Congress, Environment, Politics, Society

Study Finds Fracking Causing Contamination Of Chemicals Linked To Birth Defects And Other Harms To Human

220px-Process_of_mixing_water_with_fracking_fluids_to_be_injected_into_the_groundEnvironmentalists have been fighting the expanding use of fracking operations in the United States as a harmful practice, particularly for water contamination. The practice involves injecting millions of gallons of chemical-laced water and sand deep underground to crack shale formations to extract oil and gas. Not only does it use a huge amount of water in areas of water shortage but the chemicals contaminate both surface and underground water resources. Now a study in the journal Endocrinology has found a linkage to chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer as well as elevated levels of the hormone-disrupting chemicals in the Colorado River.

The danger to people in these areas has been routinely denied by the oil and gas lobby as well as members of Congress and state legislators who have advanced the interests of the fracking industry. Worse yet, some current laws exempt fracking from protections for safe drinking water and energy companies do not have to disclose the chemicals they use if they consider that information a trade secret.

The team in the study tested for endocrine-disrupting chemicals and found that, out of 39 water samples collected at five drilling sites, 89% showed estrogenic properties, 41% were anti-estrogenic, 12% were androgenic and 46% were anti-androgenic. The chemical found in the sample can interfere with human sex hormones.

The response from the industry was predictable. Katie Brown, a spokeswoman with the industry advocacy group Energy In Depth, dismissed the study as “inflammatory.” With a study showing a danger to people and birth defects, the industry and its lobbyists respond with a shrug and a dismissive comment. Politicians are also conspicuously silent. These same politicians celebrate “family values” but it appears that birth defects in families does not fall within the scope of such concerns.

There may be counter-arguments to be made to these concerns but what concerns me is the success of this lobby in cutting off this debate. I would like to see a substantive response to this report, but I fear that we are not going to have a full public debate on the risks of this expanding form of extraction.

Source: LA Times

65 thoughts on “Study Finds Fracking Causing Contamination Of Chemicals Linked To Birth Defects And Other Harms To Human”

  1. Dredd, I know this is an emotional point for you and I respect that. And, I really respect the fact that you admit sand isn’t the problem. This kid as much as admitted it also. My point was environmental groups have made fracking number one on the list and they are creating a multi front war, which is sometimes effective, sometimes not. I am proud of my former student working for an environmental group for peanuts. He’s a very educated, smart kid and could be making big bucks.

    However There is one person here who thinks sand is the problem. It’s called beach phobia.

  2. Fracking is good for business….. Just not the rest of the world…. For each well sunk or drilled whether its productive or not takes between 1 million to 10 million gallons of water…. No real issue until until you realize that it will take more than 30/40 thousand years before the water makes it back to use ability….. Never mind the fact that while processing….in the ground it leeches into the permeable ground water tables…..

    Interesting as been pointed out there have been numerous earth quakes in areas that are not in fault lines…. For some reason houses are blowing up…. Natural gas has no smell until an accelerate in put in it……

    Mining is important to the economy…. That’s why… Miners tale birds down the mine shafts….. If the bird dies…. It’s time to go…..

    I think Elaine and I talked about this last night…. She did an excellent piece in 2011….,

  3. nick spinelli 1, December 18, 2013 at 10:46 am

    … Big oil has more money and smarter spinners which is why they usually win.
    ===========================
    This is not a game, it is about the destruction of civilization and billions of deaths because “big oil” i.e. Oil-Qaeda “is smarter” …

    Psychopaths are very smart in one sense but psychopathic-ally dumb in another sense … their future is to become funeral directors … and to become broke because money is useless without a civilization (Oil-Qaeda: The Deadliest Parasite Of Civilization).

  4. SWM, I agree, Walker would frack if there were deposits. But, please read what I said originally. I trust neither side.

  5. nick spinelli 1, December 18, 2013 at 9:57 am

    A former student of mine works for a Wi. environmental group. Attacking fracking on all fronts is now @ the top of the list. The sand needed for fracking has to meet certain specifications and apparently sand in northwest Wi. is primo. There are several large sand mining operations in Wi. His group is attacking the mining of sand on the grounds that it could cause respiratory problems. Now, I’ve known this kid for many years and I love him. But, I taught him to be intellectually honest. I asked him if they have any data on the dangers and got a sheepish, “No.”

