Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Robert Hong -- Blog 3: Fracking and Environmental Justice

By Robert Hong

There is a process out there that provides us with necessary resources. It aids our way of life - our hot showers, our ability to cook, our tumble-dried clothes, and more. But this process claims a deadly double-edged dagger. Accidents can happen (and they are not rare). Mishaps would cause poisonous chemicals to contaminate our drinking water, poisonous chemicals to leach into the air, and the production of radioactive wastes that have nowhere to be disposed. Enter hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking), exploiting our land, with far and widespread consequences. 

If an intruder entered your home and released toxins into your house, causing you to become ill (or even die), surely they would be tried for murderous intent. But what if instead, they blanketed an entire neighborhood with poison (including the water supply) from a distance and claimed ignorance of such an act? Surely, if it was done hundreds of thousands of times, someone would stop them in a court of law? This is where the procedure of fracking becomes a complete muddled area (it’s not even grey), as they actually receive exemptions from agencies that are supposed to protect the environment and our health. 

If you need some visuals of what’s happening here, just watch fracking documentaries such as Gasland. This indie film spurred by Josh Fox’s concern for his environment shows us the terrible truth of the burden that neighborhoods have to endure when an oil company spawns these hellish fracking drills across the land. Have you ever seen a water faucet (that’s still running water) burst into flames? That’s what happens when the water supply becomes contaminated with methane. In the low-quality recordings, there are multiple demonstrations of water sources (streams, rivers, marshes, tap, wells) being lit on fire. Sure, its cool, but don’t forget that the methane being released into the air is 20x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Oh, you wanted to slow down global climate change? Then why are we running on the fracking express lane? 

In a notable documentary, Dear Governor Cuomo, the group “New Yorkers Against Fracking” host an emotional concert to raise awareness about fracking. The end result: To garner the attention of New York Governor Cuomo, urging him to become a hero for the new generations to come - by banning fracking in the state. With intense lyrics and mesmerizing music, the concert teaches people about the dangers. Readings of personal accounts and experiences serve to bring the reality of individual pain and suffering onto the stage. This documentary surely does an excellent job in combining a beautiful way of bringing a threatening message.

Rachel Carson, an environmental conservation biologist, fought for us. She wrote books,  attended interviews, and pondered about environmental law. She knew that it was important to tell people that our basic rights needed to include the right to clean air and water - something these drilling companies are intruding upon. In an emotional yet straight-to-the-point article, The Fracking of Rachel Carson, Sandra Steingraber opens Carson’s magnificent thought process and applies them to fracking. At this point, you should get an idea of how horrible the repercussions of fracking are. Yet, what happens when “Somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 wells are planned for Pennsylvania, to be built over the next few decades”? Drilling companies may see that as cheap economic advantages over overseas oil, I see that as mass murder. Not only does it cause illness in humans, but the chemicals that seem into the streams and soil can sicken and kill off multitudes of animals in the area. This is a known fact according to journals such as New Solutions. “In cattle exposed to fracking fluid: stillborn calves, cleft palates, milk contamination, death. In cats and dogs: seizures, stillbirths, fur loss, vomiting. In humans: headaches, rashes, nosebleeds, vomiting.” Is it not alarming that there are companies willing to live with these adverse effects for profit? 

At the same time, Steingraber doesn’t just write poetic justice for other biologists that have left their legacy. In her book Raising Elijah, she combines her personal humor for her ideas (such as an exercise regimen involving pedal grass cutters) with expert scientific research. She speaks to us as a mother, raising her son in this environmental crisis. In here, she makes choices about her life, explains to us why she does so, and lets us know what our own choices could mean for our environment. Sure, we could “switch to an electric mower, and reduce our carbon footprint to zero,” but she is sure to let us know about the toxic batteries we are harboring and gently reminds us that the electricity we run it with has to come from somewhere (an awful pollution bellowing power plant close by). And when she finally delves into the topic of water quality and how the oil wells and drilling operations affect it, she equates it to “plundering”, thereby personifying the oil/drilling companies. If you looked at what’s going on - where people are pressured into payouts and lending their lands to be drilled - there is quite a lot of truth in that phrase. After all, we are left with nothing but an empty cavern below us - surging with poisonous chemicals, ready to migrate up into our ecosystem one day.

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