Kendall 1
Kendall Landeros
Sally Kilton
Final Paper
12 February 2014
Oil and Gas Fracking Problems
Kendall 2
Oil and Gas and The Effects of Fracking
Oil and gas affects the environment with land, water, and the air, and the harm it causes to people and the animals around the wells. For many years companies have drilled without finding out if it has a backfire to the environment. On the other hand there are some reasons why people are for drilling and don’t think there is nothing wrong with fracking to get what they need. This paper will talk about the pros of oil and the cons as well, the history and accidents that have happened, it will also mention how drilling has effects on health to people and the animals, but the most important is how it has damaged the land, water, and the air we breath. The goal of this paper is to take a stand on what is going on with the oil and gas industry and how it has hurt everyone living around gas wells.
To achieve this goal this paper will be broken down into five main sections with five sub-sections. The first section is about the history on how oil and gas has started and how it has changed the world. Next section is the pros of oil and gas and how people have fought against taking the oil industry away because it provides jobs and how they have made it safer. Also the essay will mention the cons and what it has caused around them. More importantly are the effects on the environment and this includes three sub-sections, which are water, the air pollution, and the land. Another essential point in this essay is the health it has taken on people and the animals, which include wildlife and domestic animals, in this section it will also include interviews from people that oil and gas has affected their life.
HISTORY
Kendall 3
Through out the years the oil and gas industry has made a very big change in what goes into the process. Petroleum (oil) is a naturally liquid found in rock layers, from the remains of plankton and dead animals pressured in the Earth’s crust over millions of years covered by layers by mud and silt. Some raw material in petroleum are fertilizers, plastics, and pesticides. After they did many test they found out that you could extract kerosene from crude oil and use it has a light and heating source. By the early twentieth century petroleum was in high demand and became the most valuable trade in the world. In 1825 after drilling began two large pipelines were built in Russia that ran 833 km long to transport oil from the Caspian to the Black sea. In 1878 a guy named Ludvig Nobel commissioned the first oil tanker that made a big change in the way oil and gas was shipped around. An oil well in Canada erupted on January 16, 1862 which caused oil levels to be as high as 3,000 barrels per day. Oil drilling first began in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the mid 1850s. The first true well was in Titusville, Pennsylvania around 1859. The American Petroleum divides the industry into five sectors for example, upstream, midstream, downstream, pipeline, and finally service and supply. First is upstream which has numerous companies combined which makes up the gas well and who operates its for an example Chevron,ExxonMobil, and BG Group. Another essential point is midstream and downstream, midstream and downstream are combined into five sectors which are Gathering, Processing, Transport, Storage, and Technological applications. In gathering they set pipelines to connect oil and gas to other gas wells and get materials for that start of the project. During the processing progress they turn crude oil into products that can be used in everyday life. The shipping has many different ways to get oil from place to place which include truckers, and rail
Kendall 4
are for short distance, tanker, barge are for more long distance travel. Storage is a big part of the fracking process, when then are beginning or in the process of fracking they need to
store the chemicals and the water close to the well. They store some materials in open pits on site they also bring big tanks to the site before they start drilling that holds water or products that they need right away. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
Through out the years there has been people fighting to say that oil and gas wells are good for everything for an example, with the environment. Since 1990, the oil and gas industry has invested $239 billion towards improving the performance of the products, operations, and their facilities. Another equally important fact is that between 2000 and 2012 just the U.S.A gas industry has put $81 billion towards the technology to reduce the greenhouse gas that the wells put off. The oil and gas industry has invested $13 billion just in 2009 alone to further the safety and to make a cleaner and more efficient operation with drilling. In the past more than 99% of tankers in the past decade has reached their destination without incidents. According to the Environment and Safety geologist can now survey underground oil more effectively now then in the past years which reduce the environmental impact. These large investments are a large part to provide low carbon energy and a cleaner environment in the years ahead. (http://energytomorrow.org/environment-and-safety)
Another essential point to the pros of oil and gas is the energy and jobs it provides for millions of people. Over time the oil and gas industry has supported 9.2 million American jobs, while producing 51% of the oil and petroleum products that Americans consume. The evidence has shown that by 2030 the U.S and Canadian can supply 100% of our liquid fuel needs, this can
Kendall 5
take place by two policies. The two policies are accessing gas reserves that are currently off- limits and secondly by granting a go ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline which would start at Hardisty, Alberta and would pass through Regina Saskatchewan, Steele City Nebraska, and Wood River Illinois and would end in Patoka Illinois over 2,151 miles long. Approval of the pipeline would bring and extra 830,000 barrels of oil per day. Currently Canada supplies 25% of the U.S oil imports. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
