Secretary Sally Jewell: No New Fracking on Public Lands

No new fracking on public lands   BREAKING: Just when you thought it couldn’t, fracking in the U.S. is about to get worse — and with government approval. The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management just released new rules for fracking on our public lands that would give gas companies the right to drill without much-needed protections for public health. The BLM’s new rules fail to require full public disclosure of toxic chemicals, baseline water testing or setback requirements of wells from homes and schools. Fracking our public lands will affect millions of people who live, work and go to school near (or even above) the areas where leases will take place. It is unconscionable for the government to pass new regulations that are fundamentally inadequate to protect our health and safety. Fracking is a dirty and dangerous process. The proposed BLM rules fail to take obvious steps to provide even minimal protections. Tell the Deptartment of Interior’s Secretary Sally Jewell that you support no new leasing on our public lands. President Obama pledged to do more to combat climate change for the sake of our children and our future in his 2013 State of the Union speech, but the new rules will allow gas companies to place wells dangerously close to children and use toxic chemicals without disclosing them to the public. The Department of Interior’s data on potential federal oil and gas leases in six western states shows that more than 1,400 public schools lie within one mile of potential drilling activity. Help us send 45,000 messages to Secretary Jewell to show her that Americans don’t want any new fracking on federal lands. These rules are a gift to the gas companies, who met repeatedly with high-ranking officials before this rule was released.¹ The provisions help the gas corporations profit, while falling short in employing the most basic recommendations of the president’s own shale gas advisory committee, which advocated for transparency, environmental safeguards and pollution monitoring for fracking. Without clear safeguards for public health, no new areas should be opened up to new drilling permits. We cannot give the treasure of our federal lands — which belong to all of us — to the gas companies and allow them to continue expanding fracking. Tell Secretary Jewell and the Department of the Interior to put a moratorium on all new gas leases on federal lands. Thanks for all you do for the environment. Sincerely, Deb Nardone Beyond Natural Gas Sierra Club P.S. If President Obama truly wants to tackle climate change, then he needs to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground as much as possible, and invest more heavily in true clean energy solutions such as wind, solar and energy efficiency. Natural gas is a dirty dangerous fossil fuel, not a climate solution!  Tell the administration: no new leasing. We must not use our public lands to generate more toxic pollution when clean energy alternatives are ready here and now. P.P.S. After you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues!   [1] E&E News. “White House huddled with industry before changes to BLM fracking rule,” April 12, 2013.

Sierra Club …. Fracking

 

	Tell President Obama to Protect Our Communities from Fracking! An LNG export facility. Do you remember when rivers caught on fire before the Clean Water Act passed? The only thing worse than a river on fire would be your drinking water on fire. Yet thanks to fracking, that’s exactly what’s happened to countless American families. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a dangerous way of drilling for natural gas — and if President Obama does not step in by the end of the year, the Department of Energy (DOE) could write the gas industry a blank check for more fracking. President Obama needs to hear from 40,000 of us in the next two days — send your letter today, telling him to protect communities from the dangers of fracking! Fracking is an unsafe drilling method where secret toxic chemicals are injected into rock formations to release natural gas. The fracking industry wants to ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) to other countries to profit even more, while leaving our communities to deal with consequences — including poisoned drinking water, extreme air pollution, and destroyed coasts. It is up to us to tell President Obama the natural gas industry does not deserve a blank check to put our communities at risk. Right now, DOE is studying whether or not we should start exporting fracked LNG. Unfortunately, they are only evaluating the business-side economics of exports, not the environmental and public health effects of fracking. It is critical that DOE looks at the entire picture, from the effects of a fracking well in Pennsylvania or Colorado to the construction of pipeline to carry LNG to a coastal export facility in Louisiana or Washington State. Please tell President Obama that this study does not look at the full picture and that the public health and environmental costs of LNG must be part of the decision. Thanks for all that you do, Deb Nardone Director, Beyond Natural Gas Campaign Sierra Club P.S. Please share this email with friends and family, too.

Don’t Let the Fracking Industry Destroy Communities

action alert!

Tell President Obama: Stop letting the fracking industry run amok.

