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Fracking fluids poison a national forest http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1310262693
A new study has found that wastewater from natural gas hydrofracturing in a West Virginia national forest quickly wiped out all ground plants, killed more than half of the trees and caused radical changes in soil chemistry. These results argue for much tighter control over disposal of these "fracking fluids," contends Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
The new study by Mary Beth Adams, a U.S. Forest Service researcher, appears in the July-August issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Environmental Quality. She looked at the effects of land application of fracking fluids on a quarter-acre section of the Fernow Experimental Forest within the Monongahela National Forest. More than 75,000 gallons of fracking fluids, which are injected deep underground to free shale gas and then return to the surface, were applied to the assigned plot over a two day period during June 2008. The following effects were reported in the study:
* Within two days all ground plants were dead;
* Within 10 days, leaves of trees began to turn brown.
* Within two years more than half of the approximately 150 trees were dead; and
* "Surface soil concentrations of sodium and chloride increased 50-fold as a result of the land application of hydrofracturing fluids..." These elevated levels eventually declined as chemical leached off-site. The exact chemical composition of these fluids is not known because the chemical formula is classified as confidential proprietary information.
"The explosion of shale gas drilling in the East has the potential to turn large stretches of public lands into lifeless moonscapes," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that land disposal of fracking fluids is common and in the case of the Fernow was done pursuant to a state permit. "This study suggests that these fluids should be treated as toxic waste."
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'Doc Jim says:
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If the chemicals were applied where they belonged, a mile underground, they'd be no trouble at all!
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