I came upon a disturbing article in a local village magazine about "fracking" also known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing
(hydrofracking) which involves injecting huge volumes of water into underground natural gas wells in order to release the trapped gas. I personally
had never heard of this drilling practice (although I noted that there were a few previous posts here on ATS) but something about it made me wonder if
it's possibly the cause of the unusual hum and underground vibrations that many of us have felt and discussed. Also, I live in the Metro NY area,
about 20 miles from the Indian Point nuclear power facility, and as I read through the various articles linked together below, it REALLY got my
attention.
Keep in mind that this drilling technique is being practiced throughout the United States. Information about, and the perils of, fracking are
documented by filmmaker Josh Fox in his film
Gasland, which was the winner of the Special Jury Prize - Best US Documentary Feature at
the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered on HBO this past summer.
You can view the film's HBO trailer here:
The following is a link to the film's website which is filled with a plethora of information:
www.gaslandthemovie.com...
A link to the referenced magazine is
www.nyackvillager.com... and this is the first article entitled
"The News on Fracking Gets Worse":
In Gasland, filmmaker, Josh Fox, describes the unintended consequences of the relatively new drilling method, known as high-volume horizontal
hydraulic fracturing, (hydrofracking). The process injects huge amounts of water into natural gas wells to release the gas that formed underground
eons ago and lies trapped deep in the Earth in countless tiny bubbles, between thin layers of shale. Each well that is fracked can produce a million
gallons of wastewater laced with corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, which occur naturally underground in
many places. The risks are particularly severe in Pennsylvania, with 71,000 active gas wells. Though sewage treatment plant operators say they are
incapable of removing enough radioactive contaminants to meet federal drinking-water standards, drillers trucked at least half of their waste to
public sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania in 2008 and 2009, according to state officials. Some of it was sent on to other states, including New
York and West Virginia, discharged into rivers, sometimes just miles upstream from drinking-water intake plants. Energy companies are clamoring to
drill—and they are getting rare support from some environmentalists, who say using natural gas will help slow climate change and help wean the U.S.
off Middle Eastern oil. Where fracking has gone unchecked, some frightening consequences have been recorded. As the film, “Gasland,” shows, there
are places where, if you touch a match to the water flowing from a kitchen faucet, the water bursts into flames.
It gets even scarier in the next article entitled
"Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?":
As though this were not enough to worry about, comes news that seismologists suspect activities related to fracking may be linked to earthquakes.
The State of Arkansas experienced a cluster of small quakes in the vicinity of two “injection wells” used to dispose of waste fluid from natural
gas production. There were about 100 earthquakes during fracking operations, including the largest quake to hit the state in 35 years, a magnitude 4.7
on February 27.
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A dozen quakes were of magnitudes 3.0 or greater. This has special significance for the Hudson Valley and Indian Point. (See story, New Fault
Discovered at Indian Point). Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 41, creating a partial moratorium on fracking, urgently needs to be extended.
Lastly, the final article,
"New Fault Discovered at Indian Point", explains my concern regarding the facility (one of many actually)
and adds an additional layer to the hazardous picture:
A study by a group of prominent seismologists based at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, indicates “the risk of earthquakes … is
substantially greater than formerly believed.”
The previously unknown active seismic zone runs from Stamford, Connecticut to Peekskill, NY, where it passes less than a mile north of the Indian
Point nuclear power plant.
It crosses the Ramapo Seismic Zone, which runs from eastern Pennsylvania to the mid-Hudson Valley, passing within a mile or two northwest of Indian
Point. The Ramapo fault has been known to exist since 1884.
It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City, in the village of Buchanan, NY just south of Peekskill. The
troubled nuclear power company started operations in September, 1962.
Upon reading and reviewing all of this data, my own cautionary radar has increased expotentionally and I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about
this. Feel free to post any comments or arguments that either support or allay these concerns...
BTW, this is only my second original post so I ask that you overlook if I messed up on some of the embedded items.