In 2008, Peter Gorman wrote an article for the Ft. Worth Weekly titled:
Peeling the Barnett Shale Onion
Scary questions have already emerged from beneath the drilling-boom bucks – and who knows what’s next?
Here’s what’s next, Peter:
I know! Like me, you have probably been thinking that the one good thing about natural gas development is that they can stop the mountain top removal (MTR) for coal mining. If so, then, like me, you’ve been suckered by Big Gas, AGAIN!
I’ve been in Arkansas for the past couple of days at the Clean Water Network Caucus on Oil Mining & Gas Water Pollution in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. Mining for frack sand is leveling a huge chunk of beautiful Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains area and leaving it nothing but a wasteland.
Some information about frack sand mining in Arkansas from Friends of the Rivers:
Like hydraulic frac mining itself, the State of Arkansas and our counties are NOT prepared to evaluate and manage the risks we face when companies with limited liability for their owners plan to remove the tops of our Ozark Hills and use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day.
- Water – depletion of the aquifer – More information here
- Water – discharge of waste water into creeks – More information here
- Risks to fish and wildlife habitat
- Possible additional erosion of streambanks from non-normal wastewater discharges and higher stormwater runoffs from cleared lands into creeks
- Air – dangers of silica dust causing silicosis – More information here
- Truck traffic – More information here
- Tourism and Economic Impacts – More information here
- Risks to workers
- Reclamation/Restoration after mining – More information here
- Noise and light
- Property Values – More information here
It’s happening in Wisconsin too! Canadian Sand and Proppant has a 40 year contract to mine frac sand in the hills in western Wisconsin.
Western Wisconsin sand mining goes against the grain for some residents
Some Chippewa, Wisconsin residents got together and started a blog/website called We Are Concerned Chippewa Citizens, and they have the best description of fracking I’ve seen yet.
(Fracking is like a high pressure ENEMA with highly toxic substances that bursts open the guts of the earth destroying the inner barriers and allowing oil, gas and water to mix and contaminate each other.)
What a complete scam, this so-called “clean energy”.
Let’s recap:
- Water use, it’s not sustainable
- Water contamination
- Emissions of smog forming VOCs, toxic compounds, GHG
- Subsidence
- Loss of farm and ranch land
- Loss of wild spaces
- Loss of property value
- Health impacts
- EXPLOSIONS
- Spills
What else?
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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I'm shocked by how many states this is actually happening in.
Of course our lovely government doesn't care…
My goodness.
The externalities just go on and on…..
We can sit hear and bitch, moan and complain, or we can do something about it.
We want change, we need to be the change we want in the world.
We are disgruntled citizens of the United States of America. This is our country. It's time we take it back.
Run for local government and don't just sit back… do something about it!
Or it's going to continue to be the status quo.
To Zoe above–good ideas–BUT you better be careful. I know a friend who complained about O&G. Next thing you know he's been charged with some boggus criminal crap. All it takes is ONE phone call to the right people in Tx–and you're ruined. If you ain't scared in Tx, you're not informed!! Be careful!
I'm not scared. Not one bit. And I'm tired of sitting back, and you can bet your tightie whitie little panties, I'll be on the ballot next election.
Cut off days for your local government elections will be within the next 4 to 6 weeks. So I want everyone with good intentions to see safe gas drilling run down to your local town hall, see what seats are open, fill out the information, pay your nominal fee, and feel rest assured, you are doing everything you can to change what's happening in your neighborhood.
I'm not scared either, Zoe. I'm a mother and I'm PISSED! It's Big Gas that should be scared.
To Anonymous 7:52 a.m., Many great men and women have laid down their lives so that I can exercise my freedom of speech, as well as the many other freedoms I have. Speaking out and taking action against the wrongs that are being heaped upon us is our civic duty. We are a nation crippled by apathy, we have all gotten so used to the many conveniences and privileges that we are blessed with that we don't question their origins or the ultimate price we will pay. What scares me is how close these operations are to homes, schools, churches, and other places we gather. The procurement and transportation of natural gas is highly dangerous. As we have witnessed throughout the U.S, the pipelines are failing and we are becoming collateral damage because Big Energy has lobbied and lined the pockets of those in power. We have practically no oversight now, what do you think is going to happen when the money is not here to be made and the "big guys" sell off, and it goes downhill from there. The atrocities they have created will become the burden of all of us, the tax paying American. Thank you Zoe! Side note to Big Energy, welcome to Texas, where the women have bigger balls than you do. Don't mess with Texas women, we will go to Hell and back to protect our families, homes, and other loved ones. Submitted with my Freedom of Speech, God Bless America! Jana DeGrand, unincorporated, unprotected, Argyle, Denton County, Texas