Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking

EXCERPT:
"“Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide,” the article states."

COMMENTS:
Natural gas drilling and the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been polluting aquifers and private water wells for years, and reports by ProPublica over the years have shown serious contamination of not only methane, but benzene (known human carcinogen...cancer-causing at any level of exposure) in Wyoming wells near natural gas fields....reports of benzene 1200 ppb over the EPA permissible level in drinking water. Today, the results of the first "scientific" study is proving what industry has repeatedly denied.   Let us see if the "science" will link benzene to the natural gas field fracking any time soon.  And show us what we already know.

Drilling Mora County

by Abrahm Lustgarten
May 9, 2011

For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.

The peer-reviewed study [1], published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate [2] over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks [3].

The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.

“Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide,” the article states.....continued.....

"Most likely safe" is hardly a reassuring phrase—especially when it's

 COMMENT: See Gasland, by director Josh Fox!

By ANDREW GROSSMAN
5-7-11

Official-looking stickers offering that cold comfort have been appearing above public faucets around New York in an apparent effort to stoke opposition to a controversial form of natural-gas drilling.

The stickers bear a city Department of Environmental Protection logo, the words "Safe to drink" in capital letters and a drawing of someone holding a match to a dripping spigot. They urge drinkers to "expose water to flame" if they're concerned about contamination from hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing involves shooting water and chemicals into the ground in order to extract natural gas. Parts of upstate and western New York sit atop one of the nation's largest natural-gas deposits, but the procedure is prohibited under a moratorium issued by former Gov. David Paterson. The ban expires this summer, and the state is considering allowing the procedure. Many environmental groups and the city oppose the move out of concern that it could contaminate the city's drinking water, which comes from upstate.

Drilling advocates dismiss those concerns, especially the idea that hydraulic fracturing might make drinking water flammable.

Lighting water on fire "is a parlor trick that really has nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing," said Jim Smith, a spokesman for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York State. Instead, he said, it's caused by naturally occurring methane that gets into some water supplies regardless of whether there's nearby drilling...continued.....

A Community Bill of Rights

A Community Bill of Rights
by Ben Price, projects director, CELDF
29 March 2011

As projects director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), I hear from people every day, asking for help to protect their right to live in self-governing communities instead of municipal resource colonies handed over to powerful corporations by way of government “permits” and licenses. Government representatives and local attorneys repeatedly tell them that they can do nothing to stop unwanted corporate projects from destroying their communities and quality of life. “The law is clear,” they are told. “The corporations have a right, and you have no authority to stop them.”

Whether it is a proposed “big box store,” a land-fill, a coal-fired incinerator, the siphoning of a local aquifer by a water bottling operation, gas drilling or coal mining, those directly affected believe they must be the ones to decide if a state-chartered corporation will be permitted to inflict harm on them in order to create profit for a few. They say they have a right to self-determination and consent of the governed.  They say the state has no authority to license the violation of their rights.....continued......

A Song "No Fracking Way"

One Year Later: Stories from the Gulf on Planet Green

One year after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, a sorry legacy of enduring damage, a people wronged and a region scarred remains. Stories from the Gulf explores the impact of America's worst oil disaster on Gulf Coast residents, using stunning original photography, audio interviews and narration by Robert Redford.

Check out the half-hour documentary

Where: Discovery's Planet Green
Date:  Saturday, April 23, at 2:30 p.m.
Trailer:   http://www.nrdc.org/storycorps

Colorado No. 2 in carcinogen-laced "fracking" fluids

Allison Sherry
 04/22/2011

WASHINGTON — Colorado ranked second only to Texas in terms of the number of gallons of carcinogen-laced "fracking" fluids used in oil and gas extraction between 2005 and 2009, according to congressional Democrats.