Keep Toxic Chemicals Out of Drinking Water

Disposing of millions of gallons of chemically laced water is something fracking operations are doing unsafely, unsuccessfully, and without federal regulation. President Obama must end fracking’s dangerous exemption from The Safe Drinking Water Act before this wastewater drags down the nation’s health.

Fracking uses water contaminated with 596 chemicals–many of which are toxic to humans even in extremely small doses. Birth defects, cancer, and kidney problems are just a few of the risks posed by an unregulated fracking industry. Tell the Obama administration to prioritize clean air and drinking water.

Holding the fracking industry accountable for water and air contamination is long overdue. We shouldn’t have to put our brains, nervous systems, and vision at risk just from stepping outside and taking a breath of fresh air. It’s time to protect families from chemicals that should have never found their way into the air and water supply.

When the fracking industry uses nearly 600 chemicals in a water supply that gets back to our bathtubs and drinking glasses–why isn’t it subject to federal water regulations? Tell President Obama to regulate a fracking industry intent on serving America a chemical cocktail.

Thank you for taking action,Kara F. Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team

Tell the EPA: Keep Diesel Out of Our Drinking Water

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a dangerous drilling technique threatening water, air, wildlife and public health all over the United States. It’s done by blasting millions of gallons of a chemical-water-sand mixture deep into the Earth to break up rock formations to harvest oil and gas.

In 2005, in a law known as the “Halliburton loophole,” Congress exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act all fracking chemicals except one: diesel fuel. The Environmental Protection Agency has just asked for public comment on how it should regulate the use of diesel fuel in fracking.

Evidence is mounting throughout the country that fracking chemicals are making their way into aquifers and drinking water, and diesel contains the toxic substances benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Risking more chemical contamination of our drinking water is a no-go.

Take action to tell the EPA to ban fracking with diesel without delay.

Your Water Might Be Flammable … CREDO

Did you know that oil and gas companies are allowed to pump secret, toxic fluids, through our drinking water – and the EPA is currently powerless to do anything about it?

High Pressure Hydraulic Fracturing (or fracking) is a method of drilling for natural gas by pumping a mixture of water and chemicals, including known toxics and carcinogens, deep underground, and it’s responsible for poisoning water in states across the country.

Fracking wells are spreading at an alarming rate. But even more alarming, thanks to the work of Dick Cheney and his infamous energy policy, frackers don’t have to disclose the chemicals used in their fluid to the EPA, and the process is totally exempt from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The FRAC Act, a bill that has been in the Senate since 2009, would correct both these problems. As public concern over fracking has grown, the bill has gained some momentum, but we still need more senators actively working to pass it. Will you urge your senators to support the bill?

Tell your senators: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.

Fracking a single gas well uses as much as millions of gallons of water, and hundreds of tons of chemicals. While the exact contents of the fluid remains largely undisclosed, scientific examination reveals that it can contain diesel fuel, which includes benzene, as well as dozens of chemicals including methanol, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid.

The fluid is injected thousands of feet underground at extremely high pressure, literally cracking the rock to release trapped gas. Unfortunately, it must pass through our water table, where the fluids, along with methane gas, can leak through well casings into our drinking water.

If you’ve ever seen the picture of the man lighting his tap water on fire from the recent documentary Gasland, that was because of nearby fracking.

Yet somehow, the EPA has been handcuffed from regulating fracking to keep our water clean since 2005, in what has become known as “the Halliburton loophole.” Halliburton, where Dick Cheney was CEO before becoming Vice President, patented fracking in the 1940′s and remains the third largest producer of fracking fluids. And in trademark Bush administration style, Halliburton staff were actively involved in a 2004 EPA report on fracking safety.

The “Halliburton loophole” remains a dangerous legacy of the Bush Administration and if we’re going to protect our water, we need to close it.

Tell your senators: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.  http://us.greenpeace.org/site/R?i=eowykN6lXhtd7eIVIF3Kdw..

The oil and gas industry is the only industry in America that is allowed by EPA to inject known hazardous materials — unchecked — directly into or adjacent to underground drinking water supplies.

Thanks in no small part to the continued resistance of industry to disclose the poisons involved in fracking, the risks of this practice are only beginning to be realized. However, an important investigative series by the New York Times recently concluded that “the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.”

