Letter to the Newspaper Our Community Faces

Letter to the Newspaper

Our community faces a public health crisis of unprecedented proportions. My research leads me to believe that the cluster of unexplained illnesses that the people of this town have experienced over the years are the direct result of gas company drilling practices.

It started out with what we all assumed were just unrelated illnesses: irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. These may sound like allergies, but no. For the really unfortunate folks in our community, more severe symptoms showed up, like hypotension, metabolic acidosis, hemolysis, pulmonary edema and even coma, even rare and deadly diseases. But here is the zinger: we have too many cases of these illnesses for a community our size, far too many.

I became concerned after a chance remark by the school nurse about the number of children who apparently suffered from allergies, but whose symptoms did not respond to the usual allergy treatments. I had read about other communities where people had experienced symptoms after nearby gas company drilling, called fracking.

Of course the gas company claims that their drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is safe. The gas company uses the procedure to create fractures in rocks. They then inject fluid into the cracks to force them open more, with the result that the larger fissures allow more oil and gas to flow out of the formation. More oil and gas can be extracted from a given area of land.

Knowing that the local gas company had also used fracking in our area was just too much coincidence. That is when I began to research the possibility that the medical problems were related to the drilling.

I decided to investigate further, to look for other reports of illness, other statistical anomalies. I interviewed several local doctors, I made phone calls to the CDC and EPA, and I researched articles online about the effects of fracking.

Here is what my investigation found: According to Reuters, "U.S. government scientists have for the first time found chemical contaminants in drinking water wells near natural gas drilling operations, fueling concern that a gas extraction technique is endangering the health of people who live close to drilling rigs" (Hurdle, 2009). Theo Colborn, a scientist who has been investigating the effect of fracking chemicals on the human body, has focused on one chemical in particular, 2-BE or 2-butoxyethanol, known to cause damage to the eyes, liver, spleen, bone marrow and kidneys in laboratory animals (Cernansky, 2009). Moreover, the list of fracking chemicals includes benzene, a known human carcinogen, along with xylene, toluene and tetramethylammonium chloride, chemicals that with prolonged exposure can lead to liver damage in humans and even be fatal (Junkins, 2010). Fracking chemicals can leak into the water system in several ways, including from the derrick, well casing, and fractured shale or from surface contamination (Kimball, 2011).