A 30-page House Energy and Commerce report — the second release in an investigation into hydraulic fracturing — shows that 1.5 million gallons of fracking fluids containing a carcinogen were used in Colorado in that time, compared with 3.8 million gallons in Texas and 1 million in Oklahoma. The report does not show the concentrations of those chemicals or that the carcinogens, including naphthalene and benzene, have endangered drinking water near the drilling sites in Colorado.
State leaders charged with regulating Colorado's energy industry say the report's findings are not a surprise....continued....

EXCERPT:
"Amid growing concern over the environmental impact of drilling for shale gas and oil, the French government is considering banning exploration in the country—a first in Europe."


APRIL 19, 2011
PARIS—
U.S. oil company Toreador Resources Corp. (has bet big on pumping millions of barrels of oil locked away in deep shale rock formations in northeastern France. But it could be some time before this oil sees the light of day.

Amid growing concern over the environmental impact of drilling for shale gas and oil, the French government is considering banning exploration in the country—a first in Europe....continued....

In A Nut Shell: The Equation--"Corporate Government vs. The Web of Life"

 EXCERPT:
 "A few months ago I [Lewis Gordon Pugh OIG] gave a speech with former President of Costa Rica.  Afterwards I asked him "Mr President, how do you balance the demands of development against the need to protect the environment?"

He looked at me and said: "It is not a balancing act. It is a simple business decision. If we cut down our forests in Costa Rica to satisfy a timber company, what will be left for our future?"

But he pointed out: "It is also a moral decision. It would be morally wrong to chop down our forests and leave nothing for my children and my grandchildren."

Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is at stake here today: Our children's future. And that of our children’s children."

PLEASE READ:

This is the content of a short speech given on Friday night in Cape Town by Lewis Gordon Pugh OIG (a.k.a. the Human Polar Bear) about the proposed hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for gas in the Karoo, by Royal Dutch Shell (who currently hold drilling leases in Mora County).

He received a sustained standing ovation!   Please read it and pass it on if it matters to you.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
Lewis Gordon Pugh OIG

A few months ago I gave a speech with former President of Costa Rica.  Afterwards I asked him "Mr President, how do you balance the demands of development against the need to protect the environment?"

He looked at me and said: "It is not a balancing act. It is a simple business decision. If we cut down our forests in Costa Rica to satisfy a timber company, what will be left for our future?"

But he pointed out: "It is also a moral decision. It would be morally wrong to chop down our forests and leave nothing for my children and my grandchildren."

Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is at stake here today: Our children's future. And that of our children’s children.

There may be gas beneath our ground in the Karoo. But are we prepared to destroy our environment for 5 to 10 years worth of fossil fuel and further damage our climate?

Yes, people will be employed but for a short while. And when the drilling is over, and Shell have packed their bags and disappeared, then what? Who will be there to clean up? And what jobs will our children be able to eke out?

Now Shell will tell you that their intentions are honourable. That fracking in the Karoo will not damage our environment. That they will not contaminate our precious water. That they will bring jobs to South Africa.

That gas is clean and green. And that they will help secure our energy supplies.

When I hear this I have one burning question. Why should we trust them?  Africa is to Shell what the Gulf of Mexico is to BP.

Shell, you have a shocking record here in Africa. Just look at your operations in Nigeria. You have spilt more than 9 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta. That's twice the amount of oil that BP spilt into the Gulf of Mexico.

You were found guilty of bribing Nigerian officials and to make the case go away in America - you paid an admission of guilt fine of US$48 million.

And to top it all, you stand accused of being complicit in the execution of Nigeria's leading environmental campaigner Ken Saro-Wira and 8 other activists.

If you were innocent, why did you pay US$15.5 million to the widows and children to settle the case out of Court?

Shell, the path you want us to take us down is not sustainable. I have visited the Arctic for 7 summers in a row. I have seen the tundra thawing.

I have seen the retreating glaciers. And I have seen the melting sea ice.  And I have seen the impact of global warming from the Himalayas all the way down to the low-lying Maldive Islands. Wherever I go I see it.

Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay!

