Holy CHIT BATMAN...(un)Natural Gas Industry Aiding and Abetting Terrorists? Or Are They Just TERRORISTS?



Imagine Your Child with MELTING SKIN



Holy CHIT BATMAN...have you read the report on the list of Chemicals being used by at least fourteen of the MAJOR COMPANIES involved in the United States Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing debackle...you know, the practice the industry says is SAFE, and WILL NOT HARM US OR OUR WATER?

Setting aside the hyperbole and getting serious here...imagine a chemical so DANGEROUS that just one drop COULD KILL YOU!  Imagine that chemical being LABELED by a department of our Federal Government as a chemical terrorism agent.  Now, let your mind wrap around this reality...companies involved in the FRACKING OF OUR LANDS using this chemical as a part of their proprietary batch of chemicals that they PUMP INTO YOUR LAND in the process of extracting Natural Gas.  Sound scary? Well ladies and gentleman, IT IS TRUE.

Over a five-year period from 2005-2009, companies used more than 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 different chemicals and other components, including chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens or are federally regulated because at certain levels they are known to be quite harmful to human health--such as benzene, lead, and diesel fuel.  From the NRDC Switchboard

• Two fracking products contained hydrofluoric acid (hydrogen fluoride in water). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "You could be exposed to hydrogen fluoride if it is used as a chemical terrorism agent." My colleague Briana Mordick, NRDC's Science Fellow and a geologist, explained to me that hydrofluoric acid can eat through hard rocks. According to the CDC, swallowing only a small amount of highly concentrated hydrofluoric acid or even splashes of hydrofluoric acid on the skin can be fatal. It can cause a wide range of very serious health effects. 
• Many of the fracking fluids contain chemical components that are listed as “proprietary” or “trade secret,” so the public cannot know what chemicals are being stored, used, or disposed of in their communities or near their drinking water sources.

Fracking fluid ingredients have been kept secret by the oil and gas industry for years. Efforts to shed light on the contents of these fluids are now taking hold, with Wyoming and Arkansas passing new rules to provide public information. But oil and gas is produced in more than thirty states, and disclosure in two states is not enough. Communities in every state deserve disclosure of chemicals and federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing.

This latest report importantly exposes more data that underscore the essential need for more scientific investigation as well as stronger regulatory oversight of the fracking process. Industry may continue to claim there is no documentation that drinking water has been contaminated by the fracking process, but that may be because no one has ever fully investigated the process and its effects. We know enough about the risks of the chemicals used and the many potential ways they can affect drinking water sources to warrant regulations that apply nationwide.

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives that would ensure federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing. The legislation is called the FRAC Act (its formal name is the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act). NRDC makes it easy for you to write to your Senators and Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor this legislation on our website.

Special Thanks to PiccolaBee over on Twitter for bringing this to Fractoid's attention. Shall leave you with this thought...imagine if you will these clumsy folks at the well head having a little accident, spilling some chemicals including hydrofluoric acid and some of this finds its way down hill into a stream that your child just happens to be playing in. Imagine if your child happened to be splashing water on their face, or several children splashing together...HYDROFLUORIC ACID can eat its way through rock...imagine the screams of horror as your kids are running up the hill too the house, their faces being eaten off as you run out the door to see what the matter is.

So I ask you...are the companies using Hydrofluoric Acid aiding and abetting terrorists in having such chemicals (unguarded) at a drilling site, or are they themselves CORPORATE TERRORISTS, THREATENING THE SAFETY AND LIVES OF YOURSELF, AND THE ONES YOU LOVE?