Showing posts with label Dr. Colborn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Colborn. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

How one private landowner's decision to sellout to the fracking industry legally violated the safety civil rights of over 150 homeowners

This is a civil rights problem. When a mineral and surface landowner leases their minerals to the fracking industry their decision may place the surrounding public at great danger from a myriad of health and safety risks created by the fracking industry's operations. 

One landowner's decision can place hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people at risk from the dangers of the fracking industry's toxic air, groundwater contamination, fugitive emissions, failed equipment, human error, and even a blowout which is the most dangerous to communities that are close by.  

A blowout is an accumulation of extreme gaseous and liquid pressure down in the ground that exceeds the prevention capacity at the top of the well-bore. Meaning: a pressurized explosion that can potentially travel miles upwards and outwards spewing toxic fracking chemicals and hydrocarbon based fluids for across the tops of homes and public areas.  If the blowout fluids ignite, that's a different story where mass devastation may occur. Remember Deep Water Horizon? You get the picture now.

So how does one man's decision to lease his minerals to the fracking industry legally violate homeowner's and public safety? 

Simple. The federal exemptions the fracking industry lavish in, and statewide preemptions, (which are mostly arbitrary and capricious) allow the frackers carte blanche to develop and operate heavy industry operations that release harmful byproducts a mere 350' (sometimes closer) from homes in Colorado while not obligated to abide by key federal mandates that every other business must adhere to, or face getting fined.   

It's a rogue industry that can legally poison people for profit.

The fracking industry had to find as many legal ways of getting rid of their harmful operational byproducts to increase their profitability and in doing so, they stripped the American public of their civil rights to safety.

 The fracking industry kills dead, billions of gallons of potable water annually with their 'proprietary' fracking chemicals. When the industry is done fracking they must dispose of their millions of gallons of toxic, carcinogenic, endocrine disruption chemical waste. Evaporation pits ring a bell? 

Fracking Industry Evaporation Pit - Near Rifle Colorado 2017

How easy is it for the industry to create a massive pond 1,000' long and three feet deep full of chemical laced fracking industry liquid waste to evaporate from their backyard air into your backyard airspace? Simple. It's the least expensive method to get rid of their nasty chemicals, and it's legal. The sun does all of the work for them.

Dilution is the solution to pollution. And it keeps their financial bottom line looking great. Your lungs become the filter for their poisons. And don't even think about proving it - you can't. It's all by design.

In 2011 after sifting through a few hundred thousand oil and gas documents, I realized that the fracking industry had known for at least a decade that it was going to return to the oilfields they had worked in the 1980's and 90's. 

I also realized that the industry had so many exemptions and state waivers that placed citizens in a very dangerous position. They could no longer protect their health, safety and welfare. It hit me - This is no longer an anti-fracking movement, it's a civil rights movement. The oil and gas industry had effectively stripped our rights to safety.



This time they were drilling deeper and telling people they will be using a new technology 'fracking' that will allow them to retrieve natural gas from the shale. The fracking industry even created false marketing by telling the American public that using and supporting this 'new fracking technology' we would ensure National Security and  that we'd have natural gas for one hundred years. What a load of shit that was. But people bought into it.

The industry knew they had numerous harmful byproduct chemicals from the drilling, fracking and extraction processes and had to find all the ways to get rid of them without having to pay a fee to do so.  It's all about making money. Who cares about human and environmental safety.

The late Dr. Colborn from The Endocrine Disruption Exchange www.TEDX.org discovered numerous harmful chemicals that are used in the drilling, fracking and re-completion stages of oil and gas extraction and studied them carefully to determine how they affected the human body, more specifically, the endocrine system. 

Illu endocrine system New.png 
Endocrine Systems - wikipedia

The vast majority of the chemicals are endocrine disrupting chemicals. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interfere with hormone signaling in a variety of ways depending on the chemical and the hormone system. 

