If you’ve never heard of “fracking” before, or hydraulic fracturing then you might want to get a little more familiar with it, especially if you live in Pennsylvania. Fracking is a technique used by miners to make the collection of gas and oil easier. They pump highly pressurized liquid comprised of various chemicals – sometimes hazardous – and sand into the affected area. This might not seem like a problem, until you consider the fact that those chemicals and that liquid mixture is coming into contact with local groundwater. In other words, its dumping radioactive chemicals into the surrounding area’s groundwater which might in turn come out of faucets.
Fracking Releases Radon Gas
One of the worst byproducts of fracking fluid happens to be radon gas. As you may know, radon gas is the second leading cause of cancer in the U.S. It is responsible for more than 20,000 deaths every year. While the damage caused is primarily due to long term exposure, the amount of radon gas contained in fracking contaminated water is extremely hazardous.
Vocativ, in collaboration with MSNBC, tested flowback – fracking liquid that makes its way to the surface – from a stream in the vicinity of Trout Run, Pennsylvania. Andrew Nelson, a scientist with University of Iowa tested the sample that was collected.
“We are now 15 minutes into this test for radon. We can say that the amount of radon in this vial is thousands of times higher than the allowable standards for drinking water based on the EPA limits.”
Again, consuming water that is contaminated with radon gas will not result in immediate symptoms. In fact, lung cancer doesn’t even show symptoms until later stages of the disease. This results in many patients being diagnosed well past the curable stage. The point here is that, taking in contaminated water over an extended period of time will cause serious harm to the body. If you think about it, you’d come into contact with that water while showering, cleaning, washing dishes, drinking, going to bathroom and more.
Get Up to Speed on Radon Gas and Fracking
Image by Daniel Lobo
Of course, there’s a lot of money in the fracking industry which is why the important folks who can actually make a difference are not concerned with the health problems. Some politicians and executives have even started drinking fracking fluid during campaigns to prove that its safe. Its not the fracking liquid itself that’s so hazardous, but the radon gas that’s a direct result of pumping it into the ground.
Phil Grossweiler, an energy industry consultant says that the fracking fluid stunt is just that – a publicity stunt to win favor.
“The point of seeing executives and politicians drink fracking fluid was deception. It was an attempt to convince the public that there is no harm from fracturing a shale oil well. It was deceptive in the sense that it’s the least of the problems. What goes down the well is not nearly as important as what comes up.”
For now, the most anyone can do is get educated on the subject – be sure to look up fracking and radon gas. If you’d like to know more about the Pennsylvania story you can check out Vocativ and MSNBC.