Shell, we look to the north of our continent and we see how people got tired of political tyranny. We have watched as despots, who have ruled ruthlessly year after year, have been toppled in a matter of weeks.

We too are tired. Tired of corporate tyranny. Tired of your short term, unsustainable practices.

We watched as Dr Ian Player, a game ranger from Natal, and his friends, took on Rio Tinto (one of the biggest mining companies in the world) and won.

And we watched as young activists from across Europe, brought you down to your knees, when you tried to dump an enormous oil rig into the North Sea.

Shell, we do not want our Karoo to become another Niger Delta.

Do not underestimate us. Goliath can be brought down. We are proud of what we have achieved in this young democracy and we are not about to let your company come in and destroy it.

So let this be a Call to Arms to everyone across South Africa, who is sitting in the shadow of Goliath: Stand up and demand these fundamental human rights promised to you by our Constitution. Use your voices - tweet, blog, petition, rally the weight of your neighbours and of people in power.

Let us speak out from every hilltop. Let us not go quietly into this bleak future.

Let me end off by saying this - You have lit a fire in our bellies, which no man or woman can extinguish. And if we need to, we will take this fight all the way from your petrol pumps to the very highest Court in this land. We will take this fight from the farms and towns of the Karoo to the streets of London and Amsterdam. And we will take this fight to every one of your shareholders. And I have no doubt, that in the end, good will triumph over evil.

Inalienable Rights: Peaceful Rural Region Not so Peaceful Any More

EXCERPT:
"The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund thinks such zoning efforts outline only the "terms of surrender," projects director Ben Price said. Instead, the nonprofit proposes a more drastic option: banning drilling outright in a municipality by establishing it as an infringement of a community's rights.

Mrs. Aubree "has rights that the state has not bothered to protect," Mr. Price said.

Ordinances drafted by the organization are being considered by residents in both Benton and Newton townships in Lackawanna County. A community rights ordinance that bans drilling was adopted by Pittsburgh in November."

COMMENT:
Community rights ordinances that establish the rights by locally elected government officials to determine what takes place within their communities are being adopted by county and municipalities  across the country, thanks to the work of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Over 124 such ordinances have been passed, including the city of Pittsburgh, in December 2010, when the council passed the CELDF ordinance in support of citizen human rights, which bans any corporate activity that harms the citizen's rights to clean water, air, health and safety, et al.

The approach is one that involves a community to stand up for what they understand are their rights.  This is taking place across not only the US, but Canada and around the world in Ecuador, Bolivia, and South Africa.

If you are not aware of these protective ordinances, contact Drilling Mora County to learn more.  A Democracy School, presented by CELDF, will be taking place soon in Mora County.  Call to sign up for this important event.

Drilling Mora County



By Laura Legere

OREST LAKE TWP. - The yellow house at 877 Fraser Road went up for sale in January, not long after the 150-foot derrick settled in the pasture just to the southwest.

The rig is there to drill eight natural gas wells into the Marcellus Shale from a gravel pad a football field away from the property line on a ridgetop in Susquehanna County.

Anna Fisco-Aubree, a former nurse in her 60s, and her husband, Maurice Aubree, 77, moved from New York to the country 17 years ago. They were looking for quiet in the expanse of farms and hills around their 4-acre lot.

Now that noise has found them, they feel there is no way to stay....continued....

Committee Democrats Release New Report Detailing Hydraulic Fracturing Products

EXCERPT:
“It is deeply disturbing to discover the content and quantity of toxic chemicals, like benzene and lead, being injected into the ground without the knowledge of the communities whose health could be affected," said Rep. DeGette. “Of particular concern to me is that we learned that over the four-year period studied, over one and a half million gallons of carcinogens were injected into the ground in Colorado. Many companies were also unable to even identify some of the chemicals they were using in their own activities, unfortunately underscoring that voluntary industry disclosure is not enough to ensure the economic benefits of natural gas production do not come at the cost of our families' health.”

