c***@truth.net
2009-05-26 14:48:41 UTC
Is the Water Supply for 8 Million People in New York City at Risk?
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted May 26, 2009.
A massive natural gas project could pollute fresh water supplies for
New York, Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, and other areas.
In the musical Urinetown, a severe drought leaves the dwindling
supplies of clean water in the hands of a corporation called Urine
Good Company. Urine Good Company makes a fortune selling the precious
commodity and running public toilets. It pays off politicians to ward
off regulation and inspection. It uses the mechanisms of state control
to repress an increasingly desperate and impoverished population.
The musical satire may turn out to be a prescient vision of the
future. Corporations in Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and
upstate New York have launched a massive program to extract natural
gas through a process that could, if it goes wrong, degrade the
Delaware River watershed and the fresh water supplies that feed
upstate communities, the metropolitan cities of New York,
Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, and many others on its way to the
Chesapeake Bay.
The potential environmental consequences are extreme, says Fritz
Mayer, editor of The River Reporter in Narrowsburg, N.Y. His paper has
been following the drilling in the Upper Delaware River Valley and he
told me, It could ruin the drinking supply for 8 million people in
New York City.
Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas are locked under the Marcellus
Shale that runs from West Virginia, through Ohio, across most of
Pennsylvania and into the Southern Tier of New York state. There are
other, small plates of shale, in the south and west of the United
States. It takes an estimated 3 million to 5 million gallons of water
per well to drill down to the natural gas in a process called
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The water is mixed with
resin-coated sand and a cocktail of hazardous chemicals, including
hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, biocides, surfactants, friction reducers
and benzene to facilitate the fracturing of the shale to extract the
gas.
The toxic brew is injected with extreme force deep within the earth.
The drilling is vertical for about 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The
technology, developed by Halliburton, allows drills to abruptly turn
sideways when they reach these depths. The lubricant and biocides
propel the sand on a horizontal axis for as far as half a mile. The
fissures created are held open by the sand, and the natural gas flows
to the surface through steel casings. Feeder lines run from the grid
of wells to regional pipelines.
About 60 percent of the toxic water used to extract the natural
gastouted in mendacious commercials by the natural gas industry as
clean energyis left underground. The rest is stored in huge, open
pits that dot the landscapes at drilling sites, before it is loaded
into hundreds of large vehicles and trucked to regional filtration
facilities. Such drilling has already poisoned wells in western
Pennsylvania, Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Kansas,
Montana, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. Those whose
water becomes contaminated, including people living in towns such as
Dimock, Pa., must have water trucked in to provide for their needs.
Farm animals that have drunk the toxic mixture that has leeched from
gas drilling sites have died. Cattle ranchers in Colorado, where
drilling is occurring in close proximity, have reported that their
livestock birthrates have gone down and animals are bearing deformed
offspring.
The single biggest concern is the release of poisons into the
environment and its impact on all that live in proximity to the
drilling activity, the River Reporters editorial this week read
following a visit to local drilling sites. Large pits, lined with
sagging black plastic, did not instill confidence that it couldnt
escape into the environment. And we wondered how migrating birds would
know the difference between this body of fluid and an area pond.
Ironically, the effect on animals became very real that afternoon
when, upon our return, we received the news that in Caddo Parish, LA,
17 cows died after apparently ingesting fluids that escaped from a
nearby gas pad.
The New York City watershed lies within the Marcellus Shale. This
watershed provides unfiltered water to more than 14 million people in
New York City, upstate New York, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey.
It is the largest unfiltered drinking water supply in the United
States. And if the federal government does not intervene swiftly, it
could become contaminated. The nonprofit group NYH2O has begun
organizing in New York City, calling for a statewide ban on natural
gas drilling to protect not only the citys fresh water drinking
supply, but everyone elses. But New Yorks notoriously corrupt state
Legislature and feeble governor seem set to permit the drilling.
The natural gas companies, not surprisingly, insist that the millions
of gallons of poisoned water left underground or collected in huge
open pits pose no threat to watersheds. Let us hope they are right.
The truth is, no one knows. And these corporations, in a move that
suggests the drilling may not be as benign as they contend, had their
lobbyists ensure that the natural gas industry was exempted by
Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 from complying with the
Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is designed to
regulate groundwater.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a
congressional hearing on Tuesday that the agency would consider
revisiting its official position that this drilling technique does not
harm groundwater. A 2004 study conducted by the EPA under the Bush
administration concluded that hydraulic fracturing causes no threat
to underground drinking water. The study was used to support the
provision in the 2005 energy bill that exempted hydraulic fracturing
from federal regulation.