In addition, jobs are a great pro to the oil and gas industry. “America's oil and natural gas has a widespread economic impact throughout all sectors of the economy and across all 50 states and the District of Columbia”. With the right government policies in place the oil and gas industry can create more American jobs that can help grow the U.S economy and provide greater energy for our nation. The industry supports 9.8 million men and women in a wide high skilled profession. Oil and gas are investing in cutting-edge technology to offer more careers to the next generation. U.S oil and gas can create 1 million new jobs in the next ten years. Wood Mackenzie found that by 2030, nearly 1.4 million new jobs will be added which encourages development in the oil and gas facilities. For an example the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline could create 85,000 jobs by 2020. (http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
Equally important is that the oil and gas industry plays a significant role in the largest employment, even when the economy struggles the oil and gas industry continues to provide high paying jobs that are stable. To illustrate the money and numbers the oil and gas contributes… 9.8 million people are employed in the U.S oil and gas industry. 600,000 is the increase of jobs in the past 2 years. $200 billion paid to U.S employees. $300 billion paid to
Kendall 6
workers that are supported by the industry. 1.4 million jobs could be created by 2030. $85 million paid daily to the federal government in taxes. $2 trillion invested since 2000 to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives. 12% U.S energy demand will grow between now and 2040.(http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
As you can see there are some great positives to the oil and gas field that people are investing in to keep oil and gas alive, but with these great investments also cause horrible after maths.
Environmental Cons
The issue focused on in this paragraph is the contamination of water,air,and land that the oil and natural gas has caused. The evidence suggest that fracking in Colorado could negatively impact the states rivers, aquifers, and groundwater on peoples land because the process requires a significant amount of water. Numerous studies have shown that anywhere from 20-85% of fracking chemicals stay underground when the fracking fluid comes back up it remains in open pits right next to the well. People have wondered about how many gallons of water have to transported to help drill a well. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 they estimated that to drill 35,000 wells they would need 70-140 billion gallons of water each year. To transfer 1 million gallons of water would take 200 tanker trips. The issue for transferring that many trips lead to bad air quality, safety, and road damage. (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
)
While this is the case several projects in Colorado are draining water right out of the Colorado
Kendall 7
River. Some of these projects include the Windy Gap Firming Project, Northern Integrate Supply Project, Flaming Gorge Pipeline, these project have drained billion gallons of water since 2010. The Windy Gap Project has drained 10 billion gallons every year from the Upper Colorado River and pumped to the Northern Front range. Next, the Northern Integrate Project has pumped 13 billion gallons a year from the Cache La Poudre River located northwest of Fort Collins. Finally the Flaming Gorge Pipeline which has the biggest impact has taken 81 billion gallons of water of the the Colorado and Green River every year. If they keep on draining water we will end up in a drought much worse than the drought back in 2012.. Taking this much water has raised many concerns about the ecological impact and also dewatering drinking water aquifers (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking)
Equally important are the chemicals use to frack a well, these chemicals cause many problems including health issues, air pollution, and the effect of getting rid of the toxic waste. Additionally according to the Oil and Natural Gas groups the chemicals they use only make up 0.5-2.0%, but for example if you take a 4 million gallon fracking operation they would need 80-330 tons of chemicals. Doesn’t sound like a small amount of chemicals (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
TEDX found at least 65 chemicals listed as hazardous under 6 major federal laws. In fact in April 2011, Energy and Commerce released a report of chemicals used in fracking and according to the report the most widely used chemical is Methanol which is a hazardous air pollutant and a potentials regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Most all gas companies
Kendall 8
use 260 types of chemicals which are toxic to human and wildlife just like Methanol. All most all chemicals and fracking wastewater remain underground even after the operation has been completed. (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)
As explained by a recent study published in Endocrinology in 2013, they stated they took water samples from areas surrounding gas drilling and found chemicals linked to birth defects and cancer. They also found in the Colorado River high levels of a hormone disrupting chemical.These chemicals pose a short term threat to drinking water and also a long term consequences for years to come. In the past Colorado has had many spills for example in 2004, a group called Encana Corporation improperly cemented a well which caused natural gas contaminants to travel laterally 4,000 feet. After 7 years of clean up the creek that got contaminated still showed unsafe levels of Benzene. In 2008 a leak was reported that 1.6 millions gallons of fracking fluid was spilt into the Colorado River from an open waste pit. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking
Also, Energy Wire of oil spills reported in 2013 more than 10 cases of spills ranging from 300- 25,700 gallons of fracking fluid. Complementary to this wastewater contains toxic chemicals which require treatment. Millions of gallons of wastewater are generated off one well. U.S Geological survey found that flowback fluid contains brines, heavy metal, radionuclides, and organics. Which is a posing major waste management challenges to get rid of which are very expensive. Subsequently, In 2011, NY Times concluded a study and found that more than 179 wells produced wastewater with high levels of radiation 100 times the federal Drinking Water Act standards, and more than 15 wells 1,000 times the limit.
