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WHEREAS, on February 26, 2011 the New York Times published an investigative article which highlights the significant risk that the process used to extract natural gas known as hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water and the deficiencies in monitoring radioactive materials in drinking water, especially in Pennsylvania; and,
WHEREAS, Ian Urbina's New York Times article, Regulation Lax as Gas Wells' Tainted Water Hits Rivers, sourced from thousands of internal documents obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency, showed that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood. Urbina reports that:
Ø “More than 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater was produced by Pennsylvania wells over the past three years, far more than has been previously disclosed, and that most of this water was sent to treatment plants not equipped to remove many of the toxic materials in drilling waste.”
Ø “Of more than 179 wells producing wastewater with high levels of radiation, at least 116 reported levels of radium or other radioactive materials 100 times as high as the levels set by federal drinking water standards. At least 15 wells produced wastewater carrying more than 1,000 times the amount of radioactive elements considered acceptable.”
Urbina also reports that no testing has occurred at more than 65 drinking water intake sites since 2008 and that most haven't been tested since 2005; and,
WHEREAS, the danger of radioactive wastewater is its potential to contaminate drinking water or enter the food chain through fish or farming. The article notes that once radium enters a person's body, by eating, drinking, or breathing, it can cause cancer and other health problems; and,
WHEREAS, Congressman Edward J. Markey from Massachusetts wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson asking for responses to various reports in the New York Times story regarding toxic wastewater from hydraulic frac...
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