Committee on Energy and Commerce (Democrats)
Apr 16, 2011

Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Edward J. Markey, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette released a new report that summarizes the types, volumes, and chemical contents of the hydraulic fracturing products used by the 14 leading oil and gas service companies.  The report contains the first comprehensive national inventory of chemicals used by hydraulic fracturing companies during the drilling process.

“Hydraulic fracturing has helped to expand natural gas production in the United States, but we must ensure that these new resources don’t come at the expense of public health,” said Rep. Waxman. “This report shows that these companies are injecting millions of gallons of products that contain potentially hazardous chemicals, including known carcinogens.  I urge EPA and DOE to make certain that we have strong protections in place to prevent these chemicals from entering drinking water supplies.”

“With our river ways and drinking water at stake, it’s an absolute necessity that the American public knows what is in these fracking chemicals,” said Rep. Markey.  “This report is the most comprehensive look yet at the composition of the chemicals used in the fracking process, and should help the industry, the government, and the American public push for a safer way to extract natural gas.”

“It is deeply disturbing to discover the content and quantity of toxic chemicals, like benzene and lead, being injected into the ground without the knowledge of the communities whose health could be affected," said Rep. DeGette. “Of particular concern to me is that we learned that over the four-year period studied, over one and a half million gallons of carcinogens were injected into the ground in Colorado. Many companies were also unable to even identify some of the chemicals they were using in their own activities, unfortunately underscoring that voluntary industry disclosure is not enough to ensure the economic benefits of natural gas production do not come at the cost of our families' health.”

During the last Congress, the Committee launched an investigation into the practice of hydraulic fracturing in the United States, asking the leading oil and gas service companies to disclose information on the products used in this process between 2005 and 2009.

The Democratic Committee staff analyzed the data provided by the companies about their practices, finding that:

    *

      The 14 leading oil and gas service companies used more than 780 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products, not including water added at the well site. Overall, the companies used more than 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 different chemicals and other components.
    *

EXCERPT:
" Adopted an ordinance imposing an additional one year moratorium on the approval of conditional use permits or other permits for oil, gas and geothermal drilling, exploration and extraction in San Miguel County."



COMMENT:
Certainly the most important piece of news in the OPTIC'S newspaper on the 14th and perhaps this year, but mentioned as a mere bullet point in an article on "Fire Restrictions."

Natural gas development uses upwards of 2-4 million gallons of clean, drinking water plus 3,000 gallons of toxic fluids per million gallons of water to hydraulic fracture a natural gas well.  Each well can be fractured upwards of 19 times.  The amount of clean water used to capture this fossil fuel from your property certainly does not help the "dire water needs" for the city of Las Vegas residents, nor the need for water to fight fires during serious drought conditions throughout the county/state.

The current standards and techniques used to "restore" contaminated water from the toxic chemical pollution from natural gas development falls egregiously short of the quality of water in our aquifers today in San Miguel and Mora Counties.  While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) holds standards for the presence of toxic chemicals in your water, they represent "allowable" levels more in line with corporate needs than our human and animal health concerns.  For example, the EPA does not have restrictions on the level of perchlorate in our drinking water in NM and according to Dr. Theo Colborn,  any amount can trash our thyroid.  New Mexico has some of the highest thyroid health problems in the United States. Perchlorate is a component in military aircraft fuel.

Additionally, benzene, a component in hydraulic fracturing fluids, is a carcinogen at any level.  The EPA has permissible levels for this and many other toxic chemicals that are "allowed" in our drinking water:

"EPA has set an enforceable regulation for benzene, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL), at 0.005 mg/L or 5 ppb. MCLs are set as close to the health goals as possible, considering cost, benefits and the ability of public water systems to detect and remove contaminants using suitable treatment technologies." (http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/benzene.cfm#four)

The oil industry is exempt from the "Safe Drinking Water Act" which in essence, puts them "above the law" regarding contaminating our drinking water.  The EPA does not have any rules in place to keep benzene out of our drinking water supply. And "business" creates "background levels" which ultimately are incorporated by our government as "allowable background levels" that continue to increase the health risks, illness and deaths of all species.


