Scientist warns of drilling health hazards

Points to the need for full disclosure

By TOM KANE

CALLICOON, NY - Gas drilling presents a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of the populace, said an eminent endocrinologist to a crowd of over 350 people who attended a video presentation at the Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon on June 1.

Theo Colborn, who has a long list of science degrees and credentials, spoke about her research over the last five years into the chemicals that are used in the process of fracking a gas well.

Colborn, who serves on several committees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental agencies of Canada, was a key witness at the Congressional hearing on gas drilling held in 2007, which was conducted by Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Colburn, who took part in the presentation via telephone, spoke while pictures were shown on a large screen. During the presentation, Colborn presented a lengthy report of her finding, especially of the health effects caused by certain elements of the fracking process, which uses numerous chemicals in the drilling. The content of the fluids used are proprietary and need not be revealed to the public since the industry enjoys several exemptions from environmental laws.

Her nonprofit organization, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) of Paonia, CO, has compiled a list of the known chemicals that are used in the drilling process. “Many of the chemicals on this list have been tested for lethality and acute toxicity based on short-term contacts,” she said. “The majority, however, have never been tested at realistic, environmentally relevant, chronic-exposure levels, or for delayed effects that may not be expressed until long after exposure.”

She warned that bacterial activity in well casings that are sunk down in the well opening, in pipes and joints can be highly corrosive, costly and dangerous.

“Nonetheless, when these products return to the surface either through deliberate retrieval processes or accidentally, they pose significant dangers to workers and those living near the well and evaporation ponds,” she said.

“It is not general knowledge that when methane surfaces, it brings along with it some very toxic gases that are being vented by the tons every year from each operational unit,” she said.

“These include benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene, often referred to as BETX,” she said. “And it is not generally known that when methane surfaces, it is wet and that this water, called condensate water, is often put in an evaporation pit on the well pad, or stored in condensate tanks and later picked up by water trucks and moved to larger receiving open evaporation facilities.”

Children are especially vulnerable to exposure from such toxic agents, she said.

Some of the adverse health effects associated with the chemicals on the list include skin and respiratory damage, gastrointestinal and liver illness, cardiovascular and blood damage, kidney problems and reproductive and immune system problems, she said.

She also discovered that 84 percent of the chemicals detected in the pits are on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund list created by Congress. “Findings such as this raises a number of questions that only adequately designed testing requirements and protocols can address and points out the need for full disclosure,” she said.