Tell this woman that fracking is safe.

[Curmudgeoness]

Chrystal Stroud’s public statement to the Bradford County Commissioners on the morning of Thursday April 28, 2011 appears below:

“.... My Name is Chrystal Stroud. I am a formerly healthy, 29 year old Hairstylist at a downtown Towanda salon, and my husband and I are local business owners with a 4 year old little boy, who were living out “our American Dream” until 3 weeks ago on Monday April 11th, 2011. That is the day we were notified our water well was contaminated with Barium, Chloride, Strontium, Manganese, Lead, Methane, Radiological material, and Radon from the drilling of the natural gas well 1200 feet from our property — the water that we had been drinking, cooking with and showering in.

Prior to that day I, too, believed in the Goose that was going to lay the Golden Egg in Bradford County. I leased my two acres of property for $5,000 to Chesapeake. We used the money to start fixing up our house, adding a pool, and thinking we were increasing our property value. Little did I know we were signing away life as we knew it.

Three weeks prior to April 11th I became ill. My hair started falling out. I was having heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and stomach cramps........... Three days went by and my hands began to tremble and I would lose my balance as I stood from a sitting position. My speech started to become slurred.”..............

......I received the phone call from Benchmark Analytics. They said my well water results were in and they were a major concern. My reply was “ What do you mean? I have been extremely ill for the past 3 weeks and we can’t figure out why” Their reply was “This could be the cause – Barium is known to cause the symptoms you’re experiencing” I then called my doctors office and son’s pediatrician who then ordered blood work, as the Lead and Barium levels in our water was a major concern

...........

When I contacted Chesapeake (who I signed a lease with) and told them my well was contaminated, they sent out a Mr. Rick Hall. He came to my home and sat at the table and looked over my water results. He started by trying to explain away the substances found in my water.

When I asked him to explain the Radiologicals found in my water, ...........he said “Oh the radon (which was 1.2 pCi/L when we purchased the house four years ago, and is now 154.5 pCi/L) ?” I said “No, the Radiologicals, Gross Alpha and Gross Beta.” His reply was “Oh I don’t know anything about them” (which surprised me as Benchmark informed me they were direct contaminates of the natural gas industry).

.........

This water was clear, but yet had so many chemicals in it, it required an emergency phone call from the water testing company. Mr. Rick Hall stated he would need to “Pass the Buck” to Chief (gas company), saying they were the closest well. I had to contact them. I told him they had not fracked the well next to my property and he stated, “It’s a common misconception that fracking is what contaminates well water. It’s the actual drilling process that causes the first phase of water contamination.”

However, before leaving Mr. Hall could not give me a phone number to contact someone from Chief and had no clue even who I would speak with. After 3 days of phone calls to every phone number I found online associated with Chief, I finally spoke to a Mr. Richard Adams who told me “Lo and behold” a Mr. Rick Hall had called him…. Yet, Mr. Hall told me he had no clue who to call with Chief. Since 3 weeks ago when all this transpired, I have still not seen a Chief representative at my home nor have I received a phone call. I have however had people hang up on me and tell me that they would pass on the information, never returning my calls. My well still has not been vented (with Methane levels of 32.4 mg/L) nor have I been offered water or a water buffalo, from either company.

...........

Our Family is collateral damage! We are just 1 of the 33% failure rate of these gas companies. The failure to keep the residents of
Bradford County’s wells contaminate free.

.................

I get that there’s a huge opportunity here for our state and our county… I get that! However, the people need to be the priority. We need to be responded to promptly in case of a contamination, Neighbors need to be notified of nearby well contaminations and their water testing should be the gas companies’ responsibility, not the homeowner. Care needs to be taken that these wells are drilled in the safest way possible, with no regard for the expense on the “poor drilling company.” It doesn’t have to be this way.

.............

I would like to read an excerpt from Article I of the Pennsylvania State Constitution Sec 27:

‘The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s natural resources are the common property of all the people including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.’

In closing. I would now like to ask my state Representative and my County Commissioners: Why have my Constitutional rights been taken from me?”




Read the entire statement at

http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/statement-to-bradford-county-commissioners-chrystal-stroud-towanda-pennsylvania-42811/

[blue neen]

1. I'm printing this out and plan to give The Stroud's story to quite a few people to read.

Thank you for the info!

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Email the link to people too. I have. This is the info that people need

to get to counter all the happy bluebird ads from the drillers.

[Divernan]

3. "They believe if it was a concern, DEP would take care of it."