Drilling Mora County

Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Wells, Report Says

Matt Nager
April 16, 2011

WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009, according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats.

The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas.

Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water.....continued.....

Talking Points by Industry

Often an article is valuable, but this attachment is more than that.  It gives everyone an understanding of the strategy the oil industry is using to lease minerals for natural gas development across the United States. Here are a few quotes from the document. I strongly recommend everyone read this document and then pass it along to people you know.

Drilling Mora County

Direct quotes below from instructions on selling oil and gas leases for landmen in Ohio:

•Water Usage -This is a question normally asked by farmers. See the Talking Points for Agricultural
Land paper to address those specific concerns. Residential owners will not know that we pull water
directly from the local aquifer.

•Property values - Multiple studies have shown that property values decrease for land with oil and gas
leases on the property. Avoid this topic. Some major banks have stopped issuing mortgages on
properties with leases for mineral and oil/gas rights, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and
other large financial institutions. This is a no-win discussion point. If backed into this issue, talk
about the potential revenues and the overall needs of the nation. China bought more oil than the
United States last year!

•Enhanced Oil Recovery - The overall plan is to drill exploratory wells, and then use more advanced
techniques to get at the small oil pockets we find. This will require multiple well heads, where we
pump in high volume of water and chemicals, much the same manner as in the fracing process. DO
NOT DISCUSS this point. We want no correlation between fracing and enhanced oil recovery
processes. We do not want landowners aware char we may have to drill many well heads in a single
area. After we have the leases signed we have the freedom to use the land as we see fit. If needed we
can even write leases with "No Fracing" positions, and even with these lease modifications we can
legally drill multiple wells and insert high pressure "extractants".

•Lease Term -This is another area of concern that you can alleviate with the right wording. The lease
is for 5 years. Sometimes landowners will read the lease before signing and realize that the lease - renews automatically if any oil/gas are produced from the well. Do not stress this point. Just state that
- the lease is for 5 years. They don't need to know, or discover through discussions with us, that the
lease can extend indefinitely with no further permission from the landowner.

•More educated landowners may know that we often sell our land leases to
larger corporations. While this if often true, we do not always sell our interests. So it
is reasonable to say that we plan all development in Ohio without partners. Future
plans do not need to be fully disclosed, and they may evolve as we do exploratory
drilling.

• Most landowners will not know the difference between hydraulic fracturing and the process
of Slick Water Hydraulic Fracturing. Use that to your advantage. Most [water] wells in southern
Ohio were drilled and then hydraulically fractured to make a viable source of water. Tell
them that. Fracing is safe! There is nothing unsafe about the fracing process, if there was, it
would never have been used in their wells. If anyone knows about slick water fracturing,
avoid the topic. DO not discuss the chemicals and other material used during slick water
fracturing. The better strategy is to sate that the chemical mixtures used are proprietary and
are highly diluted with water when injected. Reassure landowners that no well
contamination has ever been documented. *Do not mention water contamination in
Pennsylvania.* We do not want to associate ourselves with potential ground water issues.
[Emphasis in original document]

• Noise -Another argument against drilling is noise. Do not deny that the initial setup can be noisy,
like building a home nearby. No one objects to new homes under construction. Say that the noisy
portion of the operation is upfront and over quickly compared to the entire operation. This pan of
the process can take up to a year, but do not emphasize overall time. The well may last for 40 years,
so one year of noise is not bad. If pressed for details tell them we monitor noise to ensure it is
approximately 80 db at 200 feet. They will likely not understand the details, and will not admit that
the technical data means little to them. *Do not compare it to anything tangible, like train noise or
airplane noise. Stick with the numbers, they provide the truth hut make it hard to understand the
exact implication.* [emphasis added]

• Well Pad Size - Many people ask about their land and how much will be used. During the initial
drilling, pad sizes of approximately 20 acres are necessary. After drilling and fracturing, the well will
be on a land size of approximately 5 acres. Stress the five acres. Do not talk about the initial setup
unless absolutely pushed on details and timeline for the drilling. After the lease is signed we will be
able to deal with landowner concerns.

