Research Group Slams DEP Study
"A University of Pittsburgh environmentally based research group disagrees with the state Department of Environmental Protection's study that claims water is not being tainted by radioactive material stemming from Marcellus Shale gas drilling activity."
"Dr. Conrad Volz, director and principal investigator with the Graduate School of Public Health's Center for Healthy Environments & Communities, said the DEP is not doing an adequate job of protecting the public's health."
"On Monday, the DEP released information saying that testing of seven Pennsylvania rivers and streams in November and December revealed levels at or below naturally occurring background levels of radioactivity."
"'There's no way the DEP could make a claim like that based on sporadic water testing,' Volz said Friday."
"Volz said the CHEC will release information Monday it collected on tracking brine treatment at the Josephine facility along Black Lick Creek in Indiana County. That information, he said, includes high levels of barium, strontium and bromides."
"Even higher levels were found coming from sewage treatment plants on the Mon River."
"'They're not made to treat it,' Volz said of those plants. 'They're made to treat human waste. They're not made to break down chemicals and things like that.'"
"'If you don't know the hazards, you must err on the side of protecting people,' he said."
Story - HERE
MORE FROM DR CONRAD VOLZ,
FRACTRACKER:
The Devil’s Details
about Radioisotopes
and Other Toxic Contaminants
in Marcellus Shale Flowback Fluids
"In yesterday's FracTracker post, CHEC's data manager Matt Kelso told the tale of two stories regarding radionuclides in Marcellus Shale flowback water and in river water as sampled by the PA DEP. As he said “the devil is in the details” and here are the “devil's details” that put both stories into their proper public health context."
"While there is at present considerable scientific inquiry and even controversy regarding the potential of vertical or horizontal fracturing of shale gas reservoirs to contaminate shallow or confined groundwater aquifers (thus exposing municipal or private well water users to chemicals used in the hydrofracturing process and/or toxic elements, organic compounds, and radionuclides that exist in the formation materials); disposal of oil and gas wastewater/ Marcellus shale brine water in sewage treatment plants or inefficient brine wastewater treatment facilities is a direct exposure threat to public health through ingestion, inhalation and dermal absorption exposure pathways."
FracTracker - HERE
FRACKED NOTE:
I have posted a couple of times to express my concern over the urgent problem of radioactivity and our water here in Pennsylvania. They contain numerous stories, reports and videos - see the links below.
We should all be grateful to Ian Urbina and the NY Times for finally bringing attention to this serious and very scary issue.
NY Times - HERE
Really Fracking Hot - HERE
Even Fracking Hotter - HERE
Let's keep our eyes on the only ball that matters:
OUR CHILDREN
DON'T LET THEM DOWN
TURN IT UP
Very Indebted to Our FracTracker:
Dr Conrad Dan Volz
No comments:
Post a Comment