According to TEDX: "The endocrine system is involved in every stage of life, including conception, development in the womb and from birth throughout early life, puberty, adulthood and senescence. It does this through control of the other vital systems that orchestrate metabolism, immune function, reproduction, intelligence and behavior, etc."  

How to humans ingest EDCs?  We can inhale these chemicals from a source nearby that release EDCs.  Possibly like a fracking well-pad.These types of chemicals are bio-accumulative and can build up in the body even at minute amounts over time and eventually mutate human DNA.

Are the fracking industry's exemption from the Clean Air Act which states a monster fracking pad, (like the one shown below) is exempt from being legally considered a 'major point source of pollution' and  therefore it is exempt from EPA rules and regulations?  Other oil and gas industry operational exemptions include: Resource Conservation Recovery Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, National Environmental Policy Act. 

Is toxic air trespass for the oil and gas industry to vent, flare, or release harmful chemicals near communities and our airspace legal? Yes, in most cases especially due to federal exemptions and state waivers which allow the industry to basically operate without interference. The federal and state exemptions are assuredly a civil rights violation on a epic scale that has been legalized and nobody is talking about it. You can no longer protect your health, safety and welfare.

The fracking industry's operational exemption violate our civil rights to safety. We can no longer protect ourselves from the fracking empire. They can legally poison communities and there is nothing we can do under the law.

The act of one landowner to agree to lease mineral and surface rights also indemnifies the oil and gas operator.

It is this sole decision of greed to lease private  mineral rights to the oil and gas industry that place hundreds if not thousands of people in direct harm from the fracking industry's operations, toxic byproduct exemptions, and the industry's operations errors.  Lest we forget, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's Director, Matt Lepore authorized your civil right violations as well. Doc Link

If you are a land/mineral owner, please do not subject the community to a rogue industry that can poison you for profit. It is unjust and uncivil.

We are smarter than a fossil fuel. We must ban toxic energy like fracking and create healthy energy that does not violate our civil rights to safety. Fracking is anti-progress towards healthy energy and democracy. 

Frederick/Firestone Colorado
Extraction Oil & Gas, LLC (Extraction) designed the Johnson Trust 13-I Production Facility to be a safe distance from neighboring houses and buildings, clear of the 100 year flood plain and located efficiently for regular maintenance and access. Extraction agreed upon an oil and gas operations area per the landowner/ operator Surface Use Agreement pertaining to these horizontal wells. 

Where possible, consolidation of existing facilities has been attempted to keep the disturbed area to a minimum. Extraction has reviewed the surrounding areas to identify any technical and economical options outside of buffer zones. 

As a result of Operator's review of potential locations outside Buffer Zone, the operator has determined that this is the best possible location for the facilities given the surface owner's preference, property boundaries, utility easements and current COGCC setbacks

 http://cogcc.state.co.us/weblink/DownloadDocument1.aspx?DocumentId=3704541

Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) footage of chemicals being released from well-pad equipment. FLIR makes the invisible, visible and can detect hydrocarbon gases where you can't normally see them with the naked eye.  If you can smell it, it must exist right? Link --Doc# 443649
Illustrates the close proximity of occupied housing to the fracking well-pad and operations.  Conducting noise level - decibel testing due to numerous public complaints.



Glare on houses to the North at nighttime from operation lights. Doc# 674103885  Remember, it is supposed to be night time.

Jonson Trust 13-I Pad Site Plan



--//--

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Dr. Theo Colborn's Letter to President Obama and the First Lady



Dear friends and colleagues,
I recently gave a presentation at a TEDxMidAtlantic event in Washington DC in which I read a letter I sent to the President and First Lady of the United States. In this letter I remind them of the current epidemics of endocrine-related disorders and describe how the laws that were supposed to protect us have let us down. I close with two practical suggestions for the President to take action.

Please take a minute (actually 16 minutes) to view this, and if you agree, share it with everyone you knowhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r2Rx8VRq48&list=SPsRNoUx8w3rN4l7h9HzGwXlDuUKWqb-eS&index=10.

