The horrific effects of fracking continue to grow with doctors in Pennsylvania now caught up in the web of deceit.
Hydraulic fracturing technology, known as fracking, explodes millions of gallons of toxic chemical solutions deep into the ground in order to free natural gas deposits for drilling companies to exploit for massive profit.
Over 5,000 drilling wells have been blasted across the state of Pennsylvania alone, with more added each and every week.
These toxic chemicals being pumped into the ground are making people in relative proximity to the wells sick – very, very sick – even at low levels of exposure. Over 85% of the 750 chemicals used in fracking are known carcinogens!
While Pennsylvania law requires drilling companies to inform local doctors what chemicals are being used so that they can properly treat the victims of exposure, it also now requires doctors who are briefed to sign a confidentiality agreement to keep them from telling anyone about what exactly is making these people sick. This includes informing their own patients as well as other healthcare professionals!
Similar fracking laws are already on the books in Ohio, Texas, and Colorado.
Shockingly, it appears that State authorities have completely rolled over on this issue and have prioritized the “proprietary secrets” of the drilling companies ahead of the needs of public health.
Despite its so called dedication to green technologies and businesses, Federal authorities have also shown no desire to reign in this horrifically damaging technology which is akin to strip mining of decades past.
Why can’t the Obama administration simply require the disclosure of exactly what is being pumped into the ground to dislodge natural gas deposits? No doubt if such a move were made, the public outrage and outcry would result in the swift cessation of fracking across the nation.
And those hefty campaign contributions from fracking executives and their operatives would come to a screeching halt.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Pennyslvania Law Gags Doctors
They are trying to frack in the town I live in. I just recently signed a petition against it. It’s odd because I grew up in a house and lived most of my life in an area where there was plenty of natural gas. I moved 7 yrs ago to an area that didn’t have it and I missed it, so I was in favor of it until recently when I researched how they’d have to drill for it and use toxic chemicals which would pollute the soil and ground water. Years ago when they put natural gas in like the area I grew up, they used a different method and didn’t pollute the environment as they would now.
It took me less than a minute on Google to discover that Pennsylvania’s Governor, Tom Corbett, is a REPUBLICAN. I’m guessing he’s the one controlling what goes on in the state. But that does not fit into your narrative of blaming everything on the Obama administration. I wish I had time to look up proposed laws to see if (as I suspect) the administration has proposed laws to control this and been blocked by the Republican majority in the House and the intransigent Republicans in the Senate who are determined to stop any legislation at all that the President backs. They don’t give a damn about what’s good for America, only that they must stop Obama. I wish you’d stick to nutritional advice, that you’re very good at. And stay away from politics, where you appear to be uninformed.
Well, if you were from the State of Pennsylvania then you would know that we only elected Tom Corbett last year and that Ed Rendell, a DEMOCRAT was our governor since 2003 while all this fracking was going on! It’s not a matter of party as much as it’s a matter of all politicians doing what’s right. And Obama hasn’t done a thing in 8 years and by that record, I don’t expect him to do anything else except continue to send most of his “investment in clean energy” to European countries to produce those giant windmills. I love how Obama lovers find everyone and everything else to blame for their lack of accomplishment. Clinton didn’t do that and he was a Democrat, remember? 😉
Beth, Obama has been President for 3.5 years, not 8. While I have not followed this specific issue I have followed many others in which, as I said above, the administration has formulated and pushed legislation that would address many of our concerns, but at every turn that legislation has been blocked by the right. Their actions demonstrate, over and over again, that they are not concerned with what’s good for America, only what’s good for them politically: defeating Obama. Therefore, they will not allow anything that he could claim as a “win” regardless of the benefits that would accrue to you and me. I think this President has accomplished some very important things and am proud of his record. I worked IN the White House with President Clinton and in those years there were at least SOME Republicans who understood that “compromise” is not a dirty word and is often the only path to moving forward. Difficult for me to imagine any of those pragmatic Members of Congress being willing to destroy the credit rating of the country, for the first time in our history, to make a meaningless point. Who knows where the country might be if the President had actual partners in getting us moving again instead of keeping us mired in economic disaster?
Oops… yep, 4 years. It seems like 8. I totally agree with you about the issue of compromise. Clinton was able to bring both parties to a compromise and I respect that. President Obama has failed at that. He is set on getting across his agenda, the Republicans know it and since there is no compromise from either party, then nothing gets done. The President is responsible for leading and to that point, he isn’t much of a leader.
He has been a great leader. You trying implenting things when people are dead set about opposing you. Republicans have even said ” all i care about is getting Obama out” – And this was early on. The vitriol was set from the moment he was elected.
If you don’t like him then of course he can do know right – and all wrong. He has done so much with such great opposition, there shoiuld be an award jsut for that.
Did you vote for bush twice? how did that go? Did you really think Mccain or anyone was going to get us out of the finacial mess inside of 3 years? Really. Cause if it were that easy and simple, we would have never got in the mess in the first place.
And running a single state and managing it’s budget with zero opposition ala Mitt, is a far cry from a whole nation with international considerations.
