Tell your Senator: Stop dangerous fracking
High Pressure Hydraulic Fracturing (or fracking) is a method of drilling for natural gas by pumping a mixture of water and toxic, cancer-causing chemicals deep underground, and it's already responsible for poisoning the groundwater in states across the country.
Fracking wells are spreading at an alarming rate. But even more alarming, thanks to the work of Dick Cheney and his infamous energy policy, Frackers don't have to disclose the chemicals used in their fluid, and the process is totally exempt from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The FRAC Act, a bill that has been in the Senate since 2009, would correct both these problems. As public concern over fracking has grown, the bill has gained some momentum, but we still need more Senators actively working to pass it. Will you urge your Senator to support and work to pass the FRAC Act?
Tell you Senator: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.
If you've ever seen the picture of the man lighting his tap water on fire from the recent documentary Gasland, that was because of nearby fracking.1
Fracking a single gas well uses hundreds of thousands, or even millions of gallons of water, combined with hundreds of tons of chemicals including known toxics and carcinogens.
While the exact contents of the fluid is still a secret, scientific examination reveals that it often contains diesel fuel, which includes benzene, as well as methanol, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid and many others.2
The fluid is injected thousands of feet underground at extremely high pressure, literally cracking the earth to release trapped gas. Unfortunately, it must pass through our water table, where the fluids, along with natural gas, can leak through well casings into our drinking water.
Yet somehow, the EPA has been handcuffed from regulating fracking to keep our water clean since 2005, in what has become known as "the Halliburton loophole." Halliburton, where Dick Cheney was CEO before becoming Vice President, patented fracking in the 1940's and remains the third largest producer of fracking fluids. And in trademark Bush administration style, Halliburton staff were actively involved in a 2004 EPA report on fracking safety.
The "Halliburton loophole" (Another Bush gift that keeps on giving)- remains a dangerous legacy of the Bush Administration and if we're going to protect our water, we need to close it.
Tell you Senator: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.
Fracking is currently underway in 36 states. The ramifications to our water from expanded, unchecked fracking will be extreme and are only beginning to be fully realized by the public - thanks in no small part to the continued resistance of industry to disclose the poisons it involves.
An important investigative series by the New York Times recently concluded that "the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood."3
In addition to toxic, carcinogenic fluids which remain underground after a well is fracked, fracking also produces substantial quantities of waste water which can be literally radioactive. According to the Times, the water is "sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle."
What's more, above ground spills of toxic fracking fluids are becoming increasingly common. A large spill this April in Pennsylvania dumped thousands of gallons into fields and streams, eerily, on the one year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.
The oil and gas industry is the only industry in America that is allowed by EPA to inject known hazardous materials -- unchecked -- directly into or adjacent to underground drinking water supplies.
While some state regulations do exist, they vary widely. But water contamination isn't constrained by state boundaries, and we need a strong baseline national standard to make sure fracking chemicals are publicly disclosed everywhere fracking is taking place, and that this practice isn't putting our nation's drinking water at risk.
Tell you Senator: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.
We'll deliver your petition to the Senators who have not yet co-sponsored the FRAC Act. The ten current sponsors and co-sponsors are Boxer (CA), Cardin (MD), Casey (PA), Feinstein (CA), Gillibrand (NY), Lautenberg (NJ), Mikulski (MD), Sanders (VT), Schumer (NY), Whitehouse (RI)
1. Burning Tap Water and More: GASLAND Exposes the Natural Gas Industry," Treehugger, June 25, 2010.
2. Hydraulic Fracturing 101," EARTHWORKS.
3. Regulation Lax as Gas Wells' Tainted Water Hits Rivers," New York Times, February 26, 2011
S.587
Latest Title: FRAC Act
Sponsor: Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] (introduced 3/15/2011) Cosponsors (10)
Related Bills: H.R.1084
Latest Major Action: 4/12/2011 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Hearings held with the Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife.
Related Bill:
H.R.1084
Latest Title: Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep DeGette, Diana [CO-1] (introduced 3/15/2011) Cosponsors (63)
Related Bills: S.587
Latest Major Action: 3/21/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy.
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I just signed a petition asking my Senator to co-sponsor the FRAC Act, which would allow the EPA to regulate fracking.
Please add your voice and help build the call to pass this vital bill to protect our drinking water:
Please sign the support for these bills or maybe we say Good-Bye to our Great Lakes.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/frac_act/?r_by=-4775131-YJo6_sx&rc=confemail