From the OP's link:
"I have gone door to door around my neighborhood warning people about my well contamination, hoping to prevent this from happening to someone else. Every neighbor I have talked to has problems with their water but they have not called anyone to test it. I was told that there is known Methane migration up the road and had one neighbor tell me that he can now light his water on fire, but that he isn’t drinking it. Only “making coffee with it.” These people aren’t informed. There are children who are showering and drinking this water around my neighborhood. They don’t know the risks and don’t understand the severity of this situation. They don’t have the money to spend $900 on independent water testing. They believe that if it was a concern, the DEP would take care of it. It sickens me to think that nothing is being done."

This is what that pimp Corbett and his drilling company "johns" are counting on - gullible property owners & their gullible neighbors.

[Divernan]

4. Please rec this up to 5 so we can get it on the main page.

At least 30 states have fracking going on - it's a national concern, although Pennyslvania looks to be positioned by Corbett to be the most exploited and devastated in the coming years.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Do you think I should post it in GD too? I thought about it,

but since it was PA related, I came here.

[blue neen]

6. IMHO, this should be in GD.

:)

[Divernan]

8. Yes, I do.

It's not just the Marcellus shale. In addition to Marcellus there are other shales being drilled in Colorado,Wyoming, Texas & Kansas. All the terrible stuff which happened to this woman testifying in Pennsylvania, and her property, and her family and neighbors, and her community has already occurred in these other states - that's part of what the documentary Gasland covered.


This country needs federal oversight/regulation of the fracking. Will we get it? Not based on this article in the New York Times from last November - that's when Obama came out in support of expanding fracking for gas, and the article also refers to Rahm's support of it.

http://www.frackaction.com/content/obamas-enthusiasm-gas-drilling-raises-eyebrows
(Headline)
Obama's Enthusiasm for Gas Drilling Raises Eyebrows

Published date:
Thu, 11/04/2010 (All day)
Publication:
The New York Times
By:
MIKE SORAGHAN

President Obama's newfound interest in expanded natural gas drilling yesterday surprised many on all sides of the drilling debate, from environmentalists to drillers and even the coal industry.

Representatives of drilling groups said they had no idea that Obama would make natural gas his lead olive branch to the newly empowered Capitol Hill Republicans. But they were pleased that he did.

Obama's remarks seemed to refer to vast new sources of shale gas in Pennsylvania, Texas and their neighboring states. Improvements in "hydraulic fracturing" technology have allowed production from formations under those states previously thought to be too expensive to exploit (E&ENews PM, Nov. 3).

"We've got, I think, broad agreement that we've got terrific natural gas resources in this country," Obama said when he was pressed for issues on which he could compromise with Republican leaders. "Are we doing everything we can to develop those?"

[Divernan]

9. With Citizens' United, fracking industry is huge source of campaign donations.

"The president's remarks yesterday fit perfectly with a State Department that is actively looking to export the shale revolution globally, an Energy Department that views shale as a fuel with enormous potential for our future and an EPA that has consistently stated that the technology needed to produce shale gas is safe," Tucker said.

It remains a mystery to key players how the Obama administration's general interest in shale gas drilling rose to become a talking point at a presidential news conference at a crucial juncture in Obama's presidency.*(see footnote below)

Some note that White House energy and environment "czar" Carol Browner prominently rejected the idea of federal oversight of fracturing when she was President Clinton's EPA administrator. And one of her aides from EPA days now works at America's Natural Gas Alliance, a group that advocates for increased use of natural gas.

When he was in Congress, (Rahm) Emanuel sponsored industry-backed legislation requiring automakers to build 10 percent of their fleet with natural gas fueled vehicles by 2018. The bill also included tax credits and other incentives and mandates to spread natural gas pumps to filling stations across the country.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

It's no mystery to me. Fracking/Big Oil is the deepest pocket for campaign contributions, and Obama has announced he will raise $1 Billion for his next campaign. Wonder how much fracking money went to Rahm's campaign for mayor. I'd like to think Obama would promote the industry but also make sure it is properly regulated and does not damage the health and welfare of the American citizenry. But fracking has been going on for years; disasters have been happening for years and yet last November Obama's EPA pronounced the technology as safe. I think we're on our own, on a state by state basis.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. You are right that the amount of money involved

leaves this industry ripe for corruption. And both parties appear to be complicit. As more and more horror stories come out, I can only hope that it will get the attention of lawmakers and policy makers. Yes, it has been around for a long time, but not at the magnitude that it is today. I feel sorry for the people who will be hurt by this until more is done to protect them.

