Banning
fracking is the only rational option
Drilling for natural gas will
soon be coming to Western Maryland, splitting camps into those who think it is
no different than other industries and others with environmental concerns.
(Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun video)
Gina M. Angiola
Op-ed:
Maryland should reverse course and ban fracking before it's too late.
Unconventional gas development using
high-volume hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, has been intensely
debated in our state for almost a decade. Initially promoted as a
"clean" fuel that would provide cheap energy, create jobs and help
the climate, fracked gas was embraced by politicians of both major parties.
States like Pennsylvania and West Virginia welcomed the industry with open
arms, setting in motion a vast public health experiment. Maryland wisely
waited.
When Maryland began studying fracking in 2011, research on
impacts was in its infancy. Yet by the end of 2015, there were almost seven hundred peer-reviewed articles on fracking
impacts on air, water, seismicity, climate and human and animal health.
The emerging picture is clear: Fracking has no place in
Maryland.
Fracking is bad for our climate. Fracked gas is largely methane,
a greenhouse gas 86-times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time
frame. These next 20 years will be critical for stabilizing the climate.
Methane leakage from gas development, production, distribution and well
abandonment is much higher than previously understood, making fracked gas as
bad or worse than coal or oil for climate impacts.
Climate disruption is a public health emergency. It threatens
not only the nature, distribution, and intensity of disease, but also food
supplies, national security, the economy and the foundations of civil society.
Climate change cost estimates are in the trillions of dollars. And climate
disruption is accelerating rapidly. Permitting fracking now is immoral.
Fracking harms human health. While the research on health
effects is still in its early stages (as would be expected due to time delays
between exposure and development of illness), 84 percent of existing public health studies
show risks or actual harms. In 2015, separate studies looking at health
outcomes in Pennsylvania showed a significant association between proximity to
fracking operations and premature births, and increased hospitalization rates for
cardiac and neurological illnesses in heavily fracked counties.
In May of this year, in Dimock, Pa. — ground zero for fracking —
the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry confirmed that private
well water had indeed been contaminated with a range of
compounds that threaten health and safety. This month, researchers in Wyoming
documented the presence of specific carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and
endocrine-disrupting chemicals both in local air emissions and in the urine of
residents living near oil and gas operations.
Rather than address legitimate concerns, for years industry has
tried to deny, distort and discredit claims of harm, or to buy the silence of
those affected. The health harms we know about are likely the tip of the iceberg,
but they are sufficient to justify a fracking ban.
Fracking destroys our environment. Building fracking
infrastructure damages forests and soils, weakening the very ecological systems
that stabilize the climate and purify air and water. Fracking also threatens
farm lands and the health of our food supply.
To frack a single well requires millions of gallons of water,
sand and toxic chemicals. Well leakage, spills and intentional discharges can
irreversibly damage ecosystems. In North Dakota, over 3,000 fracking wastewater spills —
roughly one for every three wells drilled — have led to widespread
contamination of water and soil with salts, metals and radioactive compounds.
Many bioaccumulate and persist for decades.
Water is removed from normal hydrologic cycles, a dangerous
practice in times of worsening global droughts. Wastewaters injected deep
underground for long-term storage are causing unprecedented earthquakes in
Oklahoma and elsewhere. In Canada, earthquakes are being linked to the
hydraulic fracturing process itself.
If we value our environment, a ban is the only rational option.
In 2015, rather than pass an eight-year moratorium with a
scientific review in year seven, the Maryland
General Assembly chose to pass a two-year moratorium with an
automatic path to "regulated" fracking in 2017. This was unfortunate,
as no regulations can adequately protect public health or the environment. This
must be corrected with a ban in the next legislative session before fracking
begins.
It's time to stop wasting taxpayer money and everyone's time
developing and implementing impotent regulations for an outdated and
destructive fuel source. Instead, all resources should be redirected to a real
jobs program to enhance our economy and quality of life, while protecting our
climate by moving rapidly to a 100 percent renewable energy-based economy, and
restoring ecosystems and transforming land-use practices to allow biological
systems to put atmospheric carbon back into soils where it's needed
Maryland is a beautiful state. Let's keep it that way. No
fracking allowed.
Dr. Gina M. Angiola is a board member for Chesapeake Physicians
for Social Responsibility; her email is gangiola11@gmail.com.
Copyright © 2016, The Baltimore Sun
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment