“‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers.” #fracking#ClimateCrisis
A new study links fracking to childhood cancer in Pennsylvania, one of the most heavily drilled states in the U.S. The study found that children living within a mile of a fracking well were up to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma, a rare type of cancer, than those living farther away. The study adds to the growing evidence of the health risks of fracking, which uses chemicals and water to extract natural gas from shale rock. #fracking#cancer#Pennsylvania
While most of the province is facing extreme drought and individuals are being told to take shorter showers, the B.C. government is still allowing the fracking industry to extract and contaminate billions of litres of freshwater.
There are actions the provincial government could take right now to protect communities and freshwater from fracking: we laid out all the recommendations in our ‘Fracking With Freshwater’ report last year.
Grab yer 🍿, lovers. Tory psycho-drama about to amp up to an 11:
“Around 60 Conservative MPs have reportedly joined Liz Truss’s Growth Group, which aims to lower taxes, build more homes, and legalise #fracking.
Thirty three Conservative allies of Truss have reportedly signed a pledge to vote against the government if they raise taxes, in a move that could destabilise the government’s majority in parliament.”
The long tail of toxic emissions on the #NavajoNation
Communities contend with ongoing air quality issues tied to #gas and #oil wells.
Mark Armao, August 30, 2023
"Sitting in his office a few miles away, former Chapter President Samuel Sage said he often smells the gas that collects in certain valleys. Sage, who has provided written testimony to Congress on the issue, said officials with the #BLM and the #BureauOfIndianAffairs never discussed the dangers posed by #fracking during oil-leasing negotiations with allotment owners. 'The first thing that was mentioned was, ‘If you sign this, you will get this much money,’ and of course, there was no hesitation,' he said.
"While oil tankers tear up the dirt roads that branch off the highway, Sage said the industry’s presence has frayed the fabric of the community, pitting locals who support oil and gas development against those who are opposed to the industry encroaching on the landscape. Undeterred by the controversy, Pinto plans to continue putting pressure on regulators and the industry by documenting emissions and raising awareness of their potential health impacts.
"'It’s not good for us, it’s not good for wildlife, it’s not good for plants,' Pinto said. “Are people getting paid enough to bear all these negative impacts — is it worth it?'"
About the author:
"Mark Armao (#Diné) hails from the high desert in northern Arizona. Now based in California, his recent reporting has focused on #environmental issues facing #Indigenous communities."
As severe Alberta drought looms, fracking consumes huge volumes of water — forever
“Although the oilsands consume the vast majority of all water used by the oil and gas industry in Alberta, fracking has grown ever-thirstier over the past decade — and the water it uses is gone from the water cycle for good.” #Fracking#Oilsands#Water#Canada#cdnpoli
It's absolutely wild that this article on the frightening rise in early onset colorectal cancer doesn't mention the precipitous increase in microplastics and nanoplastics in our bodies as a potential carcinogen. Lifestyle, diet, medications, heavy metals, and PFAS are mentioned, but not microplastics (or pesticides!!).
#germanAmericanSurname of the day is FRACK, derived from Middle Low German vrak ‘greedy, stingy’ or from its homonym meaning ‘damaged, useless’. Frackville, PA is named after DANIEL FRACK. #fracking
The lack of a safe disposal site for #fracking water (can cause earthquakes esp when injected deep AND groundwater contamination when injected shallow) in the capital of TX (?US?) oil production (my hometown, #MidlandTX) is forcing a choice between oil production and human habitability.
"Overall, the studies in the new compilation found evidence that people who live near unconventional #oil and #gas production and distribution sites, such as well pads and compressor stations, are exposed to toxic airborne pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde, diesel exhaust, fine particles and nitrous oxides, leading to respiratory and skin problems, nervous system complaints, and heart issues at higher rates than in other sectors of the population." #Frackinghttps://insideclimatenews.org/news/20102023/new-evidence-pennsylvania-fracking-public-health-harms/
My mum (deceased 2021) did a crayon drawing of Gouldian Finches in the 1990s, after a visit to the NT. This week I’ve been voting for them in The Guardian Australian bird of the year 2023. One day I might even visit Larrakia country and hope to see them myself. If we can stop #fracking#Nonewgas#birdoftheyear2023#GouldianFinch#Larrakia#climateDiary
It uses "a major comparative study of water beings in diverse cultural and historical contexts, and considers the central importance of water beings such as Māori taniwha and the Australian Rainbow Serpent in such legal conflicts, and in broader debates about human and non-human rights. Like other water deities around the world, these beings personify the generative (and potentially punitive) powers of water and its co-creative role in shaping human and non-human lives. They are resurfacing today with an important representational role in contemporary conflicts over land and water." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ocea.5375
And this: Yinbarnini Ngukunginyi (Singing of Water) on #Indigenous challenges to #fracking near #Mudburra Country (N.T.)
"they point to the existence of stygofauna – tiny creatures that live in the underground water – which, though known to the traditional owners for millennia, are relatively new to western science. (It is likely that a word for stygofauna existed in the Mudburra language, but as far as we know it has not survived.) Research to establish environmental baselines prior to the commencement of fracking indicates that the stygofauna perform a vital function in purifying the underground water, and that they would be seriously threatened by fracking operations. As part of the protest movement against fracking, the authors have composed a song about stygofauna to be taught to the Mudburra children at Newcastle Waters School."
"Spraying roads with “produced water,” highly saline wastewater containing proprietary drilling chemicals as well as benzene, arsenic and radium 226 and 228, both radioactive isotopes, has been outlawed in #Pennsylvania since 2016."
“The reality is, even though dumping on roads is illegal, it is happening all the time, every day,” said Hess.