sharingwisdom
04-20-2011, 11:16 PM
https://onefairworld.com/2011/04/meet-the-families-whose-lives-have-been-ruined-by-gas-drilling/
Excerpt
The Spencers’ house, once valued at $150,000, is now worth $29,000. They have a methane monitor in their basement, a methane water filtration system in a backyard shed. They leave the door open when they take showers because with no bathroom windows they are afraid the house could blow up. Their neighbors were forced to evacuate once already because of high methane levels. In the middle of their yard, a shaft resembling a shrunken flagpole vents gas from their wellhead. Next to the doorway, a huge “water buffalo” storage container, a signature imprint of the collateral damage brought on by gas drilling, sits like a bloated child’s pool, filled with water, not fit for drinking.
All the damage occurred before the wells had even been “fracked,” which is set to happen later this year, and could make things even worse. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves injecting a slurry of toxic chemicals, water and sand underground to release gas.
Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett, and most of the state’s politicians have embraced gas drilling and the tandem practice of fracking as a terrific boost for the economy and a “clean” alternative to foreign oil. Water well contamination, spills, truck diesel emissions, migrating methane, and radioactivity waste leaked into rivers, have generally been dismissed as minor concerns or isolated problems. There is pressure to keep the picture positive despite more than 750 violations issued by DEP last year alone. A new directive supported by the gas industry now requires inspectors to first get approval from Harrisburg before writing any violations, a move considered unprecedented in the agency’s history.
...A new report about to be released from Cornell University contends that fracking contributes to global warming as much, or even more, than coal. The research undermines the gas industry’s long-standing claim that natural gas is a clean energy source. But people who live in gas-drilling areas already have concerns.[/
Up the road, in the path of the bubbles, Carl Stiles’ home sits abandoned, inches of snow left untouched on the front steps. He left with his fiancé in mid-November after their blood tests showed high levels of barium and their home had radon levels three times the limit. They had been experiencing a myriad of health problems for months.
“I had tremors on my right side, constant headaches, numbness. We both had heart attack symptoms, ” said Stiles, 45. Water tests in his well showed high levels of methane. A hole erupted in their front yard and spewed out a mysterious froth. Chesapeake gave the couple bottled drinking water but denied responsibility. Stiles said visits to local doctors were frustrating. He believes they discounted the possibility of chemical poisoning and he fears there was a conflict of interest because Chesapeake gives so much money to area medical centers. Finally, a toxicologist in Philadelphia told them to stop drinking their water and leave their home. They haven’t been back since.
Excerpt
The Spencers’ house, once valued at $150,000, is now worth $29,000. They have a methane monitor in their basement, a methane water filtration system in a backyard shed. They leave the door open when they take showers because with no bathroom windows they are afraid the house could blow up. Their neighbors were forced to evacuate once already because of high methane levels. In the middle of their yard, a shaft resembling a shrunken flagpole vents gas from their wellhead. Next to the doorway, a huge “water buffalo” storage container, a signature imprint of the collateral damage brought on by gas drilling, sits like a bloated child’s pool, filled with water, not fit for drinking.
All the damage occurred before the wells had even been “fracked,” which is set to happen later this year, and could make things even worse. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves injecting a slurry of toxic chemicals, water and sand underground to release gas.
Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett, and most of the state’s politicians have embraced gas drilling and the tandem practice of fracking as a terrific boost for the economy and a “clean” alternative to foreign oil. Water well contamination, spills, truck diesel emissions, migrating methane, and radioactivity waste leaked into rivers, have generally been dismissed as minor concerns or isolated problems. There is pressure to keep the picture positive despite more than 750 violations issued by DEP last year alone. A new directive supported by the gas industry now requires inspectors to first get approval from Harrisburg before writing any violations, a move considered unprecedented in the agency’s history.
...A new report about to be released from Cornell University contends that fracking contributes to global warming as much, or even more, than coal. The research undermines the gas industry’s long-standing claim that natural gas is a clean energy source. But people who live in gas-drilling areas already have concerns.[/
Up the road, in the path of the bubbles, Carl Stiles’ home sits abandoned, inches of snow left untouched on the front steps. He left with his fiancé in mid-November after their blood tests showed high levels of barium and their home had radon levels three times the limit. They had been experiencing a myriad of health problems for months.
“I had tremors on my right side, constant headaches, numbness. We both had heart attack symptoms, ” said Stiles, 45. Water tests in his well showed high levels of methane. A hole erupted in their front yard and spewed out a mysterious froth. Chesapeake gave the couple bottled drinking water but denied responsibility. Stiles said visits to local doctors were frustrating. He believes they discounted the possibility of chemical poisoning and he fears there was a conflict of interest because Chesapeake gives so much money to area medical centers. Finally, a toxicologist in Philadelphia told them to stop drinking their water and leave their home. They haven’t been back since.