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Topic: Poisoning of America's water

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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

http://countercurrentnews.com/2016/01/navajo-water-supply-more-horrific-than-flint-but-no-one-cares-because-theyre-native-american/

We recently reported on six other cities in Michigan, which have more lead poisoning in their city water supplies, than Flint.

The Detroit News reports that “Elevated blood-lead levels are seen in a higher percentage of children in parts of Grand Rapids, Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw, Muskegon, Holland and several other cities, proof that the scourge of lead has not been eradicated despite decades of public health campaigns and hundreds of millions of dollars spent to find and eliminate it.”



Of over 7,000 children tested in the Highland Park and Hamtramck areas of Detroit in 2014, 13.5 percent tested positive for lead. Among four zip codes in Grand Rapids, one in ten children had lead in their blood. In Adrian and south-central Michigan, more than 12 percent of 640 children tested had positive results.

A city in neighboring Ohio also finds itself in much the same situation as Flint.

Residents in Sebring, Ohio, can commiserate with those in Flint, Michigan, considering their water supply has also been contaminated with lead that “exceeds the action level,” according to the state’s EPA. Like Flint, the case of Sebring — involving some 8,100 water customers in Sebring, Beloit, Maple Ridge, and parts of Smith Township — already has the appearance of criminal negligence and a possible cover-up.

But these cities have it easy compared to the water plight the Navajo people face, and according to Justin Gardner at The Free Thought Project, “no one cares because they’re Native American.”

In the western U.S., water contamination has been a way of life for many tribes. As Brenda Norrell, a news reporter in Indian country, describes, the situation in Navajo nation is “more horrific than in Flint, Michigan.”



Since the 1950s, their water has been poisoned by uranium mining to fuel the nuclear industry and the making of atomic bombs for the U.S. military. Coal mining and coal-fired power plants have added to the mix. The latest assault on Navajo water was carried out by the massive toxic spills into the Animas and San Juan rivers when the EPA recklessly attempted to address the abandoned Gold King mine.

Charmaine White Face, from the Native American organization Defenders of the Black Hills, a group active in South Dakota, notes that “in 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake-up call to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US.”


“For more than 50 years,” they White Face added,“many of these hazardous sites have been contaminating the land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.

In addition, “each one of these thousands of abandoned uranium mines is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution. For the sake of our health, air, land, and water, we can’t let that happen,” Charmaine said.

Norrell notes that abandoned uranium mines are do not have legal requirements to be cleaned up.

Though few outside of Indigenous communities know it, 75% of these abandoned mines are on federal and Tribal lands, according to the Free Thought Project.



Gardner notes that a bill known as “The Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act,” which was “introduced by Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, has languished in Congress for two years.”

Why do you think the EPA is all over Flint, but ignore so many other cities – especially Native American communities?


(Article by M. David; image by #Op309 Media; h/t to The Free Thought Project)

e, Michigan, Mt. Rushmore, murder, Muskegon, Native American, Navajo, nuclear industry, Ohio, pollution, Saginaw, San Juan river, Sebring, SPREAD THE WORD, state issued pollution, The Detroit News, The Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act, U.S. military, united-states, uranium mining, Water

Author: Counter Current News Editorial Team
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:35 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

http://www.ecowatch.com/pennsylvania-fracking-water-contamination-much-higher-than-reported-1882166816.html

Pennsylvania Fracking Water Contamination Much Higher Than ...
www.ecowatch.com/pennsylvania-fracking-water-contamination-much-higher-than-r...
Feb 4, 2016 - However, Pennsylvania's official tally of water contamination is only 271 for all 40 counties. Contrary to the EPA fracking study's conclusion, the ...
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:42 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

By Laurel Peltier, Baltimore Fishbowl

The headline flew around the globe like wild fire. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published their long-awaited draft fracking drinking water study and concluded: fracking has had no widespread impact on drinking water. But if you've had your ear to the ground in fracking communities, something didn't sit right with the EPA's takeaway. Though the gas industry claims fracking is safe and doesn't harm drinking water, that story doesn't match what many landowners report from the fracking fields.



