What’s in that fracking fluid?

Exposure sends nurse to intensive care

By FRITZ MAYER

RIVER VALLEY — One of the concerns regarding gas wells is the content of the millions of gallons of fracking fluid used as part of the drilling operation. In New York State, it is against Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) rules to use diesel fuel to help fracture the shale, but there may be many other chemicals that could be harmful to one’s health.

Take, for instance, a substance called ZetaFlow. It’s a compound produced by a Texas-based company called Weatherford Fracturing Technologies, which is added to the millions of gallons of water that are used, under high pressure, to fracture the deep-lying shale deposit. The Durango Herald in Durango, CO has identified ZetaFlow as the agent that sent a nurse to an intensive care unit for several days in April.

According to an account in that paper and other news sources, a nurse at Durango’s Mercy Regional Medical Center came in contact with a gas worker who was allegedly doused with ZetaFlow. The nurse, Cathy Behr, became ill and within five days she said she went into liver, heart and respiratory failure.

According to the article, during this time Weatherford refused to provide information about ZetaFlow to aid in Behr’s treatment.

The company did not respond to a phone message from The River Reporter.

Behr has recovered almost entirely, but because of privacy issues, the condition of the male worker who went into the hospital is not known, nor is the site of the contamination.

It is this kind of secrecy that is fueling much of the intense opposition to the prospect of gas well drilling in the region.

In New York, the DEC says it has the authority to find out what is in the fracking fluids. On July 17, DEC deputy commissioner Stuart Gruskin addressed a crowd in the Greene High School Auditorium in Chenango County and said the DEC would get that information. At a meeting with Sullivan County officials earlier in the week, however, Gruskin said the DEC might not be able to reveal the contents of the fluid, as the recipe is considered proprietary.

Judith Enck, NYS Deputy Secretary for the Environment, is now also addressing crowds concerned by gas wells. At the Greene High School meeting, she said that she and her colleagues are examining whether the DEC has enough authority to protect ground and surface water. If it doesn’t, the agency will go to the legislature to get the authority, Enck said.