 |
| Fracking Farm, hand-stitched cotton thread on linen, 4"x6", 2019 |
 |
| Fracking Fields, hand-stitched cotton thread on linen, 5"x5", 2019 |
 |
| Fracking Elementary School, hand-stitched cotton thread on linen, 4.5"x6", 2019 |
"If fracking treated all people equally, that is, if every person in Colorado were threatened with anywhere from 10 to 50 fracked wells in their neighborhood, the oil and gas industry would be long gone." -Philip Doe
Here's a sampling from the compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking:
- Over 90 percent of all original research studies published from 2016-2018 on the health impacts of fracking found a positive association with harm or potential harm.
- People living within setback distances are potentially vulnerable to thermal injury during a well blowout, and they are also susceptible to exposures of benzene and hydrogen sulfide at levels above those known to cause health risks.
- In 29 out of 76 samples, toxin concentrations far exceeded federal health and safety standards, sometimes by several orders of magnitude.
- Fracking fluid was found to contain arsenic, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, and mercury.
- Pollution near drilling and fracking operations is high enough in some Colorado communities to raise cancer risks, according to a 2018 study.
- Data from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission showed that fracking-related chemical spills in Colorado exceed an average rate of one spill per day. Of the 495 chemical spills that occurred in that state over a one-year period of time, nearly a quarter impacted ground or surface water.
- Water withdrawals for fracking can deplete water levels by 51% in nearby streams. Streams near drilling and fracking activity had significantly higher numbers of methane-metabolizing and methane-producing microorganisms.
- Wastewater samples collected from 329 fracked oil wells found that virtually all—98 percent—contained benzene at levels that exceeded standards for permissible concentrations in drinking water.
http://btc-usa.net/compendium-of-scientific-medical-and-media-findings-demonstrating-risks-and-harms-of-fracking/