Kendall 9
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)
Additionally, The Department of ProPublica wrote “Handling and disposing of this wastewater could be a public health concern.” Therefore would make workers be monitored for radiation. Thus disposal of drilling and wastewater is going to continue to present a challenge to local and state governments as well as human health for years to come as more wells develope (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
Global warming is very important if we want to save the earth for our grandchildren to grow up in. Oil and gas wells have a big impact on the air and land around drilling. Have you ever noticed the smog in the air that you breath? Well there has been a degradation of air quality as drilling increases. The air quality around gas wells are very toxic to human and wildlife. When they are done with the flowback they hold the chemicals into pits which releases greenhouse gas into the air. Research has shown that increase of fracking has also increased earthquakes.
Gas well companies for many years have denied that drilling and fracking causes health problems. Until research showed that it did cause health problems. Human health risk are present at every step of the drilling and fracking process. Many chemicals are proven to be toxic to humans. A health effects analysis conducted by Theo Colborn found that “ Far more of the volatile chemicals (81%) can cause harm to the brain and nervous system (71%) of the volatile chemicals can harm the cardiovascular system and blood (66%) can harm the kidneys.” The researchers added exposures to chemicals increase by inhaling and absorbed through the skin. http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
Kendall 10
In Garfield County volatile compound emissions increased 30% from 2004-2006. As they increased so did health complaints. They reported that 93% of chemicals affect health, 43% are endocrine disruptors which means they are man made chemicals that when absorbed into the body they mimic or block hormones and disrupt the normal body functions. Some health effects include neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological,...)
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/sample-page/the-truth-about-gas-drilling-and-your-health/
A study conducted over 3 years by Colorado school of Public Health reported people living within a half a mile of natural gas drilling face greater health risk then living further away. Studies have shown the women are more likely to have babies with neural tube and congenital heart defects living within a mile of gas wells. From 1996-2009 birth defects went up to 125,000. There is 47,000 wells located 150 feet from homes. Also Colorado is ranked 6th in U.S for natural gas production.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jan/natural-gas-wells-and-birth-defects
Animals have been around for many of ages, but as people and jobs go up the animals population falls, Is it right to take over land that wild animals and domestic animals live on just to produce oil and make money? Well the gas well companies think its okay even if they spill chemicals some reports are in September 2009, Cabot oil and gas released a total of 8,000 gallons of the fracking fluid which resulted in a massive fish kill. Also in May 2010, Range Resources was fined $141,175 for failing to notify the Department of Environmental Protection when 250 barrels ar fluid spilled into a creek killing at least 168 fish and frogs. Another case was 16 cattle drop dead after drinking mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas
Kendall 11
well. As you can see this fracking is killing animals that are a big part of life.
http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
Through this paper you can see there is nothing good about oil and gas drilling and fracking. We need to stand up to what is happening and make sure no more of these problems occur.