Fracking well pads are six-acre plus industrial zones that concentrate many gas wells on one location.
At least in Pennsylvania, the reason for this discrepancy comes down to a singular issue: mismanaged record-keeping and reporting by the Department of the Environment (DEP). Based on 2,309 previously unreported fracking complaints unearthed by the non-profit Public Herald, the public can now peek into 1,275 fracking water complaints from 17 of 40 fracking counties. However, Pennsylvania's official tally of water contamination is only 271 for all 40 counties.

Contrary to the EPA fracking study's conclusion, the prevalence of drinking water contamination appears to be much higher than previously reported. Accurate drinking water complaint data is vital to know as Maryland drafts new fracking regulations to potentially welcome the natural gas industry into Western Maryland in 2017.

What is a Contaminated Water Well?

Officially, Pennsylvania reports 271 confirmed cases of water degradation due to unconventional natural gas operations (a.k.a. fracking).

In Pennsylvania, water degradation is when a private water well located within 2,500 feet of a fracking well has been negatively impacted within six months of drilling. According to the DEP, water degradation falls into two camps—reduced water volume or the presence of “constituents" found in higher levels after drilling than before drilling. Constituents can be naturally-occurring, fracking-related chemicals or methane gas than seeps into aquifers and water wells.

Homeowners usually know right away if something's up with their well water. Their tap water's clarity or color changes, the water smells gross or the well runs dry. What's harder for homeowners to self-identify is natural gas (methane) migration because methane gas is odorless. Methane is highly flammable and if present at dissolved levels above 28 mg/L requires immediate remediation or the potential for explosions exists.



Tainted water collected from a private drinking water well in PA near a fracking site.
Pennsylvania's DEP regulates the oil and gas industry and is also the “911 dispatch center" for fracking complaints. DEP's role is to register citizen fracking complaints, research complaints and conduct water tests if needed. If water well damage is proved to be caused by nearby fracking, DEP notifies the gas driller that they are responsible for providing water replacement.

Buried in Folders: 1,275 Water Complaints

Prior to Public Herald's fracking complaints database (an open source project named #fileroom) which was launched in September 2015, the public had little access to Pennsylvania's fracking water complaints. What was known is that the DEP fracking complaint system was horrendous.

After considerable legal wrangling, the Scranton Times-Tribune obtained 969 determination letters and the newsroom reported in May 2013, “water damage and murky testing methods."

In May 2014, Pennsylvania's Auditor General reviewed DEP complaint files and reported eight areas of mishandling with “sloppy record keeping" topping the list.

When asked if the public's health was being threatened from fracking water contamination, Pennsylvania's Auditor General publicly commented, “we can't say one way or the other because their [DEP] record keeping is so poor."

After threatening legal action in 2013, Pennsylvania's DEP offices finally gave Public Herald volunteers access to all fracking complaints.



Over more than two years, Public Herald's team scanned 2,309 complaints from 17 of 40 counties. The complaints are stored online in the #fileroom database. The fracking complaints were stored in filing cabinets and most cases weren't entered into any formal central tracking system. The 17 counties account for about 80 percent of Pennsylvania's fracking wells drilled.



Public Herald's volunteers scanned 2,309 fracking complaints found in paper folders at PA. DEP offices. Photo credit: J.B. Pribanic
Seventeen (or 44 percent) Water Contamination Rate—Depending on How You Look at It

Not only are Pennsylvania's water complaints much higher than previously reported, but also the basis that complaints are compared to leads people to believe that contamination rates are lower than they really are.