• Well Spacing- This rarely comes up. Landowners do not realize that multiple wells will be necessary.
Wells are most effective if spaced 40 acres or further apart. This sounds like a large number, use it.
Some might ask how many wells will be in a square mile. *Don't answer that question.* Most
landowners will not realize that 10-20 wells can be placed in a square mile. Landowners normally
own less than 5 acres, unless it is a farm. 40 acres will be a large enough number that wells will seem
to be far apart in their mind. [emphasis added]

Residents: dozens of wells in Bradford County have been contaminated

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN
April 8, 2011

Carol French says a number of residents along Paradise Road section Terry Township have seen the value of their homes plummet to one-tenth of what they were, due to contamination problems.

TOWANDA - At the Bradford County commissioners' meeting on Thursday, several local residents said dozens of Bradford County households have had their well water contaminated by gas drilling.

There were among the residents who filled the conference room at the courthouse on Thursday to tell the commissioners about problems related to gas drilling, including traffic congestion, high rents, and contamination issues, and ask the commissioners to help address them.

Towanda resident Diane Siegmund, who has been a local activist on environmental issues, and Sheshequin Township resident Carol French told the commissioners that between 70 to 100 households in Bradford County have had their water wells contaminated by gas drilling....continued......

EPA launches study of fracking's impact on water

April 5, 2011
By Susan Phillips

President Barack Obama has given the Department of Energy 90 days to look at ways to improve the safety of drilling for natural gas. The Environmental Protection Agency has already started an extensive review of how drilling affects drinking water.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the study is the first of its kind.

In the debate over natural gas drilling, one side says not enough is known about hydraulic fracturing.

The other side says there have been sufficient studies and further reviews will cause bureaucratic delays. Fracking, as it's known, uses a mix of water and chemicals to help extract the gas. The industry says frack water has never contaminated drinking water.

But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wants to set the record straight.

"Because there was a 2004 EPA study that has been widely over-read to mean that EPA has reviewed hydro-fracking and deemed it safe for drinking water. That's not an accurate statement at all," she said. "EPA has done a literature study of fracking, made some general comments about what we learned from that review. But this is a full-scale study with case studies
and other work."

Some gas industry representatives say the scope of the study goes too far. But the Marcellus Shale Coalition director Katherine Klaber says her organization actually wants it to go further.

"And I think it's important, long term, to do the same kind of study across multiple energy sources," said Klaber. "We have to understand as the public, how we get our energy and what's involved in that."

The EPA's study will take two years to complete. In the meantime, Jackson said, states should aggressively enforce any current regulations.

Remembering the bomb that rocked Farmington-The Farmington Times

EXCERPT:
"I didn't think twice about the radiation then," said [Bennie] Armenta, who returned to remove the drilling equipment after the explosion. "These days with all that's going on, I would probably be a bit more worried."

Code-named "Gasbuggy," and part of Operation Ploughshare, the goal of the 29-kiloton nuclear test was to see if a small nuclear blast could stimulate the release of difficult-to-extract natural gas trapped in shale deposits deep below the national forest.

Atoms for Peace and Operation Ploughshare promoted the idea that nuclear explosions could be used for peaceful projects such as mining, canal building and dams.

Twenty-seven nuclear blasts were carried out under the program — all in the Southwest — before it was discontinued because of radiation concerns."


