Fracking Sand May Pose Health Hazard To Workers, Residents (VIDEO)...

[Indi Guy]

Source: Huffington Post

The first time Bill Ferullo saw the white plumes drifting from a natural gas fracking site, he got out of his car to take pictures.

"I didn't know what it was," he recalled. "But two minutes later my chest was burning. It burned all night."

In the two years since, Ferullo has watched similar dust clouds travel as far as a mile, he estimates, from gas drilling operations around his home in Bradford County, Pa. He has also since learned what hazards they may carry. One component in particular concerns Ferullo, as well as other residents and environmental health experts: silica sand, a long-known cause of debilitating and deadly diseases such as silicosis and lung cancer.

"At frack sites, silica gets into the air and you get these huge plumes of dust that can be breathed in by workers and anybody nearby, downwind," said Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council...

Embedded video:

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/16/fracking-sand-health-hazard-_n_2146992.html?utm_hp_ref=green

[8 track mind]

1. and H2S n/t

[mike dub]

2. Wow- that's Really bad

Good video, Indi Guy,

But the only thing I can manage after a longggg work-week is; How the hell is THIS legal in America???

Wow, just wow.

[grahampuba]

3. i live where they mine this sand

its completely taken over the area. strip mining the bluffs and hillsides of Western Wisconsin and S.E. Minnesota. Hundreds of loosely covered trucks driving from the mines to loading/washing facilities, dumping their tailings back into the mines and aquifers.

some local coverage.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Price-of-Sand/267936016587423?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://www.minnpost.com/environment/2012/07/wisconsin-frac-sand-sites-double
http://ecowatch.org/2012/mining-companies-invade-wisconsin-for-frac-sand/

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Me too.

Chippewa Falls in my case. Where you at?

[grahampuba]

7. Huffington Post's #1 scenic drive..!

aka Maiden Rock.
Its a 'scenic byway' but, that and a $.50 will get you a bag of chips apparently.

Found out earlier this summer that the company contracted to test our well water for contamination, has a VP who speaks at Fracking industry symposiums and lectures about defeating Anti-Fracking movements and navigating local opposition to frac sand mining... and is pitched by the mine as a third-party/independent body.

Typically its 4-5 local yokels presiding over the permanent destruction of these bluffs for a handful of jobs..

[Fearless]

5. No shit Sherlock. Problem is that Big Oil doesn't care about its workers. n/t

[midnight]

6. Using old science is proving unsustainable... I read that the rejected alternative energy

polices by the U.S. are being used in Germany...



How Germany Is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy:

“In the end,” says Davidson, who spent a month in Germany studying the Energiewende, “it isn’t about making money. It’s about quality of life.”




http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_germany_is_getting_to_100_percent_renewable_energy_20121115/

[Rhiannon12866]

8. K&R!

This is scary stuff. Saw "Gasland" recently, one of the worst things I've ever seen, those poor people. And all of us are potentially in danger...

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

10. off topic about sig line...

Cool if it had Bush+Clinton+Bush+Obama

Still nice.

[Indi Guy]

14. 'Gasland' - Full movie...

I encourage everyone concerned with fracking, and those who enjoy good old fashioned investigative journalism to check this out & share it:

[madrchsod]

9. happening along the illinois river too...

the land is right next to starved rock state park between ottawa and lasalle il.

[Indi Guy]

16. Here are where "fraccidents" have taken place - and are likely to if nothing is done...

[burrowowl]

11. K&R!!!!!

Silicosis is bad!

[olddad56]

12. MAY pose health hazzard? There is no maybe in this equation.

If it is bad for the environment, it is bad for the creatures that inhabit said environment. To quote the mythical golfer Roy McAvoy, "this ain't long division".

[burrowowl]

17. My uncle was a mining engineer

in the 40's and 50's, he died of silicosis at 62, many of the miners died much younger.

[wordpix]

13. the problem is, the gas cos. do not care, just like Big Oil

Mother Earth is outraged

[Indi Guy]

15. "'Gasland' Movie Director Josh Fox on How Fracking Affects Us All"...

Here's how fracking affects us all (to name only a few examples), based on an interview with Josh Fox and reflecting his research here:

• 34 states and counting are already fracking - the majority of the United States. That means, you're likely either in a state that's impacted, or have a friend or family member who is.
  
  
• We're all downstream. Watershed systems flow from small tributaries into large river basins in places like New York City, Los Angeles, Pittsburg, Cleveland, and many other major metro areas. Many frack chemicals are non-biodegradable and pose water contamination risks all the way to major watersheds.
  
  
• We're all downwind. Studies show that frack sites can emit high levels of pollution. In 2009, 7700 frack sites in the Dallas, TX metro area (there are now 15,000+) were pumping out the equivalent smog and CO2 emissions of all traffic in the entire Dallas/ Fort Worth DMA combined. In Pennsylvania, the industry goal is 100,000-200,000 frack sites, or another 10-20 DFW's worth of emissions, in one state alone.
  
  
• Climate change is impacted. Over a 20-year timeframe, frack gas emissions (CO2, methane) have a more dire effect on climate change than coal.
  
  
• Democracy - your voice - is at risk. Private companies have spent $747 million lobbying congress to be exempted from several key laws including the Clean Water Act in order to continue fracking. While public sentiment is often negative, with petitions being signed and delivered frequently, citizens don't have a quarter of a billion dollars to speak for them.
  
  
• Land destruction is ongoing, including public treasures. Large swaths of public parklands and forests have been handed over for drilling, creating unprecedented destruction of plants, animals, habitats, and natural beauty. Industrialized landscapes are replacing scenic lands previously untouched, and private companies are being granted Eminent Domain rights on private land.
  
  
• Economic recovery suffers. Sustainable energy sources built and maintained over the long-term create and keep real jobs. Frack jobs are typically in and out. While there may be temporary spikes in some jobs, the drilling leaves a slew of negative impacts on the community affected, and nominal long-term growth, behind when the drilling is done.
  
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-neumann/social-good-stars-gasland_b_1962258.html