Frac Sand Mine Proposed Near School Sparks Battle In Small Wisconsin Town

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air pollution, cancer, Crystalline Silica, dirty politics, environment, Frac Sand, Frac Sand Mining, fracking, Glenwood City, greed, Health, health hazards, Health Problems, Jim Tittle, lobbyists, Mining, money, opposition, politicians, residents, Sand Fracking, Sand mining, Silica or Sand Fracking, silica sand, Silicosis, tourism, U.S, United States, Vista Sand, water pollution, Wisconsin

More than 100 frac sand mines and processing facilities, like this one outside of Bloomer, Wis., have cropped up across the state over the last few years. (photo – Jim Tittle)

After winning just one game the previous year, the Glenwood City Hilltoppers football team reveled in taking home the Wisconsin Division 7 state championship last season.

And in typical small-town fashion, the whole community rallied behind them, recalled Chris Schone, whose son quarterbacked the junior varsity squad.

But now, Schone said, something is “tearing the community apart.” A nearly 400-acre open-pit frac sand mine has been proposed for a site less than half a mile from the school, and now those residents who welcome the mine’s promises of wealth and prosperity have squared off against those who fear its consequences to their health, way of life and property values.

“Our home is also about a half-mile from the mine,” added Schone, who grew up in Glenwood City and owns a nearby gas station and restaurant. “Our four children would be exposed 24 hours a day.”

Read more important information on this here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/01/frac-sand-mining-wisconsin-glenwood-city_n_3364963.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Greed is the motivating factor for residents and farmers who are willing to sell or lease their land to Sand Fracking companies, and the consequences are deadly Silicosis and cancer caused by Frac Sand Mining!  That and the destruction of a beautiful and unique environment here in Wisconsin in towns that count on tourism for their livelihoods! – John Loeffler, Fountain City, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

 

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Guess What’s Polluting 27 Billion Gallons of Water Each Year?

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Alaska, Army Corps of Engineers, Donlin Creek gold mine, Drinking Water, earth, EPA, freshwater, hard rock mining, Mining, mining companies, mining industry, Minnesota, Montana, Northmet copper and nickel, Pebble Mine, pollution, Rock Creek mine, Underground mining (hard rock), water, water pollution, water supply

A new study illustrates the disturbing truth about what mining is doing to our water supply. (Photo: Steve Baxter/Getty Images)

A new and sobering report from Earthworks details just how hard mining is on the environment, especially on our dwindling supply of fresh water.How bad are gold, copper and uranium—the so-called “hard rock”—mines? Try the despoiling of 17 to 27 billion gallons of fresh water per year in the U.S. alone.

The annual cost of water treatment by the hard-rock mining industry is a mind-numbing $57 to $67 billion per year. Just 40 mines, most in the American West, cause most of that damage and expense.

How? Virtually all mining operations involve exposing sulfide-bearing ore, which generates sulfuric acid, which then washes into the water supplies.

In Polluting the Future: How Mining Companies are Polluting Our Nation’s Water in Perpetuity, environmental researcher Lisa Sumi and scientist Bonnie Gestring detail the specifics of where and how bad the problem is.

In the simplest terms, the authors suggest if the water polluted by mines were bottled, it would fill two trillion water bottles and stretch back and forth to the moon 54 times.

The report also suggests that four new proposed mines could pollute an additional 16 billion gallons a year.

Talking about water supplies can be a slippery subject. There are something like 326 million trillion gallons of water on the planet, which are constantly being cycled and recycled: Water evaporates from the ocean, travels through the air, rains down on the land and eventually makes its way back to the ocean.

Since roughly 72 percent of planet Earth is covered by ocean, that means 98 percent of those 326 million trillion gallons are saltwater, thus undrinkable.

That leaves just two percent of the planet’s water as fresh—and 80 percent of that is locked up in the polar ice caps and glaciers. Which means in relative terms, there is very little clean, fresh water on the planet, and when you muck it up, as the mining industry is doing to aquifers, rivers and fisheries, it’s ruined forever. Dirty water is never again truly pure, no matter the filtration systems.

