BP’s Deepwater Horizon leaking oil. Shale leaking methane.

I wonder why CBS put “may” in the title of this article, “Oil may be seeping from Deepwater Horizon site.”

…more oil continues to surface. Slicks and sheens of varying sizes and shapes have been documented by satellite photos, as well as aerial video recorded by the non-profit environmental group “On Wings of Care.” It’s suspected that an unknown amount of oil trapped in the containment dome, and in the wreckage and equipment from 2010, could be seeping out.

Fracking is creating pathways for methane to seep out into the atmosphere and natural gas leaks at every stage of production.

We have seen the methane seeping up through the ground. We have seen the methane seeping up through creeks and rivers and water wells and bayous.

All the hydrocarbon leaks and seeps and spills add to our fossil fuel body burden as explained by Sandra Steingraber in an interview with EarthJustice. Audio of interview here.

And instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to say that the burden of proof for demonstration of safety belongs to industry and that as a pre-condition for introducing these things safety was a required result of careful testing, instead, the law gave a pass to this inventory of 65,000 chemicals already on the marketplace and then required some very low bars for testing any new chemicals. So you can see right away that is a disincentive to innovation in chemistry because it’s always going to be easier for the industry to fall back on that inventory of 65,000 old chemicals for which they don’t need to show anything at all. And at the same time, it blinds those of us in the scientific community from even being able to know what the effects are for people’s exposures because we don’t have basic toxicology data. And so really, it’s this law—the Toxic Substances Control Act—that is at the heart of our broken chemical regulatory system and is placing children in harm’s way.

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

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