Manmade quakes, radiation, exploding homes: Big Energy frackers

Nationwide community parties to Stop Fracking

Manmade earthquakes, radiation, poisoned water, and exploding homes burned to the ground have become the all too common human rights violations due to big oil and gas fracking. "Fraccidents" are drawing Americans to unite against oil and gas industry leaders and employees responsible.

View slideshow: Fracking

'Gasland,' the Academy Award nominated HBO documentary sparking the movement to regulate hydraulic fracturing, will be viewed throughout the nation at community parties Sunday, April 17 to help close the "Halliburton Loophole" and protect Americans from fracking destruction under guises of energy progress and local profit.

Scientists have demonstrated that natural gas fracking chemicals are poisoning American's drinking water - and damaging families communities in many other ways including through radiation and causing earthquakes and homes to explode. Thanks to Cheney's secret energy meetings in 2005, however, no federal laws exist to stop oil and gas workers from fracking. Now, Halliburton reaps fracking financial benefits.

In 2005, the Bush/Cheney Energy Bill, secretly signed behind closed doors, exempted natural gas drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act. It exempted companies from disclosing chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing. It took the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) off the job. It is now commonly referred to as the "Halliburton Loophole." Movement is now afoot in Congress, however, to reverse this dangerous human rights violation. One leader of this movement has the website with a petition, Stop Fracking Now!

Stop Fracking Now! describes fracking:

"Horizontal hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- is drilling method used by oil companies to extract gas from shale as deep as 8,000 feet below the surface. Horizontal fracking mixes hundreds of chemicals with millions gallons of water and blasts it into the ground under high pressure to break up shale and rock and release gas.

"Not only does the process use millions of gallons of water which are then contaminated by chemicals and radioactive material, the fracks often leak chemicals and gas into the ground water, contaminating wells and rivers that supply drinking water for millions of people. The extent of the harm caused by fracking remains unknown, but many residents exposed to the water and air contaminated by fracking toxins have reported health concerns ranging from nausea and fainting spells to respiratory problems and even cancer."

The NY Times has reported that Halliburton and other companies have illegally injected over 32 million gallons of diesel fuel underground in 2010 by drilling for natural gas using high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, more commonly called fracking.

Dr. Malcolm Cleaveland, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Geography at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville stated Sunday that minerals liberated during the fracking process include heavy metals and radioactive materials.

"In many cases, the operations are polluting drinking water sources and conventional water treatment cannot cope with those substances."

Generally, 1-8 million gallons of water may be used to frack a well. A well may be fracked up to 18 times. Furthermore, each frack can use 80-300 tons of chemicals that the natural gas industry does not even have to disclose. Scientists have identified among these chemicals volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

As the VOCs are evaporated and combine with diesel exhaust from trucks and generators at the well site, ground level ozone is produced that can travel up to 250 miles. (See: 'Gasland' - Documentary Film About the Ravages of "Fracking," Josh Fox, http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/1390.html)

Josh Fox's 'GasLand' is raising needed awareness among increasing numbers of citizens and regulators that fracking is extremely dangerous in more ways than one. Oil and gas industry frackers, however, are increasingly using covert means to frack properties, including injecting lethal chemicals into wells in the dark of night while communities sleep according to residents in Arkansas where anti-fracking measures are now exploding as much as water wells are due to fracking.

Within the past ten days, a series of community meetings, rallies, human billboards and 'Gasland' screenings have been held to unite residents against big oil and gas that is using unacceptable means for fuel, much of which will be shipped to China, contrary to the spin being used to sell fracking to the American public.

FRAC Act

The community gatherings are also being used to support a petition for Congress to pass the FRAC Act, legislation that will hold oil companies accountable for their reckless practices. The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemical Act) House bill intends to repeal the "Halliburton Loophole" and require the natural gas industry to disclose chemicals they use.

Democracy For America (DFA), the organization spearheading the 'Gasland' Screening Parties on the 17th, has stated that getting the FRAC Act passed in Congress means "directly taking on the oil and gas companies and their cronies like Dick Cheney, who are some of the most corrupt and powerful lobbying forces in the country."