The authors of the report make specific suggestions on how the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers could close legal loopholes that would force mines to pollute less.

Since the EPA has already identified 156 hard-rock mining sites across the country that have the potential to cost between $7 billion to $24 billion to clean up, a key solution would seem to be to prohibit new mines coming online to add to the problem.

Article Source:  http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/03/americas-fresh-water-being-forever-polluted-mining?cmpid=action-eml-2013-5-23-LastCall

If any of these four proposed mines are in your backyard, you should speak up now, and let them know that if they’re going to spoil more fresh water, we don’t need them:

1. Donlin Creek gold mine in southwest Alaska. Estimated annual volume of polluted water: 1.7 billion gallons.
2. Pebble Mine, Bristol, Alaska. Estimated annual volume of polluted water: 13.8 billion gallons.
3. Northmet copper and nickel, Minnesota’s Iron Range. Estimated annual volume of polluted water: 93 to 256 million gallons.
4. Rock Creek mine, near Noxon, Montana. Estimated annual volume of polluted water: 1.2 billion gallons

How Mining Companies Are Perpetually Polluting Our Nation’s Waters

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acid mine drainage, aquifer, Colorado, Colorado River, corruption, demand, Denver, Drinking Water, environment, freshwater, greed, Groundwater Contamination, hard rock open pit mines, health hazards, Mining, mining companies, Missouri River, Nevada, Open-pit mining, Perpetuity, scarce, supply, U.S, United States, water pollution, water shortages, water supply

Water is a scarce and precious asset, particularly in the western United States where the demand for freshwater is far out-pacing the supply. In order to access clean water, western states are proposing extraordinary investments, ranging from plans to spend $15 billion to transport water across the state of Nevada, to ideas for a pipeline from the Missouri River to Denver to offset the loss of water from the Colorado River, which in turn is struggling to provide water to seven states.

In the midst of declining fresh water supplies, an increasing number of hard rock mining companies are generating water pollution that will last for hundreds or thousands of years and new projects are on the horizon. Perpetual management of mines is a rapidly escalating national dilemma.

Our research shows, for the first time, the staggering amount of our nation’s water supplies that are perpetually polluted by mining.

A lengthy review of government documents reveals that an estimated 17 to 27 billion gallons of polluted water will be generated by forty mines each year, every year, in perpetuity. This is equivalent to the amount of water in 2 trillion water bottles – enough to stretch from the earth to the moon and back 54 times.

Perpetual pollution from metal mines has contaminated drinking water aquifers, created long-standing public health risks, and destroyed fish and wildlife and their habitat. The primary cause of this lasting pollution – acid mine drainage – is well understood. Yet, no hard rock open pit mines exist today that can demonstrate that acid mine drainage can be stopped once it occurs on a large scale.

Source:  http://www.earthworksaction.org/library/detail/polluting_the_future#.UY0lJaKG18E

PDF full-length article:

HOW MINING COMPANIES ARE
CONTAMINATING OUR NATION’S
WATERS IN PERPETUITY.  May 2013

http://www.earthworksaction.org/files/publications/PollutingTheFuture-FINAL.pdf

 

Nearly Half Of Fracking Happens In Drought-Stricken Areas!

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aquifer, Cancerous, Carcinogenic, Deadly, Drinking Water, drought, Energy, fracking, Fresh water, Groundwater Contamination, Horizontal Fracking, Hydraulic Fracking, hydraulic fracturing, Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking, natural gas, oil, shale gas formations, Toxic Chemicals, U.S, United States, water pollution, water supply, Water Well Contamination, Well Water Contamination

Fracking for oil and gas is a thirsty business.

Hydraulic fracturing uses large amounts of pressurized water — mixed with sand and chemicals — to crack subterranean rocks and release oil or natural gas. Up to 10 million gallons of water can go into a single well.

