with poisoned water. And just what is the government going to do about this? Why, support it of course! Introducing  H.R. 1380:

H.R. 1380:    New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage alternative energy investments and job creation. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1380

But what does such a “green” sounding bill have to do with fracking and destroying farmland? 

House Resolution 1380, given the feel-good moniker of the “New Alter­native Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act ” or “NAT GAS Act,” was announced on Wed­nesday, April 6, in the U. S. House of Representatives. The bill is 24-pages long and rewards the fracking industry with tax credits and products to help “drive” consumption. The bigger the vehic­le, the more tax credits given.This initiative to expand the controversial fracking process — which has already resulted in contaminated wells and rivers and even ignitable tap water for some — is being spearheaded in Con­gress by Reps. John Sullivan (R-Oklahoma), Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma), John Larson (D-Connecticut), and Kevin Brady (R-Texas). The bill has 77 co-sponsors, with 40 Democrats in sup­port, and 37 Republicans, from 33 different states. http://truthout.org/fracking-insiders-score-big-new-gas-bill-americans-not-told-true-costs-massive-drilling-plan/1302246

 

Without water, life is not possible. Poison the water, and you poison all life that depends on it. And just who do we have to thank for this? None other than Dick Cheney and Halliburton. And the chemicals that are used are evidently kept secret. That is, until they show up in your drinking water and you run tests to find out why you are getting sick every time you bath, or take a drink, and why the fish in your pond are dead, wildlife is gone, and your crop dies.

The fracking process involves pumping millions of gallons of water, sand, and over 900 toxic chemicals thousands of feet underground to release tiny pockets of gas by literally breaking up the rock where the gas is trapped. The method has been compared to exploding a pipe bomb deep underground. Chemicals used in the process are kept secret from the public, medical professionals, and even regulators, because fracking is exempt from key provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption, which was granted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, has been dubbed “the Halliburton Loophole” because Halliburton pioneered the fracking process, and then-Vice President (and former CEO of Halliburton) Dick Cheney was heavily involved in setting the Bush administration’s energy policy. http://www.waterdefense.org/the-problems/fracking

But one would think that there is some oversight of this type of operation, but no. Evidently, there are relatively no safeguards in place.

In addition to the infamous “Halliburton Loophole” exempting fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the gas industry benefits from a host of sweeping exemptions to our most basic environmental and public health protections. Other laws that the gas industry is exempted from include key provisions of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, CERCLA (Superfund Act), Resource Conversation and Recovery Act (hazardous waste act), and the Environmental Policy Act.

Between all these exemptions, the gas industry has often been described as completely free of all federal oversight. However, federal law does still prohibit the gas industry from one particular practice: the injection of diesel fuel as a fracking fluid. While gas companies are permitted to inject hundreds of known carcinogenic compounds as fracking fluids (without informing the public of what chemicals they are using), the Safe Drinking Water Act still mandated that gas companies not use diesel fuel as a frack fluid. But on January 31, 2011, the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced their preliminary results of a year-long investigation into the practices of gas companies. The congressional investigation found that oil and gas companies injected over 32 million gallons of diesel fuel into gas wells in 19 states between 2005 and 2009—in direct violation of the one federal provision from which they were not exempt. Despite having federal laws carved to suit their profits and need for secrecy, the gas industry could not follow the one guideline it had set for itself. http://www.waterdefense.org/the-problems/fracking

And the gas industry’s response?

The gas industry insists that the chemicals and gas never find their way into underground aquifers, but many cases of groundwater contamination prove that the opposite is the case. When the fractures creating by fracking intersect with existing cracks in the ground, chemicals and gas can “catch a ride” on underground streams, and wind up contaminating drinking water sources. In places affected by fracking, many residents have become sick from dangerous levels of volatile organic compounds, chemicals, and methane gas in their water. Methane gas is also responsible for the phenomenon of flammable tap water, and has even caused houses and water wells to explode. http://www.waterdefense.org/the-problems/fracking

But underground water contamination is not the only problem. These chemicals leach up through the ground to contaminate above ground water sources. What goes down, must come up.

While much of the water and chemical mixture stays below ground, a majority of it comes back up to the surface in the form of a toxic brew full of hazardous chemicals, volatile organic compounds, and even radioactive material—which exists naturally deep underground and is mobilized in the fracking process. http://www.waterdefense.org/the-problems/fracking

Not to mention the open pits where toxic fracking fluids are simply dumped and left to “dissipate.” But not to worry, the companies responsible for destroying our environment via underground terrorism are volunteering to post what toxic chemicals they are using.

An online registry in which exploration-and-production companies will voluntarily disclose the chemicals they use in their US hydraulic fracturing operations is set to be activated in a few weeks, but questions remain as to whether this will satisfy the many critics of fracking. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6959627

Since this is a voluntary effort, might we not expect that the most toxic chemicals will somehow not show up on this list, or be quite conveniently designated as “safe” by the EPA? I’ll wager the farm on it. Oh, wait! After these crooks get through with it, that farm just might not be worth the price of a stick of chewing gum laced with Aspartame.

The questions that beg answers are: Just how much poison can the powers that be dump on us before they reach their goal of reducing the population to 500 million? And just what do they plan to do with the planet after they have quite literally turned it into a toxic dump? And the most pertinent question of all is, when are we going to realize that we cannot expect logical actions from sociopaths?

(C) Barbara H. Peterson

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