Here’s another fact sheet you can use as you talk with people about fracking. This one focuses topics including:
Property value, Per-acre payments, Royalty payments, Loss of livelihood, Taxpayer burden, Landowner liability, and Open-ended leases.
As public health and environmental studies catch up with the fracking industry, the extent of illnesses, air pollution, the ruining of well water, and a host of other significant hazards is becoming clear. Linked here is an updated compendium of the science on fracking from the Concerned Health Professionals of New York. It is a great resource, and shows just how dishonest oil and gas industry representatives are when they say that there is no proof that fracking harms people and communities..
- A peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Health Perspectives associated pregnant women being near fracking areas with birth defects. The authors stated “In this large cohort, we observed an association between density and proximity of natural gas wells within a 10-mile radius of maternal residence and prevalence of CHDs (congenital heart defects) and possible NTDs (neural tube defects).
- According to an article from Environmental Heath Perspectives, “The average methane concentration in shallow groundwater in active drilling areas fell within the defined action level (>10 mg/L but <28 mg/L) for hazard mitigation recommended by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the maximum (64 mg/L) was well beyond that threshold, according to the report,” and further, “Based on a non-peer-reviewed survey of the five states that systematically report incidents at wells where fracking occurs and where complaints have spurred inspections, Ronald E. Bishop, a lecturer in chemistry and biochemistry at the State University of New York, Oneonta, estimates nearly 2% of such gas wells may end up contaminating groundwater with fracking fluids. Bishop says 50% of new natural gas wells recently inspected in Quebec leaked methane.”
- A study published in Environmental Health found that “Levels of eight volatile chemicals exceeded federal guidelines under several operational circumstances. Benzene, formaldehyde, and hydrogen sulfide were the most common compounds to exceed acute and other health-based risk levels” and that “Air concentrations of potentially dangerous compounds and chemical mixtures are frequently present near oil and gas production sites.”