The Earth Killing Practice of Fracking
Fracking: Champagne for the Elites, Death for the People - By John Robles 10
January, 22:49
There are so many serious issues concerning the spread of induced hydraulic
fracturing or hydrofracturing (fracking) and so many reasons why it should
be stopped completely or strictly regulated as more and more becomes known
regarding the long-term impact on the planet and so much false propaganda
being spread about the practice that it is difficult to choose where to
begin attempting to formulate an intelligent presentation of the issue.
However the long term dangers are so great to the international community
and out very planet that the issue must be looked at at the highest levels
and a moratorium if not an all out ban on the process must be implemented.
Corporate Destruction of the Planet Let
us start by being frank the bottom line in the fracking debate was best
summed by a corporate executive whose company is making billions from
fracking, he said there is gas there and we need it. In other words nothing
else matters as long as there is a profit to be made. The
huge US multi-national corporations involved in oil, energy and resource
extraction have a long and black record when it comes to protecting the
people of the world and the planet. From the Gulf Oil Spill to the Bhopal
disaster, the release of a mind-boggling plethora of toxic and deadly
chemicals into the global environment (a list too long to detail here), the
destruction of seas and forests and the egregious practice of moving dirty
industries to unregulated countries (among top issues) all have proven that
the corporations are interested in one thing and one thing only: maintaining
their bottom line.
Halliburton, Cheney and convenient exemptions
It is not a secret that these corporations will do anything to make profits
and when we look at the records of the players and who they are the truth
becomes even clearer. A case in point is Halliburton, the company run by
ex-US Vice President
Dick Cheney,
the snarling neo-conservative architect of the Bush wars and a man who (it
was revealed by the release of the infamous torture memos) personally
developed and signed off on torture techniques such as “puncturing an eye”
and “slicing a testicle”.
Fracking profiteers Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Shlumberger were revealed
to be the subjects of a U.S. Justice Department federal antitrust probe
initiated against the $36 billion a year
fracturing industry
this past summer. It was reported that documents were being sought however
the current state of the action is unclear.
Halliburton, with the coming to power of its “former” chairman Richard
“Dick” Cheney was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the War on Terror, the
invasion of Iraq and the entire indefinite-detention-torture-paradigm. The
company is one of the top war profiteers on the planet and also heavily
involved in oil field support operations and resource exploitation,
including fracking.
So it is no coincidence that during the Bush/Cheney occupation of the White
House fracking was exempted from major
EPA regulation.
The US Government’s Energy Policy Act of 2005 was written with a provision
that benefits fracking profiteers and is now known as the
"Halliburton Loophole".
The provision allows Halliburton and others to be exempt from many of the
requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Clean Air Act and
Clean Water Act.
Responsible Government?
It is no secret that the US Government has been (quite literally) taken over
by corporations and special interests willing to spend billions on lobbying
and “greasing the wheels” and corporations involved in fracking spent a
mind-boggling
$726 million
dollars on
lobbying
from 2001-2011. With
the inherent dangers of fracking one has to question whose interests the
government is supposed to be protecting and it is clear in this case that
the interests of the people and the environment fall far behind to the
interests of the entrenched US corporations.
What Exactly is Fracking?
Fracking is controversial but what exactly is it? Hydraulic fracturing is
the process of extracting gases by fracturing rock using a pressurized
liquid mixture which cracks or “fractures” the rock. Some hydraulic
fractures
form naturally,
for example certain veins or dikes. With
induced hydraulic fracturing a bore is drilled vertically to the desired
depth, then turns ninety degrees to the horizontally and continues for
several thousand feet (going thousands of feet deeper than traditional
natural gas wells) into the shale containing the trapped natural gas. When
the bore or “well” is complete a mixture; usually water, sand and various
chemicals, is injected at high pressure into the bore to create small
fissures which are typically less than 1mm in size through which the gas can
escape.