Quincy, your post is exactly why I want my own teenagers to learn how to speak and write correctly– so that they don’t sound uneducated. And also to learn about our nation’s politics so they don’t fall for someone who has no experience, but only knows how to be an orator. You can tell me Obama is a great leader until you’re blue in the face, but I will never believe it. Years from now my grandchildren will be questioning why we ever elected him and why he claimed false notions as the war on women and tried to take away freedom of religion. Yes, history always tells the truth, so please tell me in another couple decades that you were happy about voting for him. And I’ll tell you that I was so glad that I didn’t!
Beth, – I too will cut and paste your post and show it to my grandchildren so that they may see the hate that still exists in this country for black people. And if my kids grow up to be illiterate I will still judge them for their heart and character, and they too will learn that brains and the ability to read, write and speak, should always take a back seat to the good one has for fellow humans.
I cry for your kids.
OH my! What stupid conclusions. What if I told you I was black? You judge based on skin color… that is sad.
The sad thing is is that you are not black – and obama is – and you and others like you hide your true judgements of him and his “kind”. And what is further sad is that you want to pass that hate and ignorance down to your kids.
You don’t even have the sense of wisdom as a white person (or black) to realise that what obama did by getting elected had long lasting profound implications that transcend issues like health care, pulling troops out, taxes etc.
Just being black and president, took millions of people into the next century with a level of dignity never before seen in this country or anywhere in the world. – and that counts for a whole lot – and just because you can’t count for that in dollars and cents and helath care bills etc, doesn’t mean it didn’t help a nation.
Maybe south africa experienced that as well when mandela became pres.
What you are too______ to realize is that know one will remember econmics or health care bills, or troops etc not vastly to the extent that the world will remember america voting for and electing a black man a hundred years from now. Do you remember what else lincoln did? Not me – I just remember the one great thing he did for humanity – and that is his legacy, greater than presidents before or after lincoln.
It’s about humanity- teach that to your kids. Show them how proud the black girl or boy is knowing they can do more than sing or dance or shoot a basket ball. And even for young white kids, it is helpful for them to be free of the same sterotypes as well – it’s good all over for the younger generation and i can’t wait for us older folks to be dead and buried – along with our hate and vitriol.
Wow, mr quincy , I must admit, I’ve never looked at it like that before.
Quincy while you sit here and judge, I feel very sad for you while you live in your comfortable home enjoying the benefits of a free society where you can determine your future and not the government. Have you been under government oppression? My relatives have. My relatives have been part of a country’s revolution. Your Obama thinks that people have the right to take what is not theirs and give it to others because to him life is not fair. It’s not about fairness… or the color of your skin or your religions… it’s about the freedom to pursue a life that your family wants without dependance on a government for it. THAT my friend is what I want my kids to know!!!!! The alternative is scary!
That’s the thing beth – you don’t know that on november 4th that night Obama won, it was all about the color of one’s skin. Their wasn’t tears in the eyes and souls of so many black folk because of a sense that now the economy would be righted or taxes would be lowered or any number of things a politician can campaign on.
My home and yours is not comfortable or uncomfortable because of any president that has been in office for the last 30 years – how did you miss that part. Which president made you rich? Which one broke your bank and sent you hurling into the streets?
I have homeless shelters that have been in my city for ages. There have been welfare lines in my city for ages – i could go on but I hope you get the points.
A president doesn’t matter to ones real freedoms and pursuits. Teach your kids that it is about an individuals intestinal fortitude and sight of mind that will carry them to great heights, just as it has done for so many in this continued land of opportunity – that has little to do with who is in office.
Teach them that the joke is on us, that dems and repubs still play golf together at the same clubs that don’t allow women, jews or blacks – albeit they let in a few this month. That is the reality that is scary.
I think we have managed to find common ground. And ultimately we both want peace and a good life for all. Nov. 4 th is my birthday so I was celebrating that! 😉 I am just waiting for a woman to fill the office someday… We’re very good at multitasking and managing!
Women are the sole, spirit, and strength of this earth. The sooner we realise that the better. My mom is my hero for life!