We do not know, because there is no federal oversight, the exact
formula of the chemicals added to the water. We do not know, because
the industry has been greenlighted through state regulatory agencies,
what the millions of gallons of poison underground will do to our
drinking water. We are told to trust the natural gas industry, as we
were told to trust Wall Street. And if our drinking water becomes
contaminated, then expect corporations to profit from the desperation.
Corporations like Bechtel have been buying up water reservoirs around
the globe in anticipation of future water shortages. And what they
will do when they control our water was illustrated in Bolivia a
decade ago. The World Bank forced Bolivia to privatize the public
water system of its third-largest city, Cochabamba. It threatened to
withhold debt relief and other development assistance if the city did
not comply. Bechtel, which was the only bidder, was granted a 40-year
lease to take over Cochabambas water through a subsidiary called
Aguas del Tunari.
Urinetown was visited on Cochabamba in 2000 within weeks of the
privatization. Aguas del Tunari imposed massive rate hikes on local
water users of more than 50 percent, according to the Cochabamba-based
Democracy Center. Families living on the local minimum wage of $60 per
month were billed up to 25 percent of their income for water. The rate
hikes sparked citywide protests. The Bolivian government declared
martial law in Cochabamba and deployed thousands of soldiers and
police to restore order. More than 100 people were injured in the
rioting and a 17-year-old boy was killed. The Cochabamba project was
abandoned, but Bechtel and other corporations are not done. Bechtels
control of the water supply in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a few years later
resulted in water shutoffs, contamination, and a deadly hepatitis A
outbreak. Water in a world of scarcity will be very profitable. And
Bechtel is preparing for the bonanza at home and abroad.
Profit, even if it results in widespread human suffering, is the core
of Americas ruthless unregulated corporate capitalism. Our health
care industry profits from sickness and death by excluding those who
most need coverage. Our financial industry created perhaps the largest
speculative bubble in human history and trashed our economy as well as
looting our treasury. Our oil and gas industries, whose profits are
obscene, wreck the environment and poison our water. And the worse it
gets for us, the better it gets for them. You may not need to travel
to a theater to see Urinetown. It could soon be coming to you.
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted May 26, 2009.
A massive natural gas project could pollute fresh water supplies for
New York, Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, and other areas.
In the musical Urinetown, a severe drought leaves the dwindling
supplies of clean water in the hands of a corporation called Urine
Good Company. Urine Good Company makes a fortune selling the precious
commodity and running public toilets. It pays off politicians to ward
off regulation and inspection. It uses the mechanisms of state control
to repress an increasingly desperate and impoverished population.
The musical satire may turn out to be a prescient vision of the
future. Corporations in Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and
upstate New York have launched a massive program to extract natural
gas through a process that could, if it goes wrong, degrade the
Delaware River watershed and the fresh water supplies that feed
upstate communities, the metropolitan cities of New York,
Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, and many others on its way to the
Chesapeake Bay.
The potential environmental consequences are extreme, says Fritz
Mayer, editor of The River Reporter in Narrowsburg, N.Y. His paper has
been following the drilling in the Upper Delaware River Valley and he
told me, It could ruin the drinking supply for 8 million people in
New York City.
Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas are locked under the Marcellus
Shale that runs from West Virginia, through Ohio, across most of
Pennsylvania and into the Southern Tier of New York state. There are
other, small plates of shale, in the south and west of the United
States. It takes an estimated 3 million to 5 million gallons of water
per well to drill down to the natural gas in a process called
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The water is mixed with
resin-coated sand and a cocktail of hazardous chemicals, including
hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, biocides, surfactants, friction reducers
and benzene to facilitate the fracturing of the shale to extract the
gas.
The toxic brew is injected with extreme force deep within the earth.
The drilling is vertical for about 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The
technology, developed by Halliburton, allows drills to abruptly turn
sideways when they reach these depths. The lubricant and biocides
propel the sand on a horizontal axis for as far as half a mile. The
fissures created are held open by the sand, and the natural gas flows
to the surface through steel casings. Feeder lines run from the grid
of wells to regional pipelines.