Fracking requires between two and eight million (Yes, million!) gallons of
local freshwater per well which is over a 100 times more than what is
required using traditional extraction methods. This water is permanently
contaminated when it is mixed into the "fracking fluid". This mix is a
virtual cocktail of toxic chemicals and while corporations such as
Halliburton refuse to disclose the exact chemicals used, saying the
information is “proprietary”, studies have shown the fluid contains: acetic
acids, boric acids, citric acids, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde,
hydrochloric acid, lead, mercury, methanol, radium, uranium and other deadly
chemical contaminants, many of which would kill a human being in the
minutest amount.
After the rock is fractured hydraulic pressure is removed from the well,
then small grains of proppant (sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures
open. The technique is very common in wells for shale gas, tight gas, tight
oil, and coal seam gas and hard rock wells. The natural gas then escapes
through the fissures and is drawn back up the well to the surface, where it
is processed, refined, and shipped to market. It
is claimed that the wastewater returns to the surface after the fracking
process is completed. Reportedly it is contained in steel tanks until it can
be stored long-term by deep injection in oil and gas waste wells.
Benefits of Fracking
Proponents of hydraulic fracturing say there is about a 100 year supply of
formerly inaccessible hydrocarbons in the US which can be extracted by
fracking. However this amount
has not been proven.
Dangers of Fracking
Opponents to fracking cite the environmental effects, including the
permanent contamination of vast amounts of ground water, the depletion of
fresh water reserves, air and noise pollution, the return and leakage of
gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface which then enter the
atmosphere are carried by winds and poison water supplies, land and
everything they come in contact with and can be passed to humans through
livestock and the like. Again for one single fracking operation between two
and eight million gallons of freshwater are required. Water which then has
to be completely contained and isolated from humans. Although
self-interested corporations might claim the deadly mixture is contained,
there is no way to guarantee that seepage into the earth will not occur.
Disingenuous Arguments US
proponents of fracking love to jump on the “energy independence” and
“economic benefits” band-wagon but all of these arguments are ludicrous when
one considers the wasteland that is created by the process, the dangers to
health and the massive amount of freshwater that is contaminated forever.
All arguments about “energy independence” and are also completely ridiculous
and absolutely annulled when you consider these corporations will never even
consider promoting energy independence through renewable and alternative
energy resources. They have one goal: making money the only obtuse way they
know how.
The 100 year “golden age of gas” is a
fallacy,
this meaning one where the US is energy independent and produces enough gas
to export. Any attempt at such will surely lead to 100 years of completely
raping and destroying the environment for future generations.
Alternative Fuels
The idiocy of American corporations and those claiming fossil fuels are the
only source of energy available cannot be overstated or exaggerated,
especially given the fact that we know that workable electric cars and
alternative sources of safe renewable energy have existed for decades. But
of course economies and corporations making billions and based on fossil
fuel trade do not want these facts to be known. Alternative fuels include
everything from solar energy to
vegetable oil.
Protests
Protests against fracking are growing larger and more frequent as the public
becomes aware of the dangers. However those in power who are obviously
catering to the interests of large corporations, such as New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo, choose to ignore the concerns of the public and their
constituents.
Recently over a thousand protestors took part in an anti-fracking
demonstration in Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York the capital of New
York state, during the State of the State address. Governor Andrew Cuomo
however chose not to mention fracking during his speech nor to address the
concerns of the thousands gathered outside.
According to RT one of the protestors said his reason for being against
fracking was the “Air contamination, high levels of radiation, earthquakes,”
and that it is an incredibly dirty form of extreme energy extraction that
cannot have any place in New York state. Another protestor citing the fact
that “Water is non-renewable.”
Brainwashing the Children How
would Walt Disney feel if he knew that his life’s work and everything he
worked for to bring hope and joy and wonderment to children was turned into
a propaganda tool for corporations like Halliburton. Well that is exactly
what happened.
Al-Jazeera America
reported
on January 8th that:
“An educational program funded by Ohio’s oil and gas industry and sponsored
by Radio Disney has environmental activists — and some parents — up in arms
over what they say is a hijacking of public education by hydraulic
fracturing (fracking) interests, in a state sitting on billions of dollars’
worth of gas-rich shale.”