Well, I completely agree that it won’t be all sunshine and lollipops, as you put it, but it will have to happen at some point, whether or not it is resisted along the way. (And I’d bet you’d be surprised how deeply satisfying these changes are to make.) Have you ever heard of bio-mimicry? There are some good videos on youtube on the amazing technologies that can be developed by using nature as a map for solving problems. One example is designing one wall of buildings to draw water up the wall in the same way trees draw water up to the top, using cell structure, rather than using water pumps. The answers to our problems can be found in nature, and if we mimic how she does things, it will always be sustainable. But, these answers have to be sought by our society at large in order to have the resources and money to develop them – instead of spending the huge amounts of money you talked about keeping the status quo of switching from one unsustainable energy source to the next, leaving the earth crying every step of the way. As long as comfort and connivence is more important to us than stewardship and conservation, our problems will continue to multiply. My family embarked on the mission of not using disposable plastics (and found ourselves not using much that was disposable at all) out of concern for our oceans being polluted daily by huge amounts of disposable plastics. It wasn’t easy, and some things we made exceptions on. Making everything yourself that was once was picked up at the store (down to shampoo and soap) takes time to adjust to, but the benefits are HUGE! It feels great to simply take one paper bag of garbage a month to the curb, and I can see the impact right in front of me, in my own trash can. A lot more people would have to be this dedicated for it to change the status quo, but I love taking that step for my family and raising my kids to be this way from the start. While some things are more time consuming, others are surprisingly simple…you’d be amazed how easy making sour cream and butter are for example. I strongly recommend a movie that used to be on netflix…zero-impact man. What was so awesome about this documentary for me was seeing his wife (who was way more main-stream than him) realize the great benefits that came from letting go of what she knew as comfortable and embracing a new, more sustainable way of doing things. Hearing her thoughts at the end of what she learned in the process gave me the chills. The things that reap the biggest rewards are never easy, but its surprising how wide spread and diverse the benefits are. Happiness cannot be bought, it must be earned, and things like growing a garden, cooking for your family, and finding ways to simplify life, bring happiness in so many unexpected ways. Try making a change towards sustainability and I bet you’ll be surprised at how rewarding the changes are. Every step counts, even the small ones.
I know I’ve been kind of all over the place in this response but there are so many things I feel about the issues you raised – its hard to know where to start!
I have been enjoying your blog and passing it on to others, but i dissagree with this article! I didn’t see any facts in this article or things to back-up what your saying! I live in Texas and they have drilled in our neighborhood. I have seen no ill effects, nor have my neighbors! Sorry, i agree with the comments by Sarah and Donald above!!
This article is full of fear and not one single fact. Comments like millions of gallons of toxic chemicals pumped downhole in each frac job are evidence of the writers bias. Frac fluid is 99.5% by volume fresh water (that’s right folks the stuff we all need to drink to survive) and other 0.5% is sand and chemicals. Of the 0.5% by volume that contains chemicals the are chemicals that are common to everyday household products we we wash our hands with, shampoo, and frac gel, oooohhhhh – its guar gum which is in ice cream, toothpaste and other products that we eat.
Obviously John is another one of those blog trollers as most of us DON’T eat guar gum nor use the chemicals that are in his common shampoos, etc. Maybe John should read this blog more often and learn something. What an idiot. Chemicals are chemicals and no one wants them in their food, their household products or in their ground water!
Many people do eat guar gum, even in very natural circles (in gluten free baking).
Well, not everyone who eats gluten free (including myself who is Celiac’s) can handle guar gum nor even wants to eat it.
Of course not everyone, just like not everyone eats turnips, I was saying many people do eat it.
You are exactly right. that is the problem with these bloggers – who just post topics without real depth of knowlegde – the plus is people like you who can speak truth to these issues and we can read and learn from that.
Quincy
All these companies are trying to buy is TIME. TIME to make huge profits … by the time so many folks get sick and things are stopped, they will have already made their fortune. Same business model as putting out a new drug that has questionable safety. Make your $$ fast and then when it is discovered that the drug is bad, pull it off the market, pay the lawsuits and chalk it all up to necessary costs of doing business. The lawsuits are less than the massive profit from putting the drug out in the first place or in this case, the revenue from the natural gas extracted.
I think you’re right on this. Follow the money. Whatever the issue is, follow the money.
Exactly. EXACTLY. Sounds too weird to be true, but unfortunately this is what we have allowed our America to become.
And for the naysayers who claim no one is getting sick from fracking, why then in 4 states so far have confidentiality agreements to muzzle doctors treating these folks been passed? If it were a nonissue, the oil and drilling companies would not be lobbying for these measures. Obviously, there is something BIG they are trying to hide.
I find all the conflicting opinions and information concerning the dangers of fracking most confusing. A few years ago, I watched the movie “Gaslands”, and was appalled by the situations featured such as families whose water was so affected that they could light the water that came out of their faucets, sick livestock, and streams so polluted that they too could be lit on fire, rendering dead fish, and death to the animals that came to the stream for a drink. From other sources I have read that scientists have linked fracking to minor earthquakes in Ohio and California.
Yet, I have heard some say that this movie was sensationalized and not fully truthful. However, my concerns to know the truth of this practice have become more personalized as in the last few months several deep wells have been constructed within two miles of our farm in West Virginia, and several more wells have been slated for our neighbor’s property. We have not received any notice as of yet for our farm property, but these new wells are too close for comfort. It would be an utter travesty to have our streams and two ponds, not to mention our well water ruined!!! The thought of this is very scary!
So CREEPY the way big corporations troll blog sites and immediately post things that pose as responsible opinions from regular folks. Paid propaganda. Beware when reading comments people, that some are paid for. Nice job Sarah, this issue is very important.
Very true!
If I was going to be ‘fair’ to big corporations, why is it when we go into a supermarket we
find no food fit to consume?
Apparently some people, like those being irresponsible and silencing the doctors, just haven’t been told that you can’t take money with you into the great world beyond.