Here's why: A key fracking selling point is that multiple gas wells can be drilled from one central location, also called a “well pad." A fracking well pad is a six-acre plus industrial zone that can host as many as 10 individual gas wells that spread out like a spider web underground. The number of fracking well pad locations interspersed near homes is actually smaller than realized because many fracking wells are concentrated from one location. Pennsylvania's DEP reports an average of 2.6 wells drilled per fracking well pad location. (As of Jan. 26, Pennsylvania has 3,687 unconventional well pads and 9,632 unconventional wells drilled since 2000).

If you're a homeowner or an elected official, assessing the scale of water complaints, comparing to the number of well pad locations is more relevant than comparing to the number of wells drilled. Using the higher figure of wells drilled, which most reporting does, minimizes the scale of impact to people living near concentrated fracking operations.

To understand how this changes the story, if DEP's official tally of 271 confirmed water contaminations is compared to 9,632 fracking wells drilled since 2000, that's a three percent water contamination rate. That figure seems pretty low and supports the EPA's conclusion that fracking water contamination isn't widespread.



Public Herald's Pennsylvania fracking water complaints by county. Photo credit: Public Herald / DEP
But if you dig into Public Herald's #fileroom database, as the chart above illustrates, 1,275 water complaints were filed in 17 counties with only 2,923* fracking well pads. Those well pads hosted 7,627 gas wells. That means that for about every two fracking well pads, one homeowner called in a water complaint, instead of one for every seven wells drilled. That's a 44 percent fracking water complaint rate suggesting that water well issues are pervasive. Even if the water complaints are compared to the number of wells drilled in these 17 counties, it's a 17 percent water complaint rate.

Not only is the sky-high complaint rate concerning, but why did the DEP dismiss and not report more than 1,000 water well complaints? Did 1,000+ homeowners call in bogus water well claims?


Why Were Three-Quarters of Citizen Water Well Complaints Dismissed?

It is clear that as Pennsylvania rapidly began drilling fracking wells around 2006, the DEP was overwhelmed and unprepared to process the volume of citizen complaints. As explained above, both the Scranton Times-Tribune and Pennsylvania's Auditor General found many points-of-failure in the DEP's fracking complaint process.

A Harvard Law School study analyzed 450 Pennsylvania fracking complaints and produced a what-not-to-do-report suggesting four recommendations: require baseline water well testing, seriously improve the complaint administrative function, improve communication with landowners and allow for appeals. The Scranton Times-Tribune, Pennsylvania Auditor General, Harvard School analysis plus Public Herald's#fileroom complaint database call into serious question if the 1,000+ water complaints should have been dismissed.

Public Herald's own in-depth analysis of 200 complaints found nine ways DEP's decision on water contamination could be challenged and possibly reversed.

Most concerning is that the state's Auditor General found that the DEP encouraged gas drillers and homeowners to reach voluntary restitution agreements on the side. Yet, the DEP did not register and track many of those agreements.

How Does a Lack of Data Lead to “No Widespread Damage" Claim?

Because fracking is regulated at the state level, all 30+ fracking states have different and separate complaint processes. There is no accurate and centralized database in the U.S. reporting drinking water damage resulting from bad well casings, hydraulic fracturing, above ground spills, waste pond spills or drilling mishaps and failures.

That point is printed throughout the EPA's draft Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources. The study relied on “available data and reporting." The EPA essentially used Pennsylvania DEP's official tally of 271 determined cases. It's unclear if the thousands of unreported fracking complaints were even analyzed.

The U.S. EPA's executive summary spells this out plainly in the Key Data Limitations and Uncertainties section: “This assessment used available data and literature to examine the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing from oil and gas on drinking water resources nationally. As part of this effort, we identified data limitations and uncertainties associated with current information on hydraulic fracturing and its potential to affect drinking water resources. In particular, data limitations preclude a determination of the frequency of impacts with any certainty. These limitations and uncertainties are discussed in brief below."

It is unclear how the EPA concluded there is no widespread water contamination due to fracking when there is little to no data.

That's exactly the same conclusion the EPA's own 31-member Science Advisory Panel announced recently in a statement on Jan. 8. The panel announced that the EPA's draft Fracking Drinking Water Study's findings, “are inconsistent with the observations, data and levels of uncertainty."

