A new feature of Doddridge News and Fracking West Virginia. Bringing you a steady dose of useful info about shale gas drilling & fracking concerns. Courtesy of www.wvhostfarms.org
Did you know that the oil and gas industry is exempt from SEVEN key pieces of federal environmental laws? It’s true. In order for the industry to be able to do what they do (shale gas fracking) they have to have certain exemptions from federal EPA legislation. Many of the exemptions gained by the O&G Industry were result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, while other exemptions go back earlier than that. These exemptions allow the oil and gas industry to engage in practices that would otherwise be illegal...and ARE illegal for any other industry.
Exemptions directly benefitting the oil and gas industry can be found in the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (the “Superfund Act”), The National Environmental Policy Act, and The Toxic Relief Inventory of EPCRA.
Why is this especially outrageous? The Oil and Gas Industry is exempt from disclosing some of the more than 750 toxic chemical compounds and toxic chemical recipes for their frack fluid. (Many, many of them highly toxic and carcinogenic) They inject millions of gallons of these toxic chemicals in the ground when they are engaging in slickwater, high volume, high pressure hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas extraction ! Yet the response from the industry when asked what chemicals they use is often heard to be .... “it’s proprietary.”
Even a kindergarten art teacher must fill out a form for the regulatory agencies indicating what potentially toxic chemicals are used in the classroom such as paint thinners for finger paints and the like! Yet oil and gas industry has the exclusive privilege of withholding this information from the public.
What’s being used to frack these wells in our rural WV communities? Shouldn’t we have a right to know what is being injected into the ground near our water wells, livestock, streams, and homes? If you have drilling and fracking on or near your property, contact the well operator and ask for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for ALL chemicals they are using to frack the well. Evaluate what kind of reply and full disclosure you get when asking. And make sure the percentages listed on the MSDS for frack fluid components add up to 100% of the compound’s total ingredients. Often they don’t. So are we getting the full disclosure of the chemicals when we ask, and if not ....perhaps because “it’s proprietary?”
For more information, and to learn more about how the Oil and Gas Industry benefits from these exemptions (that no other industry can enjoy) check out the following links:
http://www.shalegas.energy.gov/resources/060211_earthworks_fs_oilgasexemptions.pdf
http://www.edcnet.org/learn/current_cases/fracking/federal_law_loopholes.html
http://www.earthworksaction.org/library/detail/loopholes_for_polluters#.UqIKmDso7IV
To view a copy of the April, 2011 Congressional Report: “Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracking” see the following link:
http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Hydraulic-Fracturing-Chemicals-2011-4-18.pdf
Ask what chemicals are being used in YOUR nearby fracking operation !