About 60 percent of the toxic water used to extract the natural
gastouted in mendacious commercials by the natural gas industry as
clean energyis left underground. The rest is stored in huge, open
pits that dot the landscapes at drilling sites, before it is loaded
into hundreds of large vehicles and trucked to regional filtration
facilities. Such drilling has already poisoned wells in western
Pennsylvania, Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Kansas,
Montana, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. Those whose
water becomes contaminated, including people living in towns such as
Dimock, Pa., must have water trucked in to provide for their needs.
Farm animals that have drunk the toxic mixture that has leeched from
gas drilling sites have died. Cattle ranchers in Colorado, where
drilling is occurring in close proximity, have reported that their
livestock birthrates have gone down and animals are bearing deformed
offspring.
The single biggest concern is the release of poisons into the
environment and its impact on all that live in proximity to the
drilling activity, the River Reporters editorial this week read
following a visit to local drilling sites. Large pits, lined with
sagging black plastic, did not instill confidence that it couldnt
escape into the environment. And we wondered how migrating birds would
know the difference between this body of fluid and an area pond.
Ironically, the effect on animals became very real that afternoon
when, upon our return, we received the news that in Caddo Parish, LA,
17 cows died after apparently ingesting fluids that escaped from a
nearby gas pad.
The New York City watershed lies within the Marcellus Shale. This
watershed provides unfiltered water to more than 14 million people in
New York City, upstate New York, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey.
It is the largest unfiltered drinking water supply in the United
States. And if the federal government does not intervene swiftly, it
could become contaminated. The nonprofit group NYH2O has begun
organizing in New York City, calling for a statewide ban on natural
gas drilling to protect not only the citys fresh water drinking
supply, but everyone elses. But New Yorks notoriously corrupt state
Legislature and feeble governor seem set to permit the drilling.
The natural gas companies, not surprisingly, insist that the millions
of gallons of poisoned water left underground or collected in huge
open pits pose no threat to watersheds. Let us hope they are right.
The truth is, no one knows. And these corporations, in a move that
suggests the drilling may not be as benign as they contend, had their
lobbyists ensure that the natural gas industry was exempted by
Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 from complying with the
Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is designed to
regulate groundwater.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a
congressional hearing on Tuesday that the agency would consider
revisiting its official position that this drilling technique does not
harm groundwater. A 2004 study conducted by the EPA under the Bush
administration concluded that hydraulic fracturing causes no threat
to underground drinking water. The study was used to support the
provision in the 2005 energy bill that exempted hydraulic fracturing
from federal regulation.
We do not know, because there is no federal oversight, the exact
formula of the chemicals added to the water. We do not know, because
the industry has been greenlighted through state regulatory agencies,
what the millions of gallons of poison underground will do to our
drinking water. We are told to trust the natural gas industry, as we
were told to trust Wall Street. And if our drinking water becomes
contaminated, then expect corporations to profit from the desperation.
Corporations like Bechtel have been buying up water reservoirs around
the globe in anticipation of future water shortages. And what they
will do when they control our water was illustrated in Bolivia a
decade ago. The World Bank forced Bolivia to privatize the public
water system of its third-largest city, Cochabamba. It threatened to
withhold debt relief and other development assistance if the city did
not comply. Bechtel, which was the only bidder, was granted a 40-year
lease to take over Cochabambas water through a subsidiary called
Aguas del Tunari.
Urinetown was visited on Cochabamba in 2000 within weeks of the
privatization. Aguas del Tunari imposed massive rate hikes on local
water users of more than 50 percent, according to the Cochabamba-based
Democracy Center. Families living on the local minimum wage of $60 per
month were billed up to 25 percent of their income for water. The rate
hikes sparked citywide protests. The Bolivian government declared
martial law in Cochabamba and deployed thousands of soldiers and
police to restore order. More than 100 people were injured in the
rioting and a 17-year-old boy was killed. The Cochabamba project was
abandoned, but Bechtel and other corporations are not done. Bechtels
control of the water supply in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a few years later
resulted in water shutoffs, contamination, and a deadly hepatitis A
outbreak. Water in a world of scarcity will be very profitable. And
Bechtel is preparing for the bonanza at home and abroad.
Profit, even if it results in widespread human suffering, is the core
of Americas ruthless unregulated corporate capitalism. Our health
care industry profits from sickness and death by excluding those who
most need coverage. Our financial industry created perhaps the largest
speculative bubble in human history and trashed our economy as well as
looting our treasury. Our oil and gas industries, whose profits are
obscene, wreck the environment and poison our water. And the worse it
gets for us, the better it gets for them. You may not need to travel
to a theater to see Urinetown. It could soon be coming to you.
