Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Paula Schramm, who lives in Enosburg Falls.
A full page ad popped up in many Vermont papers on Wednesday (April 18) : “EXPLORING FOR NATURAL GAS IN VERMONT,” paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. They were careful not to use the popular term “fracking.”
They were promoting the idea that fracking (or drilling thousands of feet down and injecting huge amounts of water laced with 500 chemicals, many known to be neurotoxins and carcinogens, to create cracks that release natural gas), has no harmful impacts. The actual detailed list of chemicals used in this process, which includes benzene and formaldehyde, is considered proprietary information and is kept secret by the industry. They quoted EPA head Lisa Jackson saying it’s “a technology that is perfectly capable of being clean.” Actually the EPA is struggling to come up with some regulations that will protect air and water quality in relation to this technology, because since 2005 there has been legislation exempting the natural gas industry from meeting EPA clean air and water standards (thanks to Dick Cheney and the Republican Congress).
Evidence is only increasing that this technology has created serious problems for both individuals and communities, and under current law they have no legal recourse in the courts. Many articles, even in my local paper lately, have been pointing to growing concerns in the region: (in February) “Driller slow to disclose problems,” “Drilling raises waste water issue,” (in March) “Niagara Falls bans fracking waste,” “Ohio: Gas-drilling well led to quakes.”
Anyone who is curious to learn about the recent history of fracking in the U.S., including the experiences in Western states where it has been going on the longest, should see the Oscar-nominated documentary “Gasland.” This gripping account gives you some idea of what ordinary citizens are up against, and has the famous scenes of water from faucets catching on fire. For a very brief but amazingly informative (and fun ) summary of fracking, everyone should watch this music video: http://www.propublica.org/series/fracking.
Why does the American Petroleum Institute want to spend money on a big ad in a state that probably has very little natural gas occurring in its bedrock? Because the Legislature is working on a bill that will ban fracking in Vermont. The Senate has already passed a bill, 27-1, which imposes a ban on fracking. It now goes to conference committee to deal with the House version, which only called for a three-year moratorium on drilling. Obviously the API hopes to influence some lesser result in the final bill.
A statewide ban on fracking will be a first, and will be a morale boost for citizens of nearby states, most notably New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, who are fighting this huge industry for the right to keep their air and water from contamination. Because there are no relevant regulations to utilize, communities are having to vote town by town to ban fracking. New York residents are concerned because a large part of the Marcellus Shale containing gas deposits lies under the watershed that supplies water to New York City. Syracuse and Utica are two of the cities that have enacted a fracking ban.
The area in Vermont that would be most likely to have natural gas deposits would be the northwestern corner, where the large Utica shale formation extends from Canada south along Lake Champlain. Some of the potential problems from fracking include possible contamination of our iconic lake, contamination of wells and air with fracking fluid chemicals, and air pollution, even in rural areas, from the 200 diesel tanker trucks needed per well.
For a state that has already suffered the effects of climate change thanks to Irene, it is also disturbing that the drilling and fracking processes may include industrial release of methane gases into the atmosphere that are far more potent climate-change agents than even CO2. Natural gas is not as “clean” as the industry would have us believe.
A ban on fracking is the right thing to do in a state which values its clean water and air as precious resources not worth risking for the sake of a highly-flawed technology. I support all our legislators who vote to ban fracking in Vermont.
