California Has Been Fracked

We’ve warned for years that fracking pollutes our scarce drinking water. As the Emmy-winning documentary Gasland demonstrates,  fracking is polluting water all over the country.

A study published in the journal Ground Water predicts that the highly-toxic fluids used in fracking can migrate to aquifers within a few short years.

NBC Bay Area news reported last week that 3 billion gallons of highly-toxic fracking waste was injected into California’s aquifers:

In a time when California faces an historic drought, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit has uncovered that state officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump billions of gallons of waste water into protected aquifers.

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State officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump nearly three billion gallons of waste water into underground aquifers that could have been used for drinking water or irrigation.

Those aquifers are supposed to be off-limits to that kind of activity, protected by the EPA.

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California’s Department of Conservation’s Chief Deputy Director, Jason Marshall, told NBC Bay Area, “In multiple different places of the permitting process an error could have been made.”California’s Department of Conservation’s Chief Deputy Director, Jason Marshall, told NBC Bay Area, “In multiple different places of the permitting process an error could have been made.”

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“This is something that is going to slowly contaminate everything we know around here,” said fourth- generation Kern County almond grower Tom Frantz, who lives down the road from several of the injection wells in question.

According to state records, as many as 40 water supply wells, including domestic drinking wells, are located within one mile of a single well that’s been injecting into non-exempt aquifers.

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“That’s a huge concern and communities who rely on water supply wells near these injection wells have a lot of reason to be concerned that they’re finding high levels of arsenic and thallium and other chemicals nearby where these injection wells have been allowed to operate,” said Kretzmann.

Fracking Pumps Out Huge Quantities of Methane

Scientists found that fracking pumps out a lot of methane … into both our drinking water and the environment. Indeed, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that fracking puts between 100 and 1,000 times more methane into the atmosphere than the EPA assumed.

For those worried about global warming, you should note that methane is a powerful greenhouse gas: 72 times more potent as a warming source than CO2.  As such, fracking won’t decrease global warming … if anything, it will increase it.

Fracking Causes Earthquakes

Scientists have concluded that fracking actually causes earthquakes.  Some fracking companies nowadmit this fact.

And yet is allowed within 500 feet of nuclear power plants. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Fracking Is a Ponzi Scheme

Shale fracking is a ponzi scheme, which has a lot in common with the subprime mortgage scam.

Fracking Our Liberties

A law passed in Pennsylvania allows doctors to access information about chemicals used in fracking, but will restrict them from sharing that information with their patients. See the writeups by Mother Jonesand Truthout.

The director of the Emmy-award winning documentary on fracking – Gasland – was arrested for attempting to film a Congressional hearing on fracking.

Actor Mark Ruffalo was put on a terror watch list after he organized showings of Gasland.

The Washington Post reported in March that the FBI is investigating anti-fracking activists as potential terrorists.

The state of Pennsylvania hired an Israeli-American company with extensive military and intelligence ties to put out “terror” alerts. The company – ITRR – describes itself as:

The preeminent Israeli/American security firm providing training, intelligence and education to clients across the globe.

ITRR explains:

The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response’s research and analysis center, known as the Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C), is located in Israel. The Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center is staffed with former law enforcement, military, and intelligence professionals experienced in the production and utilization of intelligence products.

ITRR considered opponents of fracking to be potential terrorists.

Fracking companies are also using military psychological operations techniques to discredit opponents(and see this).