“While [hydraulic fracturing] can help provide energy for America's future, it also poses a new dangerous threat to wildlife and the environment. Toxic chemicals are used during fracking that can infiltrate and contaminate habitat, waterways, and even the drinking water that people and wildlife depend on” (1996-2013). Evidently, “some opponents of oil and natural gas production claim that fracking has serious environmental consequences. The truth is, while all development has challenges, hydraulic fracturing technology has a strong environmental track record and is employed under close supervision by state, local and federal regulators. Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) have confirmed no direct link between hydraulic fracturing operations and groundwater contamination.
Benzene has been known to be a carcinogen, while the rest of the chemicals are unknown what long term damage it could cause. Another danger of fracking are spills. Spills occur during the adding of the fluids as well as during the results of the flow back. Drill operators will eventually have spills throughout this process. Hoses can be undone, gaskets can fail, pits leak and liquids always hit the ground, repeatedly in large quantities.
Course Title: The U.S. Federal Government: Assignment: Federal Agency’s Origin Title: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster management and prevention have become a prevelent topic as well as a major priorty of today. Far too many fatal consequences are the results of inappropriately managed emergencies in vulnerable locations. Disasters may occurr at any given time or place as well as in a natural form or as an act of terror. Often times, disasters occur suddenly and without warning whereas millions of Americans are faced with this horrific tragedy every year. One of the most commonly known agencies of the federal government gained its notoriety during one of the United States’ deadliest disasters on record.
West Virginia Chemical Spill Effecting Our Environment Industrialization has greatly impacted our Earth. In the article Federal Grand Jury Investigates West Virginia Chemical Spill, the authors, Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick, emphasize the damage the chemical spill did to our planet. Many people were left with no water to use and the environment was greatly damaged by the spill. Chemical plants allow our society to develop some service such as water, electricity or disposal services. Conversely, Chemical plants can contaminate the pure water or create harmful diseases to humans and the Earth.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, West Virginia have all had numerous reports of contaminated water due to fracking. In 2012, the EPA stated that "inorganic and organic compounds associated with hydraulic fracturing have contaminated the aquifer at or below the depths used for domestic water supply in the Pavillion area,”(EPA 2012) This study was of a towns water supple in Wyoming where the water supply was contaminated after fracking was started. The oil and gas companies blame improper equipment for the contamination of the water not the actual process of fracking. If this is the issue fracking should be regulated more so that incidents like this do not spill over into other states and poisoning more of our vital water
The fire that lead up to the blast remains unknown at this time. Although, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reported that the massive explosion was caused by chemicals stored at the facility. Sources agree that there needs to be better safety laws and protocols to prevent work place disasters. In the early evening hours a fire ignited at the west fertilizer plant. It is what essentially leads to the explosion that devastated the small town.
Monitoring our Planet Katrina Park Argosy University There are many types of natural disasters caused by phenomena such as: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, and hurricanes. Many times the phenomena that you think are most deadly are not. For example, many people believe that tornados or tsunamis are most deadly; however, floods and droughts actually kill more Americans over time. (Staff, 2013) By being able to predict the coming of some phenomena we are able to reduce the amount of lives lost due to them. There are still some phenomena that are unpredictable and can only be responded to after the occurrence.
“residents exhibited a ‘disturbingly high rate of miscarriages ... Love Canal can now be added to a growing list of environmental disasters involving toxics, ranging from industrial workers stricken by nervous disorders and cancers to the discovery of toxic materials in the milk of nursing mothers.’ (Love Canal). All of the people deserved a very safe environment to live in, but there were much too many toxic chemicals that were once underground. As you can see Love Canal’s land doesn’t look like a very safe place to start a community. If you think
How was this disaster a failure of regulation? What should be done to make regulations more effective, especially when they are politically unpopular with the business community? It was on April 20, 2010 that an explosion killing 11 workers on the platform, caused by a methane gas leak that eventually would sink an oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico and set into motion the largest oil spill in the U.S.A. and two days later an oil slick would start to spread at the former site of the oil drilling platform. Weeks after the explosion British Petroleum (BP) did attempted to plug the leak under water but ever attempt failed, they then tried to put a dome like fitting over the valves that were leaking but failed due to the interference of the methane that was coming out, a third plan was enacted to try and pump mud into the well which they called “top kill” but this also
Fracking is inherently risky, there is extensive evidence to suggest that fracking can contaminate groundwater and that it causes significant air pollution. For the first time in history, smog has become a major issue in many rural communities in the US, with some villages in Wyoming experiencing worse smog than downtown Los Angeles and an increase in lung cancer cases of over 500%. Since 2005, 1.2 trillion litres has been wasted in the fracking process creating toxic waste which cannot be recycled and must be disposed of very carefully to avoid danger to humans and the environment. In addition, one in six deep injection wells examined have an integrity violation leading to the leaking of toxic waste into the environment – more than 17,000 violations in the US alone. Such is the desperation for energy in the US, fracking has had to be made exempt from parts of at least seven major national statutes, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act in order for it to be made legal.