    What we have in fracking is the classic battle between big oil and environmentalist. I have learned over the years to trust neither. Oil has profits as their motive. Environmental groups has the elimination of both fossil fuels and nuclear energy as their motive. Question both sides, trust neither.
    ===========================
    Nice anecdote Nick, but issues are not resolved by the lowest common denominator.

    Sand is not a problem because it is not a poison, and that argument is a distraction and irrelevant.

    Water loss and poisons is relevant, as are earthquakes generated by fraking. Texas is inspecting its resoirvoirs following a slew of quakes in areas where there were none till fraking started taking place.

    But the biggest issue is what happens after the oil is extracted with those poisons.

    The result is that the global climate system, composed in part by the atmosphere, is damaged more and more, leading to ever more catastrophes around the globe.

    It takes major league psychopaths to destroy a civilization, and that is exactly what is taking place.

  6. There are quarries and mines that mine all types of minerals EVERYWHERE in the US. They almost all use blasting. The most physical job I ever worked was a summer spent going to different quarries[silica, trap rock, etc.] around New England drilling and blasting rock in quarries. Roads built, tunnels for trains and roads, etc. all require drilling, mining and blasting. But, you folks are behind the curve. These blasting environmental screeds haven’t worked. The new one is the air pollution of sand in the air. Get up to speed! Big oil has more money and smarter spinners which is why they usually win.

  7. Yes, Swarthmoremom, it was. We miss it dearly and hope one day to right the many wrongs done by the Walker administration. It’s a mess.

  10. Swarthmoremom,
    You are correct. The blasts from the sand mines are disruptive, the noise and dirt in the air 24/7. The mines do not shut down. The farm animals that dwell on neighboring farms are not liking it much either, so the farmers report.

  11. SWM, There’s no oil in Wi. They don’t frack in NW Wi., they simply mine the sand used for fracking in North Dakota. Good try, though.

  14. The sand used for frackng comes from Wisconsin in some quantity. Western Wisconsin residents have faced air buy offs of farms leaving lone farmer holdouts surrounded by the sand mines and the disruptions, pollution and noise they bring.The mines don’t employ many Wisconsinites, the towns do get get tax revenue, but some things aren’t worth the money.

    Now we hear of studies about harmful chemicals and hormones in the water supply from fracking, have we gone backwards as far as EPA protections in recent years?

  15. A former student of mine works for a Wi. environmental group. Attacking fracking on all fronts is now @ the top of the list. The sand needed for fracking has to meet certain specifications and apparently sand in northwest Wi. is primo. There are several large sand mining operations in Wi. His group is attacking the mining of sand on the grounds that it could cause respiratory problems. Now, I’ve known this kid for many years and I love him. But, I taught him to be intellectually honest. I asked him if they have any data on the dangers and got a sheepish, “No.”

    What we have in fracking is the classic battle between big oil and environmentalist. I have learned over the years to trust neither. Oil has profits as their motive. Environmental groups has the elimination of both fossil fuels and nuclear energy as their motive. Question both sides, trust neither.

  16. Not a fan of the Oll Bidness by any means. But I read some of the stuff on which these reports were based (tho admittedly not the scientific findings themselves). Not enough of the dots are connected, unfortunately. Stuff like ethylene glycol (on which JT has reported recently re murder) gets pumped underground – true. The study indicates that ethylene glycol (aka antifreeze — its near neighbor, propylene glycol, is mouthwash) is linked to hormonal effects, and is present in surface water in counties where there is fracking. But there is no link here to whether the stuff gets into the community water supply, or whether the concentrations found in the surface water are harmful, or whether there is any reason to believe that there is any sort of correlative effect in the population in the areas. Given that EG is toted around in the environment every day by the gazillions of gallons, the use of it in “slickwater” fracking does not automatically mean that it has or will cause specific harm to our hormones.

    We need always to look critically at the science behind reports like this; it’s the other guys who declare that HPV vaccine makes you retarded, not us. BTW, “Slickwater” would be a great name for a C&W band.

  18. They’re ruining not only people’s health but the health of the animals. Family values? Well they care about their family’s health. But not anyone else.

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