Kendall 12
Work Sited Page
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/sample-page/the-truth-about-gas-drilling-and-your-health/
(http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
(http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
(http://energytomorrow.org/environment-and-safety)
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jan/natural-gas-wells-and-birth-defects
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking)
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)
Kendall Landeros
Sally Kilton
Final Paper
12 February 2014
Oil and Gas Fracking Problems
Kendall 2
Oil and Gas and The Effects of Fracking
Oil and gas affects the environment with land, water, and the air, and the harm it causes to people and the animals around the wells. For many years companies have drilled without finding out if it has a backfire to the environment. On the other hand there are some reasons why people are for drilling and don’t think there is nothing wrong with fracking to get what they need. This paper will talk about the pros of oil and the cons as well, the history and accidents that have happened, it will also mention how drilling has effects on health to people and the animals, but the most important is how it has damaged the land, water, and the air we breath. The goal of this paper is to take a stand on what is going on with the oil and gas industry and how it has hurt everyone living around gas wells.
To achieve this goal this paper will be broken down into five main sections with five sub-sections. The first section is about the history on how oil and gas has started and how it has changed the world. Next section is the pros of oil and gas and how people have fought against taking the oil industry away because it provides jobs and how they have made it safer. Also the essay will mention the cons and what it has caused around them. More importantly are the effects on the environment and this includes three sub-sections, which are water, the air pollution, and the land. Another essential point in this essay is the health it has taken on people and the animals, which include wildlife and domestic animals, in this section it will also include interviews from people that oil and gas has affected their life.
HISTORY
Kendall 3
Through out the years the oil and gas industry has made a very big change in what goes into the process. Petroleum (oil) is a naturally liquid found in rock layers, from the remains of plankton and dead animals pressured in the Earth’s crust over millions of years covered by layers by mud and silt. Some raw material in petroleum are fertilizers, plastics, and pesticides. After they did many test they found out that you could extract kerosene from crude oil and use it has a light and heating source. By the early twentieth century petroleum was in high demand and became the most valuable trade in the world. In 1825 after drilling began two large pipelines were built in Russia that ran 833 km long to transport oil from the Caspian to the Black sea. In 1878 a guy named Ludvig Nobel commissioned the first oil tanker that made a big change in the way oil and gas was shipped around. An oil well in Canada erupted on January 16, 1862 which caused oil levels to be as high as 3,000 barrels per day. Oil drilling first began in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the mid 1850s. The first true well was in Titusville, Pennsylvania around 1859. The American Petroleum divides the industry into five sectors for example, upstream, midstream, downstream, pipeline, and finally service and supply. First is upstream which has numerous companies combined which makes up the gas well and who operates its for an example Chevron,ExxonMobil, and BG Group. Another essential point is midstream and downstream, midstream and downstream are combined into five sectors which are Gathering, Processing, Transport, Storage, and Technological applications. In gathering they set pipelines to connect oil and gas to other gas wells and get materials for that start of the project. During the processing progress they turn crude oil into products that can be used in everyday life. The shipping has many different ways to get oil from place to place which include truckers, and rail
Kendall 4
are for short distance, tanker, barge are for more long distance travel. Storage is a big part of the fracking process, when then are beginning or in the process of fracking they need to
store the chemicals and the water close to the well. They store some materials in open pits on site they also bring big tanks to the site before they start drilling that holds water or products that they need right away. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
Through out the years there has been people fighting to say that oil and gas wells are good for everything for an example, with the environment. Since 1990, the oil and gas industry has invested $239 billion towards improving the performance of the products, operations, and their facilities. Another equally important fact is that between 2000 and 2012 just the U.S.A gas industry has put $81 billion towards the technology to reduce the greenhouse gas that the wells put off. The oil and gas industry has invested $13 billion just in 2009 alone to further the safety and to make a cleaner and more efficient operation with drilling. In the past more than 99% of tankers in the past decade has reached their destination without incidents. According to the Environment and Safety geologist can now survey underground oil more effectively now then in the past years which reduce the environmental impact. These large investments are a large part to provide low carbon energy and a cleaner environment in the years ahead. (http://energytomorrow.org/environment-and-safety)
Another essential point to the pros of oil and gas is the energy and jobs it provides for millions of people. Over time the oil and gas industry has supported 9.2 million American jobs, while producing 51% of the oil and petroleum products that Americans consume. The evidence has shown that by 2030 the U.S and Canadian can supply 100% of our liquid fuel needs, this can
Kendall 5
take place by two policies. The two policies are accessing gas reserves that are currently off- limits and secondly by granting a go ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline which would start at Hardisty, Alberta and would pass through Regina Saskatchewan, Steele City Nebraska, and Wood River Illinois and would end in Patoka Illinois over 2,151 miles long. Approval of the pipeline would bring and extra 830,000 barrels of oil per day. Currently Canada supplies 25% of the U.S oil imports. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
