Originally published May 24 2011
Your help needed to pass FRAC Act and hold drilling companies accountable for water pollution
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) In response to massive public outcry, the US Senate has finally reintroduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, or S. 587, which will once again hold natural gas drilling companies responsible for the environmental pollution they cause when fracturing and drilling for fuel.
For years, the natural gas industry has gotten away with polluting rivers, streams, lakes, groundwater supplies, and farm land with "fracking" chemicals -- and all without consequence -- which is why it is crucial that you contact your Congressmen and urge support for S. 587 (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S...).
The passage of the US Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974 established strict guidelines for ensuring that US drinking water supplies remained free of pollution, chemicals, and other harmful substances. But in 2005, Congress passed an energy bill that quietly exempted natural gas drilling operations from having to comply with SDWA, even though the extraction techniques used by the industry routinely contaminate ground and surface water supplies with sometimes hundreds of tons of toxic chemicals.
Numerous reports have identified the frightening consequences of unregulated natural gas drilling, including flammable drinking water coming right from the tap (http://www.naturalnews.com/031071_drinking_w...), radioactive waste water (http://blog.syracuse.com/green/2009/11/frack...), and millions of barrels of toxic fracking waste being dumped into the environment (http://www.naturalnews.com/030941_natural_ga...). Current policy, in other words, allows the natural gas industry to freely pollute the world without consequence.
Back in April, for example, a massive fracking accident in Pennsylvania sent tens of thousands of gallons of fracking fluid into farmland and streams, and contaminated water supplies, according to reports. Area residents both in this case and in many others must now contend with indefinitely-tainted water and a significant reduction in their property values, all while the natural gas industry is let off the hook (http://www.wnep.com/wnep-brad-leroy-gas-dril...).
But thanks to the reintroduction of S. 587, there is hope that the hydraulic fracking exemption may soon be repealed, and the environmental destruction caused by the industry lessened, or perhaps even stopped. You can contact your representatives to urge support for the bill through this convenient Action Alert created by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH):
https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=800
Sources for this story include:
http://www.anh-usa.org/you-asked-congress-fo...
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