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New research reveals industry used 160 million pounds of 'secret chemicals' over past decade: 'May just be the tip of the iceberg'
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Dec 5, 2023, 1:52:52 PM12/5/23
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https://news.yahoo.com/research-reveals-industry-used-160-190000287.html
New research revealed that oil and gas producers in Pennsylvania used
“some 160 million pounds” of secret chemicals in more than 5,000 gas wells
over the past decade, according to Inside Climate News. To make matters
worse, the chemicals may have contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), which are described as “a toxic and pervasive class of
chemicals.”
What’s happening?
Oil and gas producers are typically required to disclose the chemicals
they use to state regulators in a database called FracFocus. However,
Inside Climate News reported that state law allows producers to avoid
disclosing them “if doing so would put their operations at a competitive
disadvantage.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is an activist group that
recently co-published a compilation of studies on the dangers of hydraulic
fracturing for oil and gas from 2012 to 2022. According to Inside Climate
News, the report revealed that during the study period, at least one type
of PFAS was used in eight Pennsylvania wells by two oil and gas producers.
“Eight wells may just be the tip of the iceberg because we also found that
there were 160 million pounds of trade-secret chemicals injected into
thousands of unconventional gas wells over the same period,” Dusty
Horwitt, who wrote the report for PSR, told Inside Climate News.
Why is this concerning?
PFAS are considered “forever chemicals” because they don’t decompose in
the environment and have the potential to accumulate in blood if ingested.
Inside Climate News noted PFAS “are linked to serious illnesses including
some cancers, low birth weights, ulcerative colitis, reduced receptiveness
to vaccines and elevated cholesterol.”
“Accumulation of certain PFAS has also been shown through blood tests to
occur in humans and animals,” according to the Food & Drug Administration.
“While the science surrounding potential health effects of bioaccumulation
is developing, exposure to some types of PFAS have been associated with
serious health effects.”
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection done in May of this year discovered that streams
near small rural towns that are surrounded by oil and gas development may
contain “low levels” of PFAS contamination.
The report from PSR stated that the possibility of PFAS contamination in
Pennsylvania groundwater and other states where the fracking industry is
active could pose a threat to public health.
“Should only a fraction of the unidentified chemicals used in
Pennsylvania’s unconventional gas wells be PFAS, they could pose a
significant threat to human health,” the report said.
What’s being done about it?
According to Inside Climate News, multiple states, including Pennsylvania,
have been increasingly imposing limits on the presence of PFAS in drinking
water in the wake of mounting evidence of the chemicals’ threats to public
health.
Horwitt said the intention of the PSR report is to raise concerns that the
oil and gas industry’s use of PFAS may be more pervasive beyond the eight
wells in Pennsylvania.
“With this current report, we want to empower residents and government
officials in Pennsylvania to understand both the limited scope of what we
know about PFAS use in the state’s oil and gas wells and the potentially
much larger scope of PFAS use that is hidden by the state’s lax chemical
disclosure rules,” Horwitt said.
The report suggested that Pennsylvania can follow the example set by
Colorado, where the use of PFAS by oil and gas producers is banned, and
the public disclosure of all chemicals used in fracking is required.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
New research revealed that oil and gas producers in Pennsylvania used
“some 160 million pounds” of secret chemicals in more than 5,000 gas wells
over the past decade, according to Inside Climate News. To make matters
worse, the chemicals may have contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), which are described as “a toxic and pervasive class of
chemicals.”
What’s happening?
Oil and gas producers are typically required to disclose the chemicals
they use to state regulators in a database called FracFocus. However,
Inside Climate News reported that state law allows producers to avoid
disclosing them “if doing so would put their operations at a competitive
disadvantage.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is an activist group that
recently co-published a compilation of studies on the dangers of hydraulic
fracturing for oil and gas from 2012 to 2022. According to Inside Climate
News, the report revealed that during the study period, at least one type
of PFAS was used in eight Pennsylvania wells by two oil and gas producers.
“Eight wells may just be the tip of the iceberg because we also found that
there were 160 million pounds of trade-secret chemicals injected into
thousands of unconventional gas wells over the same period,” Dusty
Horwitt, who wrote the report for PSR, told Inside Climate News.
Why is this concerning?
PFAS are considered “forever chemicals” because they don’t decompose in
the environment and have the potential to accumulate in blood if ingested.
Inside Climate News noted PFAS “are linked to serious illnesses including
some cancers, low birth weights, ulcerative colitis, reduced receptiveness
to vaccines and elevated cholesterol.”
“Accumulation of certain PFAS has also been shown through blood tests to
occur in humans and animals,” according to the Food & Drug Administration.
“While the science surrounding potential health effects of bioaccumulation
is developing, exposure to some types of PFAS have been associated with
serious health effects.”
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection done in May of this year discovered that streams
near small rural towns that are surrounded by oil and gas development may
contain “low levels” of PFAS contamination.
The report from PSR stated that the possibility of PFAS contamination in
Pennsylvania groundwater and other states where the fracking industry is
active could pose a threat to public health.
“Should only a fraction of the unidentified chemicals used in
Pennsylvania’s unconventional gas wells be PFAS, they could pose a
significant threat to human health,” the report said.
What’s being done about it?
According to Inside Climate News, multiple states, including Pennsylvania,
have been increasingly imposing limits on the presence of PFAS in drinking
water in the wake of mounting evidence of the chemicals’ threats to public
health.
Horwitt said the intention of the PSR report is to raise concerns that the
oil and gas industry’s use of PFAS may be more pervasive beyond the eight
wells in Pennsylvania.
“With this current report, we want to empower residents and government
officials in Pennsylvania to understand both the limited scope of what we
know about PFAS use in the state’s oil and gas wells and the potentially
much larger scope of PFAS use that is hidden by the state’s lax chemical
disclosure rules,” Horwitt said.
The report suggested that Pennsylvania can follow the example set by
Colorado, where the use of PFAS by oil and gas producers is banned, and
the public disclosure of all chemicals used in fracking is required.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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