[Pooka Fey]

7. K&R

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I have also posted this in GD for anyone who is interested.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1029698

[Altoid_Cyclist]

12. I'm hearing more and more stories just like this from people in this damn state.

Some of these people have become very ill from this blanking safe technology. They go to the local politicians as well as their state reps. and are constantly told that it's just a freaking coincidence that they (and their families) have become sick.

I've signed up to receive training in water testing methodology through the Sierra Club so that maybe in some small way I can help others before it's too late. People need to educate themselves but all that they hear is our Gashole Governor and local bottom feeder politicians saying how safe this freaking technique is. "I can light my water on fire so I only use it for coffee???????"

This is one link that people can use for information.

http://www2.dickinson.edu/storg/allarm/

Another useful link:

http://www.pasafarming.org/

This is the kind of state politicians that we have to deal with. An exchange that I had with PA. Sen. John Eichelberger sums up their attitude pretty well.


I happened to see Speak Out with Lois Kaneshiki and Sen. Eichelberger last night.

In regard to the Marcellus Shale industry, they were either both badly misinformed and/or bought off by the industry.

The fact that both of them claimed to not know the reason for the EPA Clean Water Act exemption for the "Fracking" process is mind boggling.
A simple 5 second search on the web would have supplied the answer.
In case they're still ignorant of the facts, the reason that they are exempt is because of what is called the "Halliburton Loophole". This was inserted into law by none other than Dick Cheney while he was Vice (in more ways than one) President. As you are probably aware, Cheney stood to benefit from anything that served to benefit his former company (Halliburton). Halliburton as you might not know developed the "Fracking" process and stood to prosper as long as there were no regulations to safeguard people and property exposed to this form of "clean energy".

Please inform Sen. Eichelberger that he really needs to be either more honest or more diligent in his duties before he proclaims this procedure as non-harmful.

Here are a few links if he's interested:
http://www.donnan.com/Marcellus-Gas_Hickory.htm
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20090929/fracking-accidents-prompt-calls-oversight
http://frackmountain.wordpress.com/beta/
http://gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/06/fracking-in-pennsylvania-201006
John Cockburn


Mr. Cockburn,
Simply put, you are wrong on all counts. Please don't fall for a lot of bad information found on the internet like the "Halliburton Loophole" story. I didn't state that because it's not true. I have diligently spent hours looking into many issues surrounding Marcellus drilling. For the record, I have not received any money from that industry either and am not part of some vast conspiracy.
John Eichelberger

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of whether you're just misinformed or dishonest. Tell the people in Dimock, PA or Hickory, PA that no water contamination has taken place. I realize that facts only get in the way of your continued anti- environmental voting pattern, but for the record, you have accepted money from Dominion. That's public knowledge that wasn't hard to locate.

Of course I'm sure that you'll just label that as an internet rumor also. The truth seems to be an entirely dismissable entity to people when they're under the heel of the lobbyist community. You might also want to ask US Sen. Casey why he and others feel the need to introduce the FRAC act if it's so safe.

Not that this will pass your rumor theory, but you might want to read this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue3.html

Excerpt:
Among the many dubious provisions in the 2005 energy bill was one dubbed the Halliburton loophole, which was inserted at the behest of - you guessed it - then-Vice President Dick Cheney, a former chief executive of Halliburton.

It stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing. Invented by Halliburton in the 1940s, it involves injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals, some of them toxic, into underground rock formations to blast them open and release natural gas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue3.html

Enjoy your continued ignorance and/or corruption.

[Curmudgeoness]

13. Simply put, you are WRONG on ALL counts.....

Wow, just wow. Not known for his tact, huh? It is quite apparent that he is not misinformed---he has been informed by his owners in the gas industry of just what to say. Toe the line.

I have the feeling you have already read this link from the Gasland website debunking the debunking of the movie, but I am adding it here in case you didn't get to it or others have not seen it. I realize that this is a lengthy document (39 pages not including any links you may click on), but it is so worth it. Every talking point that the pro-drilling people will use is there, and what the truth is. Necessary to any debate on the issue.

http://1trickpony.cachefly.net/gas/pdf/Affirming_Gasland_Sept_2010.pdf

I commend you for training in water testing. Is this testing done prior to drilling to prove that the water is safe as well as after, to protect people from drinking toxic water. We have to have tons of evidence that the water was safe prior to the drilling. That evidence is valuable to counter all the bullshit about the water always being "naturally" tainted.