You can also copy the link and paste it in a message directly to the President here:
Best wishes for a safe and healthy holiday season,
Theo Colborn 

More information on endocrine disrupting chemicals can be found at www.endocrinedisruption.org


Saturday, November 24, 2012

WAKE THE #FRACK UP BOULDER COLORADO! YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE FRACKED BY ENCANA!


Wake up Boulder!  There are no local force fields or bubbles that can protect you any longer from the oil and gas industry. You must wake the #frack up, get informed, and take action to protect Boulder Colorado from the  unregulated toxic oil and gas industry. 

My great grandparents, who homesteaded in Boulder, would crawl out of the local Boulder Cemetery and kick your ass for not protecting Boulder's natural environment and culture. 

The city council and county commissioners were elected to protect you and the environment from adverse impacts. They are not! They are waning on the side of Governor Hickenlooper's threat of a lawsuit and his #fracking agenda. If the elected officials of Boulder County cannot protect you, you must take action into your own hands and force them to use 'your' tax dollars to protect your ways of life to include; clean air, clean water and land.  

Take Boulder back from corrupt politicians. Dismantle corrupt systems, and bring back the rights of communities and that of the natural world. It's up to YOU!  RESIST - DO NOT COMPLY!

Below are current statistics to inform you on oil and gas activities in Boulder County.
...............................................................................


784 WELLS OF ALL STATUSES (11/24/2012)


169 – (AL) ABANDONED OIL AND GAS LOCATIONS  (WELLS ARE STILL THERE BTW AWAITING RE-ENTRY AND RE- DRILLING)

108 – (DA) DEAD AND ABANDONED OIL AND GAS WELLS (POSE SIGNIFICANT THREAT FROM SEEPING AND WELL-BORE FAILURE RATES)

14 – (DG) CURRENTLY BEING DRILLED 

141 – (PA) PLUGGED AND ABANDONED OIL AND GAS WELLS (POSE SIGNIFICANT THREAT FROM SEEPING AND WELL-BORE FAILURE RATES) MANY ARE IN RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES AND HOMES MAY HAVE BEEN BUILT ON TOP OF THE OIL AND GAS WELL. SOME HOMES HAVE EXPLODED AND PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HARMED

306 – (PR) PRODUCING/ACTIVE OIL AND GAS WELLS (EACH CONDENSATE TANK RELEASES 2 TONS OF TOXIC HYDROCARBON VAPORS PER YEAR)

2 - (SI) SHUT IN – LIKE A ‘PAUSE BUTTON’ ON PRODUCTION -NORMALLY WAITING FOR PRICES TO INCREASE BEFORE TURNING THE SWITCH BACK ON

1 - (TA) TEMPORARILY ABANDONED

4 – (UN) UNKNOWN STATUS – I’M ALWAYS AMUSED THAT THE STATE DOES NOT KNOW THE STATUS OF A WELL

38 –(XX) WELL LOCATION 

99 - HISTORIC TOXIC WASTE EVAPORATION PITS (ALL ABANDONED AT THIS TIME. SOME NEAR OR UNDER RESIDENTIAL HOMES)
..........................................


WHAT'S TO COME?

**56 NEW APPROVED PERMITS ALL FROM ENCANA! ** 2 ARE HORIZONTAL

24 NEWLY APPROVED LOCATION PERMITS - 5 ARE NEW DRILLING LOCATIONS BUT 19 ARE RE-ENTRIES/RE-DRILLING OF HISTORIC WELLS. 

Remember I listed Boulder County has 109 historic wells? All 109 historic wells have the potential of being re-entered and re-drilled with new toxic technologies. Old well-bores pose a significantly high risk of failure. 

Aggregation of well bores create enormous fugitive emission venting that is currently allowed under the Clean Air Act. Toxic chemicals will be released surrounding Boulder County in a brown cloud as seen daily in Weld County. Weld County is home to 19,000 active oil and gas wells and carries a failed history to prevent adverse impacts.