And according to a new study, it’s happening in many places where water supplies are already stretched perilously thin.

The study, released today by the nonprofit group Ceres, examined 25,450 fracked wells across the United States and found that 47 percent lie in areas that face high or extremely high “water stress.” In those areas, at least 80 percent of the available fresh water is already being used in homes, farms or businesses.

The numbers have big implications.

Read more here:  http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2013/05/02/nearly-half-of-fracking-happens-in-places-short-on-water/?goback=%2Egde_1846553_member_237628228

Tepco finds second pit leaking in Fukushima

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clay, contamination, corruption, cover-ups, deception, defective, Faulty, Friday, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Fukushima Disaster, Fukushima Prefecture, global nuclear meltdowns, land, Leak, Leaks, lies, liners, Nuclear power, nuclear power plants, nuclear reactors, plastic, Political corruption, Power station, radiation, Radiation Poisoning, Radioactive, Radioactive decay, Spent fuel pool, storage facility, storage pools, Sunday, Tepco, Tokyo, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Tokyo Electric Power Company, water, water pollution

A second underground storage pool is leaking radioactive water at the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 power plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday.

The first pool, No. 2, was found to have leaked 120 tons of highly radioactive water on Friday. The size of the leak at the second pool, No. 3, was confirmed at 3 liters late Sunday. The leaks are likely to force Tepco to review its storage strategy for the toxic water, which has become its biggest enemy.

Since the leak is small, there are no plans to drain pool No. 3 into another storage area as is being done with pool No. 2, Tepco said.

The pools are part of a group of seven vast clay-lined storage pits at the plant measuring 60 meters long, 53 meters wide and 6 meters deep. Since each is covered in three layers of protective waterproof lining, how the water escaped will remain a mystery until the faulty pits are drained and examined.

Read more here:  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/08/national/tepco-finds-second-pit-leaking-in-fukushima/#.UWQlf6KG18E

 

The Keystone XL Coverup: The State Department’s Attempt to Hide Oil Industry Connections

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aquifer, Athabasca oil sands, Authors, Barack Obama, Big Oil, Canada, Canadian, China, Conflict, consequences, construction, corporations, cover-up, coverup, crude oil, Dirty Fossil Fuels, environment, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, fossil fuels, greed, Gulf of Mexico, hidden, Interest, Keystone Pipeline, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Leaks, mega-corporation, Mining, money, Mother Jones Magazine, oil industry, pollution, power, power-hungry, President, Public, Public Awareness, public health hazards, review, Shell Oil, shipping, special interests, State Department, Tar Sands, Tar Sands Pipelines, Texas, Toxic, TransCanada, TransCanada Corporation, truth, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, U.S. State Department, United States Department of State, water pollution

Mother Jones Magazine has uncovered a new twist in the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline. As it turns out the authors who drafted the environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline worked for TransCanada, Koch Industries, Shell Oil, and other oil corporations that stand to benefit from building the Keystone XL. Not only did the State Department know about these conflicts of interest, they redacted this information from public filings in (a) attempt to conceal the truth.

For background, the Keystone XL is a proposed oil pipeline that would ship sour crude oil from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf coast of Texas. The oil would then be refined and shipped abroad.

In order to build the pipeline, Transcanada, the company who proposed Keystone XL, must get the OK from the State Department. The State Department bases its decision on whether or not to approve the pipeline on an environmental review, conducted by a third party group overseen by the State Department and paid for by Transcanada.