In addition to below ground leaks, fracking also poses serious threats to our rivers and streams from insufficiently treated, and often radioactive, waste water. What’s more, above ground spills of toxic fracking fluids are becoming increasingly common. A large spill this April in Pennsylvania dumped thousands of gallons into fields and streams, eerily, on the one year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.

Fracking is currently underway in 36 states. And while some state regulations do exist, they vary widely. But water contamination isn’t constrained by state boundaries, and we need a baseline national standard to make sure fracking chemicals are publicly disclosed, and to prevent this practice from putting our nation’s drinking water at risk.

Tell your senators: Co-sponsor the FRAC Act to protect our water from dangerous fracking.http://us.greenpeace.org/site/R?i=eowykN6lXhtd7eIVIF3Kdw..

Thanks for fighting the unchecked oil and gas influence threatening our water.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. Fracking,” Food and Water Watch.
2. Hydraulic Fracturing 101,” EARTHWORKS.
3. Burning Tap Water and More: GASLAND Exposes the Natural Gas Industry,” Treehugger, June 25, 2010.
4. Regulation Lax as Gas Wells‘ Tainted Water Hits Rivers,” New York Times, February 26, 2011

Stop Fracking Now

I bet you’re wondering what the heck ”fracking” is. That’s a good question.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a controversial drilling technique used by the oil and gas industry that has injected millions of tons of highly toxic chemical fluids into the ground to break apart shale and release natural gas.

Scientists believe these chemicals are poisoning America’s drinking water.

That didn’t stop Vice President Dick Cheney from exempting fracking from the Safe Water Drinking Act in the 2005 Energy Bill or the natural gas industry from unleashing a massive 34-state drilling campaign.

Now, six years later, with the facts stacking up showing the damage being caused and the American lives being placed at risk, a few members of Congress are standing up to close the loophole and hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.

But they’ll need our help to win. Join us in calling on Congress to pass the FRAC Act now.

Representatives Diana DeGette, Jared Polis, and Maurice Hinchey have introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act in the U.S. House while Senators Bob Casey and Chuck Schumer have introduced the companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

In the past, the oil and gas industry has spent millions of dollars fighting against these common-sense regulations and have succeeded in defeating similar bills. This time, we’re not going to let Congress fight the industry alone.

That’s why Democracy for America is building a coalition of grassroots activists and environmental organizations to work together with leaders in Congress to pass the FRAC Act this year.

We’ll educate the public, expose scientific studies that reveal the real risks, hold rallies, meetings, public forums, and organize grassroots action until we win.

Please add your name and join the campaign to protect America’s drinking water right now.

It’s been reported that since 1999 more than 90 percent of the natural gas wells have used the fracking process. Because of the Safe Water Drinking Act exemption, industry is not required to reveal the exact chemicals used in fracking, but researchers in independent scientific studies suspect 65 percent of the compounds used in fracking are hazardous to human health.

It only takes low concentrations of benzene and diesel fuel, two compounds found in fracking studies, to lead to severe health and environmental consequences and illnesses traced to fracking have been documented in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Alabama.

As if that wasn’t enough to demand proper regulation and environmental oversight, a recent New York Times article revealed that the inability to properly process wastewater from fracking, may even be allowing radioactive materials into local rivers, streams, and drinking water.

The oil and gas industry is too big and too powerful for us to let members of Congress take them on alone. It’s up to us to stand with them, fight back, and make sure they have the support they’ll need to win.

Join the campaign at www.StopFrackingNow.com  today.

Thank you for everything you do.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair


Democracy for America

Haliburton Watch …Halliburto​n goes after fracking critics; hires tobacco-li​nked PR firm

Halliburton goes after fracking critics; hires tobacco-linked PR firm

24 Feb., 2011

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (HalliburtonWatch.org) — Last week, Desmogblog outed Halliburton and other oil/gas companies, who together set up “Energy in Depth”, an industry front group that claims to represent “small and independent” operators.

EID’s web site was registered by a PR firm experienced in working for companies engaged in scientific deception (e.g. Big Tobacco). EID was set up to fight back after investigative journalists began to expose problems with hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) — notably ProPublica, as well as the producers of the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Gasland,” Also: read how the industry has blocked federal regulations.

More information: http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/eid.html