In addition, jobs are a great pro to the oil and gas industry. “America's oil and natural gas has a widespread economic impact throughout all sectors of the economy and across all 50 states and the District of Columbia”. With the right government policies in place the oil and gas industry can create more American jobs that can help grow the U.S economy and provide greater energy for our nation. The industry supports 9.8 million men and women in a wide high skilled profession. Oil and gas are investing in cutting-edge technology to offer more careers to the next generation. U.S oil and gas can create 1 million new jobs in the next ten years. Wood Mackenzie found that by 2030, nearly 1.4 million new jobs will be added which encourages development in the oil and gas facilities. For an example the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline could create 85,000 jobs by 2020. (http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
Equally important is that the oil and gas industry plays a significant role in the largest employment, even when the economy struggles the oil and gas industry continues to provide high paying jobs that are stable. To illustrate the money and numbers the oil and gas contributes… 9.8 million people are employed in the U.S oil and gas industry. 600,000 is the increase of jobs in the past 2 years. $200 billion paid to U.S employees. $300 billion paid to
Kendall 6
workers that are supported by the industry. 1.4 million jobs could be created by 2030. $85 million paid daily to the federal government in taxes. $2 trillion invested since 2000 to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives. 12% U.S energy demand will grow between now and 2040.(http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
As you can see there are some great positives to the oil and gas field that people are investing in to keep oil and gas alive, but with these great investments also cause horrible after maths.
Environmental Cons
The issue focused on in this paragraph is the contamination of water,air,and land that the oil and natural gas has caused. The evidence suggest that fracking in Colorado could negatively impact the states rivers, aquifers, and groundwater on peoples land because the process requires a significant amount of water. Numerous studies have shown that anywhere from 20-85% of fracking chemicals stay underground when the fracking fluid comes back up it remains in open pits right next to the well. People have wondered about how many gallons of water have to transported to help drill a well. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 they estimated that to drill 35,000 wells they would need 70-140 billion gallons of water each year. To transfer 1 million gallons of water would take 200 tanker trips. The issue for transferring that many trips lead to bad air quality, safety, and road damage. (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
)
While this is the case several projects in Colorado are draining water right out of the Colorado
Kendall 7
River. Some of these projects include the Windy Gap Firming Project, Northern Integrate Supply Project, Flaming Gorge Pipeline, these project have drained billion gallons of water since 2010. The Windy Gap Project has drained 10 billion gallons every year from the Upper Colorado River and pumped to the Northern Front range. Next, the Northern Integrate Project has pumped 13 billion gallons a year from the Cache La Poudre River located northwest of Fort Collins. Finally the Flaming Gorge Pipeline which has the biggest impact has taken 81 billion gallons of water of the the Colorado and Green River every year. If they keep on draining water we will end up in a drought much worse than the drought back in 2012.. Taking this much water has raised many concerns about the ecological impact and also dewatering drinking water aquifers (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking)
Equally important are the chemicals use to frack a well, these chemicals cause many problems including health issues, air pollution, and the effect of getting rid of the toxic waste. Additionally according to the Oil and Natural Gas groups the chemicals they use only make up 0.5-2.0%, but for example if you take a 4 million gallon fracking operation they would need 80-330 tons of chemicals. Doesn’t sound like a small amount of chemicals (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
TEDX found at least 65 chemicals listed as hazardous under 6 major federal laws. In fact in April 2011, Energy and Commerce released a report of chemicals used in fracking and according to the report the most widely used chemical is Methanol which is a hazardous air pollutant and a potentials regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Most all gas companies
Kendall 8
use 260 types of chemicals which are toxic to human and wildlife just like Methanol. All most all chemicals and fracking wastewater remain underground even after the operation has been completed. (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)
As explained by a recent study published in Endocrinology in 2013, they stated they took water samples from areas surrounding gas drilling and found chemicals linked to birth defects and cancer. They also found in the Colorado River high levels of a hormone disrupting chemical.These chemicals pose a short term threat to drinking water and also a long term consequences for years to come. In the past Colorado has had many spills for example in 2004, a group called Encana Corporation improperly cemented a well which caused natural gas contaminants to travel laterally 4,000 feet. After 7 years of clean up the creek that got contaminated still showed unsafe levels of Benzene. In 2008 a leak was reported that 1.6 millions gallons of fracking fluid was spilt into the Colorado River from an open waste pit. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking
Also, Energy Wire of oil spills reported in 2013 more than 10 cases of spills ranging from 300- 25,700 gallons of fracking fluid. Complementary to this wastewater contains toxic chemicals which require treatment. Millions of gallons of wastewater are generated off one well. U.S Geological survey found that flowback fluid contains brines, heavy metal, radionuclides, and organics. Which is a posing major waste management challenges to get rid of which are very expensive. Subsequently, In 2011, NY Times concluded a study and found that more than 179 wells produced wastewater with high levels of radiation 100 times the federal Drinking Water Act standards, and more than 15 wells 1,000 times the limit.