Weld County currently has:


- 646 public complaints on file at COGCC


- 3,974 Alleged oil and gas operator violations

- 1,772 toxic fluid spills/releases 43% have contaminated groundwater with chemicals such  as benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene and many more hazardous chemicals.

- Up to 824,600 gallons of oil (carcinogenic hydrocarbons)  have been spilled and “unrecovered” in Weld County.

- Up to 383,600 gallons of produced water (toxic industrial waste)  has been spilled and “unrecovered” in Weld County.

- Up to 547,400 gallons of “Other” fluid has been spilled and “unrecovered in Weld County.  (“Other” may include toxic fracking fluids.)

To quote the Mayor of Loveland during a 'tour de frac' in Weld County: "We don't have to allow that to happen," he said. "We will not allow that to happen."

Please review Dr. Colborn's groundbreaking AIR MANUSCRIPT where she captured the toxic chemicals that are released from the oil and gas industry. Shocking! Alarming! INHUMANE! are a few words that come to mind.



WAKE THE #FRACK UP BOULDER COLORADO!

You are not impervious, you are not immune, you are about to be a victim of a 'System of Oppression', the Corporate State of Colorado, all happily approved by your local elected officials unless YOU do something.

What can you do? Stay informed as to what the local Boulder fractivist groups are doing. Join the local groups. Attend all city council and county commissioner meetings and speak out against fracking in Boulder. Attend a rally. Get a twitter account and know real-time what is happening. Whatever your capacity and talents are, they are very much needed.

Contact me: @fractivist (on twitter) or fractivist@gmail.com or @COFrackAttack to get involved immediately and to stay up to date on local events.

The first image below is a historic 'toxic produced water pit' in Boulder County. It appears to be under a residential home - link to official COGCC docx

click images to enlarge
































P.S. ENCANA IS COMING -  HERE ARE THEIR CO STATS VIA THE COGCC DATABASE
ENCANA  * 46 reported Spills
44.0% GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION
4.0% SURFACE WATER CONTAMINATION
61.0% BERMS
FAILED







ALL DATA SOURCED BY THE COGCC

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

GROUNDBREAKING - Air Pollution and Natural Gas Operations Air Study Report



An Exploratory Study of Air Quality near Natural Gas Operations

This paper was peer-reviewed and accepted for publication byHuman and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal (November 9, 2012).


Download the article (PDF)
Findings and Implications (PDF)
Health Effects References (PDF)


Abstract 

 This exploratory study was designed to assess air quality in a rural western Colorado area where residences and gas wells co-exist. Sampling was conducted before, during, and after drilling and hydraulic fracturing of a new natural gas well pad. Weekly air sampling for 1 year revealed that the number of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and their concentrations were highest during the initial drilling phase and did not increase during hydraulic fracturing in this closed-loop system. Methylene chloride, a toxic solvent not reported in products used in drilling or hydraulic fracturing, was detected 73% of the time; several times in high concentrations. A literature search of the health effects of the NMHCs revealed that many had multiple health effects, including 30 that affect the endocrine system, which is susceptible to chemical impacts at very low concentrations, far less than government safety standards. Selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were at concentrations greater than those at which prenatally exposed children in urban studies had lower developmental and IQ scores. The human and environmental health impacts of the NMHCs, which are ozone precursors, should be examined further given that the natural gas industry is now operating in close proximity to human residences and public lands.


Citation
Colborn T, Schultz K, Herrick L, and Kwiatkowski C. 2012 (in press). An exploratory study of air quality near natural gas operations. Hum Ecol Risk Assess.

Natural Gas: The Rest of the Story
In March, 2012, Theo Colborn spoke to an audience in western Colorado on the hazards posed to human and environmental health by air pollution from natural gas operations.
Click here to view this 24 minute video

Please Donate Today!