*Please click the following link for more important information on this:

http://polluterwatch.com/blog/keystone-xl-coverup-state-departments-attempt-hide-oil-industry-connections

John Loeffler – Fountain City, Wisconsin

100 Million+ Americans Exposed to Toxic Drinking Water!

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2010, 2011, 2011 Study, agencies, America, Americans, best, buffer zones, California, cancer, cancer-causing, carcinogen, Carcinogenic, chemicals, children, chloroform, choramine, Clean Water Act, Conservation, consumers, contamination, Drinking Water, earth, Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Working Group, EPA, EWG, failure, Failures, families, farmers, Federal Government, Federal Officials, fertilizer, filters, global, grandchildren, grandkids, guide, guides, Health Officials, Human, human carcinogens, Humans, incentives, kids, Lisa Jackson, manure, Municipal Water, nitrosamine, parents, pesticides, planet, pollution, protection, reform, reforms, soil, tap water, Toxic, Trihalomethane, U.S., U.S. citizens, U.S.A., United States, United States of America, unregulated, victims, Wastewater, Wastewater Treatment, water, water filtration, water filtration systems, water pollution, Water Treatment, Water Treatment Facilities, Well Water, wetland, world, Worthless

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

A new Environmental Working Group analysis of 2011 water quality tests by 201 large U.S. municipal water systems that serve more than 100 million people in 43 states has determined that all are polluted with unwanted toxic chemicals called trihalomethanes. These chemicals, an unintended side effect of chlorination, elevate the risks of bladder cancer, miscarriages and other serious ills.

“Many people are likely exposed to far higher concentrations of trihalomethanes than anyone really knows,” said Renee Sharp, a senior scientist at EWG and co-author of the analysis. “For most water systems, trihalomethane contamination fluctuates from month to month, sometimes rising well beyond the legal limit set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.”

Trihalomethanes are formed when chlorine, added to treated water as a disinfectant, reacts with rotting organic matter such as farm runoff, sewage or dead animals and vegetation. Their concentrations tend to rise when storms increase organic pollution in waters that serve as sources for tap water.

Scientists suspect that trihalomethanes in drinking water may cause thousands of cases of bladder cancer every year. These chemicals also have been linked to colon and rectal cancer, miscarriages, birth defects and low birth weight.

Only one of the systems studied by EWG—Davenport, Iowa—xceeded the EPA’s upper legal limit of 80 parts per billion of trihalomethanes in drinking water. Since that regulation was issued in 1998, a significant body of scientific research has developed evidence that these chemicals cause serious disorders at much lower concentrations. Among the research are two Taiwanese studies conducted in 2007 and 2012 that associated increased risks of bladder cancer and stillbirth to long-term consumption of tap water with trihalomethane contamination greater than 21 parts per billion. Some 168 of systems, or 84 percent of the 201 large systems studied, reported average annual concentrations greater than that level.

California public health officials reviewed the research around trihalomethane contamination in 2010 and determined that to reduce the risk of bladder cancer to no more than one in a million, the drinking water standard would need to be set at 0.8 parts per billion, which is 100 times lower than the current legal limit set by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“New science makes a compelling case for stronger regulations and a stricter legal limit,” Sharp said.

The EPA regulates four members of the trihalomethane family, the best known of which is chloroform, once used as an anesthetic and, in pulp detective stories, to knock out victims. Today, the U.S. government classifies chloroform as a “probable” human carcinogen. California health officials consider it a “known” carcinogen. The EPA does not regulate hundreds of other types of toxic contaminants formed by water treatment chemicals. Among these unregulated but dangerous chemicals are nitrosamines, which are formed when a chloramine, a chlorine compound used for water treatment, reacts with organic matter. In 2010, then-EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson launched a drinking water initiative that committed the agency to investigate nitrosamine contamination. The U.S. government considers some chemicals in the nitrosamine family to be “reasonably anticipated” to be human carcinogens.

Clean source water is critical to breaking this cycle. The EPA has found that every dollar spent to protect source water reduced water treatment costs by an average of $27 dollars.

“We must do a better job of keeping farm runoff, sewage and other pollutants from getting into our drinking water in the first place,” said Sharp. “By failing to do so, Congress, the EPA and polluters leave no choice for water utilities but to treat dirty water with chemical disinfectants. Americans are left to drink dangerous residual chemicals generated by the treatment process.”

