Anti-Fracking Activists Plan National Rally Day
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Network for Oil & Gas Accountability & Protection and Frackfree America National Coalition are coordinating a national rally day Sept. 12 to raise awareness of what the groups contend are serious risks to public health, safety, and well-being posed by the millions of gallons of toxic fracking waste produced by the shale drilling industry.
That day, a national coalition of local coordinators and groups across America will hold rallies throughout the day to shine light on toxic fracking waste and its disposal, including its links to earthquakes, spills, and leaks. The title of the nationwide event is “Freedom from Toxic Fracking Waste: National Rally Day.”
“The public is not being fully or adequately informed of the risks of fracking and related processes to public health and safety and well-being,” said geologist Susie Biersdorfer of Frackfree America National Coalition and Frackfree Mahoning Valley. “We are calling for increased transparency and public awareness about the truth of toxic fracking waste, which can contain naturally occurring radioactive material and numerous toxic chemicals or known carcinogens, like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, that could find their way into drinking water sources or into soil and air via leaks, surface spills near waterways, or well casing failures.”
Organizers say that there are too many unanswered questions about fracking waste, partially because gas and oil companies are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act. According to the coalition, every newly permitted fracking well will result in millions of gallons of toxic wastewater being created, transported and disposed of somewhere. Although the fracking waste is frequently referred to by the industry or others as “brine,” “saltwater” or “produced water,” the groups believe that these terms are highly misleading and give the public a false sense of reassurance about the alleged safety of the fracking waste.
“Toxic fracking waste can expose the public to a number of chemical and radioactive carcinogens, neurotoxins, and pulmonary and cardiovascular toxins. Children, whose immune systems are still developing, workers on drill sites, and those handling toxic fracking wastes are especially vulnerable to risks as are persons living or working near drilling sites, along toxic fracking disposal routes or at or near toxic fracking waste injection wells, ” said Vanessa Pesec of NEOGAP.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.