Kendall 9
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)
Additionally, The Department of ProPublica wrote “Handling and disposing of this wastewater could be a public health concern.” Therefore would make workers be monitored for radiation. Thus disposal of drilling and wastewater is going to continue to present a challenge to local and state governments as well as human health for years to come as more wells develope (http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
Global warming is very important if we want to save the earth for our grandchildren to grow up in. Oil and gas wells have a big impact on the air and land around drilling. Have you ever noticed the smog in the air that you breath? Well there has been a degradation of air quality as drilling increases. The air quality around gas wells are very toxic to human and wildlife. When they are done with the flowback they hold the chemicals into pits which releases greenhouse gas into the air. Research has shown that increase of fracking has also increased earthquakes.
Gas well companies for many years have denied that drilling and fracking causes health problems. Until research showed that it did cause health problems. Human health risk are present at every step of the drilling and fracking process. Many chemicals are proven to be toxic to humans. A health effects analysis conducted by Theo Colborn found that “ Far more of the volatile chemicals (81%) can cause harm to the brain and nervous system (71%) of the volatile chemicals can harm the cardiovascular system and blood (66%) can harm the kidneys.” The researchers added exposures to chemicals increase by inhaling and absorbed through the skin. http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
Kendall 10
In Garfield County volatile compound emissions increased 30% from 2004-2006. As they increased so did health complaints. They reported that 93% of chemicals affect health, 43% are endocrine disruptors which means they are man made chemicals that when absorbed into the body they mimic or block hormones and disrupt the normal body functions. Some health effects include neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological,...)
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/sample-page/the-truth-about-gas-drilling-and-your-health/
A study conducted over 3 years by Colorado school of Public Health reported people living within a half a mile of natural gas drilling face greater health risk then living further away. Studies have shown the women are more likely to have babies with neural tube and congenital heart defects living within a mile of gas wells. From 1996-2009 birth defects went up to 125,000. There is 47,000 wells located 150 feet from homes. Also Colorado is ranked 6th in U.S for natural gas production.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jan/natural-gas-wells-and-birth-defects
Animals have been around for many of ages, but as people and jobs go up the animals population falls, Is it right to take over land that wild animals and domestic animals live on just to produce oil and make money? Well the gas well companies think its okay even if they spill chemicals some reports are in September 2009, Cabot oil and gas released a total of 8,000 gallons of the fracking fluid which resulted in a massive fish kill. Also in May 2010, Range Resources was fined $141,175 for failing to notify the Department of Environmental Protection when 250 barrels ar fluid spilled into a creek killing at least 168 fish and frogs. Another case was 16 cattle drop dead after drinking mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas
Kendall 11
well. As you can see this fracking is killing animals that are a big part of life.
http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV
Through this paper you can see there is nothing good about oil and gas drilling and fracking. We need to stand up to what is happening and make sure no more of these problems occur.
Kendall 12
Work Sited Page
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/sample-page/the-truth-about-gas-drilling-and-your-health/
(http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing_101#.UulnVuB4wUV)
(http://energytomorrow.org/jobs)
(http://energytomorrow.org/environment-and-safety)
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jan/natural-gas-wells-and-birth-defects
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking)
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fracking_and_water_pollution)