COMMENT:
The "naturally occurring background levels" of radioactive contamination referred to without culpability by our government and by corporate industry is in large part the result of these "27 nuclear blasts" in Farmington, NM in 1967, Bikini Island/U.S atomic bomb testing, Marshall Islands/US detonated 67 nuclear bombs 1946-1958, 3 Mile Island meltdown, Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic bomb detonation/WWII by the U.S. against Japan, Chernobyl/Soviet Union, White Sands missile testing/New Mexico, today's nuclear facility damage in Japan, nuclear stations daily emissions, nuclear powered submarines, and countless additional tests and nuclear accidents around the world.

Government and industry pretend that our environment's ever-growing levels of persistent harmful radioactive isotopes have no actual man-made cause. In fact, they imply that  Nature is to blame for the rising nuclear pollution.  While some folks have granite mountain walls or uranium sources under their feet, intact, these formations do not mount to the levels which currently make up the "naturally occurring background levels" we have in our environment.

We know, however, that the nuclear facility tragedies and bomb blasts that have carried these radioactive isotopes far and wide are the reason the food chain and now our baby's milk is laced with radioactive isotopes, no matter where on this planet you happen to live.

Not unlike the persistence of perchlorate in our ground water--a component in jet fuel which damages the thyroid gland--nuclear contamination is a result of man-made activities.  In the case of nuclear isotopes , they are used either for the experimentation of extermination (war or medical--killing humans or killing cancer cells), or for energy generation.  In either case, these man-made nuclear isotopes are today considered "naturally occurring" when found in our environment.  When man repeats mistakes enough times, the result is considered "natural." Does this sound familiar?  "When a lie is repeated enough times, it becomes the truth."

Government and industry's tinkering with atomic weapons and generating facilities has proven well beyond their greatest expectation.  And lives are continually exposed and ultimately harmed with this development by the first scientists who gathered and developed these weapons at Los Alamos Laboratory, New Mexico in the 1940s and tested them around the world.  And now today by elected officials who continue this madness.

Despite the knowledge of the catastrophic harm from this great weapon, it continues to be deployed and its use expanded in this world as if it had some greater good than the tragic effects it renders upon this planet and beyond.  Rather than looking toward less egregious and in fact, less costly and less harmful ways of bringing peace and energy to the world, our current government administration continues to push for expansion of nuclear development.  Renewable solar energy, which is proven effective in supplying electrical generation in Germany, lies dormant in the plans by United States leaders.

In the words of Manfred Max-Neef, Chilean Economist and environmentalist, "Our government leaders know exactly what to do, they just don't do it."  And with the knowledge that "everything is connected" according to Alfred Einstein, perhaps considering and implementing the correct action is well worth our leaders' considerations--before it is truly too late.

Drilling Mora County



By Kurt Madar The Daily Times
04/02/2011

Bennie Armenta clearly remembers the nuclear explosion that shook Farmington to its roots — from the bottom up.

He should. He helped move into place the rig that drilled the 4,222-foot hole where the bomb was detonated.

"I didn't think twice about the radiation then," said Armenta, who returned to remove the drilling equipment after the explosion. "These days with all that's going on, I would probably be a bit more worried."

Armenta was 18 when the federal government performed the underground atomic test approximately 55 miles east of Farmington in Carson National Forest on Dec. 10, 1967. The detonation was part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace campaign....continued....

Smart meter bills come with huge costs: A hearing on proposals for an opt-out provision and a moratorium goes on for hours

By Tux Turkel tturkel@mainetoday.com
April 5 2011

AUGUSTA — Proposed laws to allow customers to opt out of Central Maine Power Co.'s smart meter program or impose a one-year ban on further installations would kill the project and cost ratepayers tens of millions of dollars, CMP officials said Monday at a public hearing on the bills.

But others argued that legitimate concerns over health effects, privacy and cyber security should persuade the Legislature to put the program on hold until key questions are answered.

"At some point, we have to say, 'stop,'" said Sen. Larry Bliss, D-South Portland, who sponsored the bill calling for a moratorium. "These things might be making people sick."...continued.....

Mortgage woes and natural gas drilling