But the fracking-is-safe train has already left the station.

Collateral Damage

What's clear is that fracking causes damage to private drinking water wells. Sadly, many Pennsylvania landowners whose drinking water wells were compromised because of nearby fracking operations received no restitution because the DEP did not properly assess their complaints.



Washington and Bradford counties registered more than 500 citizen complaints in each county. Photo credit: FracTracker
Even with the large volume of incoming drinking water complaints, Pennsylvania's DEP did not assume a presumption of liability for the gas drilling industry; the onus of proof was on the homeowner to prove contamination for their water wells that were within half a mile from a fracking well pad. And many landowners, especially in the early phases of fracking, didn't have pre-drilling water tests to compare post-drilling results.

Looking Ahead for Maryland

To ensure that Western Maryland landowners don't face the same situation, Maryland's Department of the Environment and elected officials should consider closely analyzing Pennsylvania's thousands of fracking complaints. Public Herald is still scanning the Southwest region's files.

Joshua Pribanic, Public Herald's editor-in-chief adds, “At this point, there is no way to find out what happened with thousands of fracking water complaints except to go door-to-door and ask what happened with a complainant's drinking water. In many cases you'll find rooms stuffed with bottled water. Or, you'll find in the basement an industry-supplied reverse osmosis system or a methane mitigation system. The true extent of water contamination has been concealed." And that doesn't help Maryland as we look to study and analyze our sister state's actual results.
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:52 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Alabama Water Utility Sues 30-Plus Flooring Companies Over Water Pollution
By Amy O' Connor | September 29, 2016

AP

Alabama filed the lawsuit on September 22nd, over allegations the flooring companies have released two synthetic chemical compounds into the water, PFO's and PFOA. These compound are dangerous to pregnant women, breast feeding mothers and their infants.

The EPA and other agencies have issued health advisories.
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:12 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

4 states confirm water pollution from drilling - USA TODAY
www.usatoday.com/…usiness/2014/01/05/some-states...
4 states confirm water pollution from drilling. PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of ...
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:15 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

4 states confirm water pollution from drilling - USA TODAY
www.usatoday.com/…usiness/2014/01/05/some-states...
4 states confirm water pollution from drilling. PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of ...
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:18 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.

The Associated Press requested data on drilling-related complaints in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas and found major differences in how the states report such problems. Texas provided the most detail, while the other states provided only general outlines. And while the confirmed problems represent only a tiny portion of the thousands of oil and gas wells drilled each year in the U.S., the lack of detail in some state reports could help fuel public confusion and mistrust.

The AP found that Pennsylvania received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling polluted or otherwise affected private water wells, compared with 499 in 2012. The Pennsylvania complaints can include allegations of short-term diminished water flow, as well as pollution from stray gas or other substances. More than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years.

STORY FROM STRAIGHT TALK
These throwback items will make you feel old
Just hearing the total number of complaints shocked Heather McMicken, an eastern Pennsylvania homeowner who complained about water-well contamination that state officials eventually confirmed.

"Wow, I'm very surprised," said McMicken, recalling that she and her husband never knew how many other people made similar complaints, since the main source of information "was just through the grapevine."

The McMickens were one of three families that eventually reached a $1.6 million settlement with a drilling company. Heather McMicken said the state should be forthcoming with details.

Over the past 10 years, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has led to a boom in oil and natural gas production around the nation. It has reduced imports and led to hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue for companies and landowners, but also created pollution fears.

Extracting fuel from shale formations requires pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to break apart rock and free the gas. Some of that water, along with large quantities of existing underground water, returns to the surface, and it can contain high levels of salt, drilling chemicals, heavy metals and naturally occurring low-level radiation.

But some conventional oil and gas wells are still drilled, so the complaints about water contamination can come from them, too. Experts say the most common type of pollution involves methane, not chemicals from the drilling process.