They also updated their article on the 9th to include:”Disney emailed a
statement to Al Jazeera, saying the company has pulled out of the remaining
installments of the Rocking Ohio tour. ‘The sole intent of the collaboration
between Radio Disney and the nonprofit Rocking in Ohio educational
initiative was to foster kids' interest in science and technology. Having
been inadvertently drawn into a debate that has no connection with this
goal, Radio Disney has decided to withdraw from the few remaining
installments of the program,’ the statement read.” All
is well that ends well perhaps but the fact that energy companies are now
targeting children to spread their pro-fracking and dangerous agendas is
extremely disturbing to say the least and the fact that the US Government
would allow such corporate propaganda is also disturbing. Clearly the
attempt to brain-wash the next generation so as to reduce to a minimum
protests to corporate long-term strategy. This
brain-washing of children in America is not isolated to energy corporations.
We have seen how children, almost any of whom would normally say “yuck” if
you told them about to men having “relations” are anesthetized to believe
that things like “single-sex-marriages” are normal. Something Russia has
protected children from and for which the West has no end of qualms about.
Truly these matters are a damning and very sad statement on a society that
has decimated its educational system in order to appease corporations and
begun to privatize education, even at the elementary school level, to allow
for profits to be made.
Publicity stunts
The fracking companies themselves shave been engaged in publicity stunts
themselves and such events would be better ignored except for their
ridiculousness. For example at the annual Quebec Oil and Gas Association
meeting in Montreal at the end of October of
last year.
Top Halliburton executives including Halliburton Canada vice-president John
Gorman and others claimed that they were drinking “frack fluid” from
champagne bottles. Although no independent analysis was carried out as to
what in fact they were drinking. The
Halliburton exec claimed they only had to replace a few chemicals with some
food additives, however it is seriously doubtful that they were really
drinking water laced with mercury, uranium, radium, lead, ethylene glycol,
formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid or any of the other chemicals that could
instantly kill a horse.
Halliburton loves such stunts according to
the Financial Post. “In 2011 Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar asked one of his
executives to take a sip of the fluid during a presentation in front of
industry executives. Critics wondered why the CEO did not drink it himself.”
Non-disclosure Bribes and Corporate Secrecy The
way that Halliburton and these corporations subvert and manipulate the law
in order to get away with murder is something that is almost unbelievable in
modern times. But these corporations have been successful in silencing
everyone from medical personnel to activists by bribing, terrorizing and
tricking into signing “non-disclosure” agreements.
According to
Bloomberg:
“…
in Pennsylvania Range Resources Corp and two other companies agreed to a
$750,000 settlement in a fracking suit requiring the plaintiff’s not to tell
anyone, according to court filings. In cases from Wyoming to Arkansas,
Pennsylvania to Texas, (Bloomberg continues) drillers have agreed to cash
settlements or property buyouts with people who say hydraulic fracturing,
also known as fracking, ruined their water, according to a review by
Bloomberg News of hundreds of regulatory and legal filings. In most cases
homeowners must agree to keep quiet.The strategy keeps data from regulators,
policymakers, the news media and health researchers, and makes it difficult
to challenge the industry’s claim that fracking has never tainted anyone’s
water.”
According to
Truth Out
one Pennsylvania family began suffering from headaches, nosebleeds, burning
eyes and sore throats as drilling operations expanded on their land and in
their neighborhood. The family ended up filing a lawsuit in 2010 and
abandoning their home and eventually won their case in a hearing which was
closed to the press and during which the gas companies persuaded a judge to
permanently seal the case from public view.
What can be done?
As long as the government is being controlled by corporations and lobbyists
continue to offer mountains of lucre to politicians and regulators to “look
the other way” not much. However I would like to finish with one of my
favorite quotes stated in 1964 by an activist named
Mario Savio
in Berkeley:
“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious — makes
you so sick at heart — that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively
take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the
wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it
stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who
own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working
at all.”
Coming soon the 100 year total destruction of the environment. Brought to
you from the people who brought you the Iraq war and $4.00 a gallon gas
prices.
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