Fracking The Delaware River Water Shed:
Folks we have a horrible environmental issue which if not kept in check could directly effect 15 million of us.Please read these following reports from the Delaware River Keeper:
More from Delaware Riverkeeper:
Tell NJ to Override Gov Christie’s Veto of Frack Ban Bill!
Fracking in New Jersey?!
NJ could have been the first state in the nation to put clean drinking water before dirty gas drilling with the New Jersey Legislature’s bold and forthright Frack Ban Bill, passed by a sweeping, bi-partisan majority of both the Senate and the Assembly this summer. Instead Governor Christie has conditionally vetoed the Bill, asking for the Bill to be amended as a one year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, a weak and meaningless request that does not provide the protection we need.
But all is not lost! The Legislature can over-ride this veto by a 2/3 majority vote. We, as New Jersey residents, must make sure that the Legislature musters an over-ride and defeats the Governor’s conditional veto.
Senate Bill 2576, sponsored by Senator Robert Gordon (District 38, Bergen) and Senator Linda Greenstein (District 14, Mercer and Middlesex), passed by a bi-partisan landslide: Yes, 33; No, 1; Not Voting, 6. Assembly Bill 3653, sponsored by Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (District 38, Bergen), Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (District 15, Mercer), and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (District 37, Bergen) also passed by a bi-partisan landslide: Yes, 58; No, 11; Not Voting, 2, Abstains 8. If we each tell our elected representatives and the state’s leaders to over-ride the Governor’s veto, it will happen. The prime sponsors of the Bill, Senator Gordon and Assemblywoman Wagner, have pledged support for an over-ride and opposition to the empty gesture of a moratorium, stating they know fracking is unsafe and should not be allowed now or in a year, for the sake of New Jersey’s water supply and our residents.
To see the “over-ride the veto” letter DRN sent to every NJ Legislator: Letter to NJ Legislators. To see the video we sent them with the letter: VIDEO
What’s this about fracking?
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is the practice of injecting water and chemicals through a drilled well bore into a rock formation to crack open fractures to release natural gas. Natural gas, primarily methane, trapped in tight geologic formations such as the Marcellus and Utica shales, cannot be accessed without using this practice. While Marcellus is not found in New Jersey, Utica and other gas-bearing shales underlie portions of northwestern New Jersey. Utica shale is being explored now in New York and Pennsylvania and is forecasted by the industry to hold substantial gas reserves, making future fracking in New Jersey a real likelihood.
Approximately 260 chemicals -- and another 40 compounds with secret ingredients that the industry will not disclose – are being used in fracking fluids in Pennsylvania and other states where shale gas is being mined. Many of these chemicals are hazardous to humans and other species, many are toxic such as napthalene, glutaraldehyde, and acrylamide and some are classified as carcinogenic by the federal government such as benzene, formaldehyde, and methanol.
In addition, fracking disturbs, distributes, and brings to the surface naturally occurring chemicals/minerals from deep geologic formations in the “flowback” fluids that erupt to the surface when a well is fracked. The resulting wastewater containing salts (“total dissolved solids”), heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and “naturally occurring radioactive materials” or NORMS, is typically stored in open pits at the well site, which are the source of hazardous air emissions and pose water pollution risks. When finally trucked to a wastewater facility, most of the pollutants are not removed but are simply diluted and discharged to waterways or are injected into underground ”disposal” wells. There are no treatment facilities in use that are capable of removing all of the pollutants found in gas drilling wastewater. The United States Department of Energy concludes that produced water from gas drilling is 10 times more toxic than those from off shore oil drilling.
In addition, fracking is very water-consumptive, requiring 2-9 million gallons of water to frack each well. Considering New Jersey uses all the water available to it already, and then some, the loss of these precious freshwater supplies will reduce our water supplies and, in turn, exacerbate current water quality and stream flow management problems.
Added to that, air emissions are also adversely impacting communities where drilling is occurring and downwind. These include smog and pollutants from large numbers of diesel powered vehicles and equipment, the volatilization of hydrocarbons, dangerous methane releases, high levels of small particulate matter and frack fluid and wastewater toxins, including carcinogens such as benzene and methanol. Recent studies show that greenhouse gases from shale gas development have as big an impact, or bigger, than coal or oil, heavily contributing to global climate change. The natural gas industry is exempt from major provisions in federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Superfund Law.
In Pennsylvania, in 2010 about 6 environmental permit violations per day by drillers were recorded by PA Department of Environmental Protection and violations have ballooned to about 11 per day in the first 6 months of this year. The rapid fire pace of gas development and lack of government oversight and effective regulations have made a bad situation worse; the result is polluted and depleted streams. Many rivers there are choked with runoff from these industrial sized well pads and public health and community problems are spreading. We can’t let that happen here in New Jersey. We are the most densely populated state in the nation with the largest number of superfund sites, our own legacy of industrial development. We can’t absorb any more degradation—just one catastrophic accident would harm untold numbers of people and our irreplaceable water supplies!
But, as a New Jersey resident, you can make an over-ride happen to save New Jersey’s drinking water and environment from pollution from natural gas extraction using fracking.
Please write a letter to NJ Legislative leadership and your Legislator by clicking on the letter below. You can write your own letter in the template provided or simply sign and insert your address – we will send the letter for you to these decisionmakers.