Some people who rely on well water near drilling operations have complained about pollution, but there's been considerable confusion over how widespread such problems are. For example, starting in 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection aggressively fought efforts by the AP and other news organizations to obtain information about complaints related to drilling. The department has argued in court filings that it does not count how many contamination "determination letters" it issues or track where they are kept in its files.

Steve Forde, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the leading industry group in Pennsylvania, said in a statement that "transparency and making data available to the public is critical to getting this historic opportunity right and maintaining the public's trust."

When the state Environmental Department determines natural gas development has caused problems, Forde said, "our member companies work collaboratively with the homeowner and regulators to find a speedy resolution."

Among the findings in the AP's review:

— Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 106 water-well contamination cases since 2005, out of more than 5,000 new wells. There were five confirmed cases of water-well contamination in the first nine months of 2012, 18 in all of 2011 and 29 in 2010. The Environmental Department said more complete data may be available in several months.

— Ohio had 37 complaints in 2010 and no confirmed contamination of water supplies; 54 complaints in 2011 and two confirmed cases of contamination; 59 complaints in 2012 and two confirmed contaminations; and 40 complaints for the first 11 months of 2013, with two confirmed contaminations and 14 still under investigation, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark Bruce said in an email. None of the six confirmed cases of contamination was related to fracking, Bruce said.

— West Virginia has had about 122 complaints that drilling contaminated water wells over the past four years, and in four cases the evidence was strong enough that the driller agreed to take corrective action, officials said.

— A Texas spreadsheet contains more than 2,000 complaints, and 62 of those allege possible well-water contamination from oil and gas activity, said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling. Texas regulators haven't confirmed a single case of drilling-related water-well contamination in the past 10 years, she said.

In Pennsylvania, the number of confirmed instances of water pollution in the eastern part of the state "dropped quite substantially" in 2013, compared with previous years, Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz wrote in an email. Two instances of drilling affecting water wells were confirmed there last year, she said, and a final decision hasn't been made in three other cases. But she couldn't say how many of the other statewide complaints have been resolved or were found to be from natural causes.

Releasing comprehensive information about gas drilling problems is important because the debate is no longer about just science but trust, said Irina Feygina, a social psychologist who studies environmental policy issues. Losing public trust is "a surefire way to harm" the reputation of any business, Feygina said.

Experts and regulators agree that investigating complaints of water-well contamination is particularly difficult, in part because some regions also have natural methane gas pollution or other problems unrelated to drilling. A 2011 Penn State study found that about 40% of water wells tested prior to gas drilling failed at least one federal drinking water standard. Pennsylvania is one of only a few states that don't have private water-well construction standards.

But other experts say people who are trying to understand the benefits and harms from the drilling boom need comprehensive details about complaints, even if some cases are from natural causes.

In Pennsylvania, the raw number of complaints "doesn't tell you anything," said Rob Jackson, a Duke University scientist who has studied gas drilling and water contamination issues. Jackson said he doesn't think providing more details is asking for too much.

"Right or wrong, many people in the public feel like DEP is stonewalling some of these investigations," Jackson said of the situation in Pennsylvania.

In contrast with the limited information provided by Pennsylvania, Texas officials supplied a detailed 94-page spreadsheet almost immediately, listing all types of oil and gas related complaints over much of the past two years. The Texas data include the date of the complaint, the landowner, the drilling company and a brief summary of the alleged problems. Many complaints involve other issues, such as odors or abandoned equipment.

Scott Anderson, an expert on oil and gas drilling with the Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit based in Austin, notes that Texas regulators started keeping more data on complaints in the 1980s. New legislation in 2011 and 2013 led to more detailed reports and provided funds for a new information technology system, he said.

Anderson agreed that a lack of transparency fuels mistrust.

"If the industry has nothing to hide, then they should be willing to let the facts speaks for themselves," he said. "The same goes for regulatory agencies."
Post Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:21 pm 
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