Two years ago, to end fracking fluid being exempt from the Clean Water Act, U.S Representative Diana DeGette introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, legislation to ensure that Americans could finally have information about toxic components of hydrofracturing fluid. The legislation failed to pass. This year, Degette reintroduced the FRAC Act as H.R. 1084 to end the exemption for fracking fluid from the Clean Water Act.

Gregg Ross, Political Campaign Manager of Democracy for America says he will help every community gather 50 petition signatures so DFA can reach it's goal of 25,000 signatures.

"Listen, I know this is an ambitious goal," stated Ross. "I also know how much we are relying on your dedication to be able to reach it... Here is our opportunity to show that, working together, we have the power to protect our communities from corporate greed."

Manmade earthquakes, houses exploding, poisoning air and water

Despite new trucks given to farmers that succumb to oil and gas bargaining to use private land for fracking, there is growing anger that fracking is causing major health and security problems by its poisoning air and water on private properties. In Arkansas over the past two weeks, hundreds of citizens have gathered at various events to voice their anger, explain their health problems and injuries plus their homes now at risk due to fracking.

At a community meeting in Guy, Arkansas, over one hundred residents learned that fracking has caused over 1100 manmade earthquakes in that state alone in the past twelve months.

Just recently, on April 7 at 5:00 and 9:00, it was reported that there was a 3.9 Earthquake in Greenbrier, Arkansas that is believed to be possibly due to to fracking. (It was a 4.2 and USGS reduced it by the end of the day to 3.9.) On April 10 by 6:00 PM, there were 13 earthquakes, 3 greater than a 3.0 magnitude.

Peggy Berry was at the recent Guy meeting because, like others, she fears her house will explode from fracking.

At an earlier fracking meeting in Greenbrier on Monday, April 4, a couple expressed their fear about gas shooting out of their water well.

"They were notified by the industry that they would cap of the water well," explained Cindy Feniberg, a member of one of the Arkansas anti-fracking groups.

"The couple was afraid if the well was capped, their house might fill up with gas and explode," Ms. Feinberg explained.

A member of her group went to take pictures of the gas spewing water well at the couple's house and while there, one of the neighbors, Kimberly Glenn, had her home explode. (See: "Home explodes near natural gas well," Fox 16 News, Little Rock)

Ron Hake used to live near the Glenn residence. FOX 16 reported that one December, Hake noticed air coming up through one of the rear wells on his property.

"Hake called Southwestern Energy to test the water in the well, and found that natural gas was seeping into it."

“All the gas . . . you never know. There could be a big pocket under our house. Or there was, we don't know. The gas company won't tell us anything," says Glenn. "I don't know what happened. We've never had any electrical problems in the house. It was just so fast. We went from house with everything to nothing.

All Mrs. Glenn remembers is hearing a few loud pops as she watched her home burn to the ground according to FOX News.

"I got everybody out so that's all that matters."

That is not, however, all that matters to the energy giants responsible for human destruction.

"The oil and gas industry will be fighting us every step of the way to protect their record profits, but the facts are on our side," says Ross.

"To get the FRAC Act passed in Congress, we will have to take on the big oil companies directly — and that will require a national effort to spread the word.

"If we can get the truth about the dangers of fracking, then we will win."

As more is learned about fracking-related human rights violations impacting health and well-being of people from all walks of life, including children, it is hoped that this will become less of a party issue. For now, however, the list of FRAC Act cosponsors at "Legislation Against Fracking Returns to Congress" on THAT'S MY CONGRESS website includes not one Republican. In one of the most extreme steps, Republicans in Colorado demanded last summer that the Environmental Protection Agency never regulate fracking.

DFA is holding National Strategy Phone Calls for citizens to share ideas and obtain campaign updates from DFA staff. The organization urges that the reader let DFA know which calls you think you can join: Thursday, April 14th, 8:30pm EST or Thursday, April 21st, 8:30pm EST.