuate 5,000 residents. > > Even tiny amounts of some chemicals can act as endocrine disruptors, said > Adam Law, a physician at Cayuga Medical Center who specializes in > endocrinology. > > One study on the chemical makeup of some fluids used in hydrofracking > determined that more than 40 percent of the chemicals used are endocrine > disruptors, which can cause things like birth defects, reproductive problems > and cancer, he said. Tracing a cause of endocrine disruption is > sometimes extremely difficult -- in the case of one medication frequently > given to pregnant women a > generation ago, the negative health effect appeared in their children, > who developed extremely unusual tumors. > > Companies should disclose not just what their fracking fluids are used for, > but the actual chemical composition, so state regulators can assess risk and > study future effects, Law said. > > Part of the reason for non-disclosure is because the fracking formulas are > proprietary, but the other part is that gas companies "don't want us to ask > too many questions," Law said. > > Most of the people he's known in the natural gas industry are careful, > professional and "don't want to contaminate anybody's well," but accidents > happen, Bishop said. Gas companies assert that there has never been a > documented case of water contamination from hydro-fracking, and yet there > are many documented cases of water contamination related to the natural gas > industry, including in nearby Dimock, Pa., Bishop said. > > "If you find contamination, they'll say, 'Oh, that was a spill' (or) 'Oh, > that was a well-casing problem,'" Bishop said. > > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- ---------------------------------------------------- Gay Nicholson, Ph.D. President Sustainable Tompkins 109 S. 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