Environmental Working Group (EWG) is calling on federal officials to:

• Reform farm policies to provide more funds to programs designed to keep agriculture pollutants, such as manure, fertilizer, pesticides and soil out of tap water.
• Renew the conservation compliance provision by tying wetland and soil protection requirements to crop insurance programs and requiring farm businesses who receive subsidies to update their conservation plans.
• Strengthen and adequately fund conservation programs that reward farmers who take steps to protect sources of drinking water.
• Fund more research on the identity of and toxicological profiles for hundreds of water treatment contaminants in drinking water.
• Reevaluate the measurement of water treatment contaminants so that consumers cannot be legally exposed to spikes of toxic chemicals.
• Expand source water protection programs to prevent and reduce pollution and to conserve land in buffer zones around public water supplies.

To reduce exposure to trihalomethane and many other pollutants in drinking water, EWG recommends consumers use a water filter system. EWG has released its online water filter guide, which helps consumers figure out which filter is best for themselves and their families.

Source:  http://ecowatch.org/2013/americans-exposed-toxic-water/

The Dangers of Fracking

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abandoned wells, atmospheric haze, ban, Cancerous, Carcinogenic, Department of Health and Human Services, Doctors, Drilling, environmental disaster, facts, fracking, gas industry, grave risks, ground contamination, health impact assessment, health professionals, Horizontal Fracking, Hydraulic Fracking, improper cleanup, industrial hazards, industrial waste, irresponsible, lacking, medical experts, natural gas, oversight, permanent, Pol, pollutants, public health hazards, reckless, Sand Fracking, scientific evidence, scientists, Shale, silica sand, Toxic, unplugged wells, water pollution

New Report Confirms Fracking is Reckless

Ecowatch.org

10-15-2012

Frack Action

A new report¹ on shale resources and hydraulic fracturing from the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress—concludes that fracking poses serious risks to health and the environment. The report, which reviewed studies from state agencies overseeing fracking as well as scientific reports, found that the extent of the risks has not yet been fully quantified and that there are many unanswered questions and a lack of scientific data.

Major reports and studies were also released in Europe the past two months, all of which came to the conclusion that fracking poses serious risks to water, public health, and the environment, and that additional scientific study is necessary. Meanwhile, in NY hundreds² of doctors, scientists, and medical organizations have renewed calls for an independent, comprehensive health impact assessment and additional scientific research.

“The big-money gas industry is at it again,” said John Armstrong of Frack Action on behalf of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a broad coalition of New Yorkers opposed to fracking. “Rather than allow a comprehensive independent health assessment that can study the dangers fracking poses to our water and health, they just want to frack as quickly as possible and take their profits back to Texas.”

Given the conclusions from the broad NY, U.S., and world-wide scientific and medical community that fracking poses serious public health and environmental risks and needs further scientific study, the gas industry and the Joint Landowners Coalition’s rush to frack is dangerously reckless and irresponsible.

The Government Accountability Office report, which includes review of the New York Department of Conservation’s study of fracking, finds that there is insufficient data and scientific study to determine the extent of risks fracking poses to groundwater and avenues for groundwater contamination, but it does note that such contamination can take place. For example, the report states that, “Underground migration can occur as a result of improper casing and cementing of the well bore as well as the intersection of induced fractures with natural fractures, faults, or improperly plugged dry or abandoned wells. Moreover, there are concerns that induced fractures can grow over time and intersect with drinking water aquifers” (page 46).

The GAO’s concerns about improperly plugged and abandoned wells strike an unnerving note in New York especially, given that the Associated Press recently found³ that Department of Environmental Conservation records, “reveal thousands of unplugged and abandoned wells and other industrial problems that could pose a threat to groundwater, wetlands, air quality and public safety.”

