Heroin and Cornflakes

Mountaineers Always Free

is the state motto of West Virginia.  It was adopted as the official motto of the state constitution signed in 1872. (1)

State mottoes may be said to reflect the character and beliefs of the citizens of the state, or more accurately, the citizens of the state when they were adopted. (2)

Does the motto reflect the character and beliefs of  West Virginian citizens today?

West Virginia has an estimated population of 1,819,777 as of 2009. (3) It is located entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range; for this reason it is nicknamed The Mountain State.

It consists of dense areas of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns. These karst lands contribute to much of the State’s trout waters. It is also known for a wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities including skiing, whitewater rafting, fishing, hiking, mountain biking and hunting.

It is also the home of  The West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA), chartered in 1915. It is one of the oldest trade associations in the State, and is the only association that serves the entire oil and gas industry. WVONGA members are engaged in exploration, production, transmission, storage, sales and distribution.

Members have a cumulative investment of nearly $10 billion in West Virginia, own about 20,000 oil and gas wells, have more then 15,000 miles of pipeline crisscrossing the State and provide oil and natural gas to roughly 300,000 West Virginia homes and businesses.

Last year they formed an alliance with the Energy In Depth organization. Energy In Depth was created to explain how America’s oil and natural gas producers have utilized advanced technologies and innovative engineering to safely produce enough energy to heat homes for 589 years and fuel your car for 159 years.

One such advanced technology is hydraulic fracturing.

According to Energy in Depth, hydraulic fracturing – a gas extraction process developed by Halliburton, the world’s second largest oilfield services corporation – is one of the U.S. oil and gas industry’s crowning achievements, enabling them to produce energy supplies at enormous depths with surgical precision and unrivaled environmental safety records.

And, put simply they say, ‘new innovations are making these technologies better and better by the day – a fact widely recognized by the agencies that regulate hydraulic fracturing in energy-producing states’.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process where sand and fluids are pumped underground at very high pressure to cause tiny fissures in rock and force natural gas to the surface. Although most of the fluid is water, numerous chemicals, many of them toxic, are typically added to the mixture.

Chemicals used in fracking enter the environment in three main ways. Up to one-third of the fracking fluid is left underground during the process.  This can seep into underground drinking water supplies and the source waters for rivers and lakes. Spills and accidents on the surface can also contaminate water supplies. Finally, the two-thirds of the fluid that is retrieved after being injected underground is waste water that must be disposed of, presenting another potential avenue for release into the environment. (ombwatch.org)

What chemicals are being used?

Energy in Depth say over 99 percent is water and sand, with around .50 percent made up of additives.  Although the process has been linked to drinking water contamination and other harms to public health and the environment, companies are currently allowed to conceal the toxic chemicals they use.

However, Energy in Depth reveal compounds used in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas shales are representative of those used in the manufacture of;

• Glass cleaner
• antiperspirant
• hair color
• automotive antifreeze
• household cleansers
• deicing
• make-up remover
• laxatives
• disinfectant
• sterilizer for medical dental equipment and
• acids used in swimming pool cleaner. (4)

Lovely….

What laws are there that oversee and regulate the chemicals companies release into the environment?

Currently, the industry enjoys an exemption from regulation under a federal drinking water statute that permits companies to maintain secrecy around the chemicals used. The exemption, known as the ‘Halliburton loophole’, named after the company that pioneered the process, and the influence of its former CEO, Dick Cheney, was inserted into the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Gas drillers and the companies that supply them are attempting to fend off Congress’ efforts to close the loophole and to preserve the confidentiality of the chemicals used, claiming the mixtures are trade secrets. Although new state rules in Colorado require gas drillers to give the inventory of chemicals to medical personnel when requested, as well as to state officials, the general public remains barred from access to the information. Without the information about the chemicals, scientists are unable to research the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing.

Any evidence that they are dangerous?

In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final report summarizing a study to evaluate the potential threat to underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) from the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into coalbed methane (CBM) production wells. As in its August 2002 draft report, the EPA has concluded that additional or further study is not warranted at this time.

In making this decision, the EPA reviewed more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, other research, and public comments. The Agency has concluded that the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into CBM wells poses minimal threat to USDWs.

In its review of incidents of drinking water well contamination believed to be associated with hydraulic fracturing, the EPA found no confirmed cases that are linked to fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells or subsequent underground movement of fracturing fluids. Further, although thousands of CBM wells are fractured annually, the EPA did not find confirmed evidence that drinking water wells have been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells.

However on March 18th, 2010, the EPA announced that it will begin a new, comprehensive study on hydraulic fracturing.

Following the announcement, Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, stated;

Adding another study to the impressive list of those that have already been conducted and completed is a welcome exercise.

This view is endorsed by Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, who is concerned about emissions into the atmosphere.

He argues that a comprehensive assessment of the full range of greenhouse gas emissions using gas produced through fracking must also be done. The only assessments of the topic he is aware of have been done by the industry and have not been subjected to external, unbiased scientific review.

Pumped: Workers release carbon-dioxide vapor after 'fracking' a natural-gas well in eastern New Mexico

Natural gas when burned produces only about half of the carbon dioxide emissions of coal. However, that calculation omits greenhouse gas emissions from the well-drilling, water-trucking, pipeline-laying, and forest-felling that are part of the production of hydraulically fractured natural gas.

Howarth estimated that gas from fracking emits 2.4 times as many gases as just burning gas, and emits 60 percent more gases than diesel and gasoline.

He added that the estimates are conservative and preliminary, but show a need for further study.

Regarding the EPA study, Lee Fuller added;

“We are hopeful and it is our expectation that this study – if based on objective, scientific analysis – will serve as an opportunity to highlight the host of steps taken at every well site that make certain groundwater is properly protected.”

It doesn’t appear to be properly protected.

Studies by Dennis Lemly, research professor of biology at Wake Forest University, found dead fish in the region.

“Dead and deformed fish indicate pollution is causing permanent damage to the environment and poses serious health risks,” says Lemly. He found 50 to 60 percent of young fish were deformed in West Virginia’s Mud River Reservoir.

“They cannot survive and reproduction will fail,” he says.  He warns the fish population could be wiped out.

The threat is expanding as use of this destructive process grows. Once these ecosystems are polluted, damage to the environment is permanent.

A process that is capable of sustaining toxic levels of selenium which were found in 73 of 78 stream samples.

Mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is one source of Selenium.

Mountaintop removal mining involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil laden with toxic mining byproducts are often dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called ‘holler fills’ or ‘valley fills’.

Over the past two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has buried more than 1,000 miles of streams. Most common in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, this type of mining causes toxic levels of selenium to leach into rivers and streams.

Once in the aquatic environment, waterborne selenium can enter the food chain and reach levels that are toxic to fish and wildlife, Lemly states. (5)

Selenium levels in fish caught in some of West Virginia’s rivers are more than twice what is considered safe for human consumption. Humans need to absorb certain amounts of selenium daily, but extremely high concentrations of selenium can cause reproductive failure and birth defects.

“I specialize in fish, but that is only one part of the overall picture,” Lemly says. “Public health is also an issue with mountaintop removal mining.”

It’s time we stopped ‘fracking’ up the environment, don’t you think?

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This entry was posted Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 3:11 pm and is filed under general. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.