The GAO report also raises many other concerns long held by NY health professionals and scientists, such as the negative impacts that fracking will mean for air quality. The GAO report concludes that, “Construction of the well pad, access road, and other drilling facilities requires substantial truck traffic, which degrades air quality. Air quality may also be degraded as fleets of trucks travelingnewly graded or unpaved roads increase the amount of dust released into the air—which can contribute to the formation of regional haze” (page 33).

GAO goes on to raise concerns that silica sand—commonly used as a proppant in the hyrdaulic fracturing process—may pose a risk to human health. GAO notes that according to a federal researcher from the Department of Health and Human Services, particles from the sand “can lodge in the lungs and potentially cause silicosis” (page 33).

That the gas industry and the Joint Landowners Coalition would push to frack, rather than listen to the science and medical experts and wait for the necessary studies such as an independent, comprehensive health impact assessment⁴ to be undertaken, is indicative that they are comfortable putting profits before health and are unwilling to participate in a debate based on the science and facts.

On behalf of New Yorkers Against Fracking, Armstrong said, “Fracking proponents continue their reckless and irresponsible push to frack even in the face of an overwhelming body of science showing that fracking poses serious risks to health and the environment and consensus among experts and government agencies that we need more scientific study on fracking. Our water, air and health are priceless.”

The new reports from Europe include a comprehensive report⁵ from the European Commission’s Environment Directorate-General, a joint report⁶ from Germany’s Federal Environment Agency and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and a year-long German Hydrofracking Risk Assessment⁷ study from a panel of independent experts.

Among the conclusions⁸ from the European Commission’s Environment Directorate-General’s comprehensive report⁵ are that there is “a high risk of surface and groundwater contamination at various stages of the well-pad construction, hydraulic fracturing and gas production processes, and well abandonment, and cumulative developments could further increase this risk.” The report also points to air emissions impacts that pose “potentially significant effect on air quality including ozone levels.”

The conclusions⁸ from the joint report⁶ by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety include that fracking can lead to groundwater contamination,that experts advise against large-scale fracking and that there should be a ban in areas that provide drinking water, and that more scientific study is necessary to evaluate environmental risks.

Germany’s year-long Hydrofracking Risk Assessment⁷ by a panel of independent experts similarly found⁸ that fracking entails serious risks, that it can do substantial harm to water resources, and pointed to greater concerns about fracking in areas that supply drinking water.

Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.

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¹Government Accountability Office. September, 2012. “OIL AND GAS: Information on Shale Resources, Development, and Environmental and Public Health Risks”  <http://www.gao.gov/assets/650/647791.pdf>

²Physicians Scientists & Engineers for a Healthy Environment. October 5, 2011. “Physicians Sign-On Letter to Governor Cuomo” <http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/site/view/1024>

³Associated Press. September 26, 2012. “Marcellus Shale links: NY records show history of oil, gas well problems” <http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/marcellus_shale_links_ny_recor.html>

⁴Capitol Confidential. October 4, 2012. “Doctors, Nurses Press Cuomo on Hydrofracking Health Review” <http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/159030/doctors-nurses-press-cuomo-on-hydrofracking-health-review/>

⁵October 8, 2012. “Support to the identification of potential risks for the environment and human health arising from hydrocarbons operations involvinghydraulic fracturing in Europe” <http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/energy/pdf/fracking%20study.pdf>

⁶Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Environment Agency. September, 2012. “Tight restrictions on hydraulic fracturing required” <http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-presse-e/2012/pe12-028_tight_restrictions_on_hydraulic_fracturing_required.htm>

⁷Germany Hydrofracking Risk Assessment by a panel of independent experts. 2012. “Hydrofracking Risk Assessment” <http://dialog-erdgasundfrac.de/sites/dialog-erdgasundfrac.de/files/Ex_HydrofrackingRiskAssessment_120611.pdf>

⁸The Energy Collective. October 11, 2012. “The latest science from Europe on fracking” <http://theenergycollective.com/amymall/122906/latest-science-europe-fracking>