Hydraulic fracturing letter by Robert Griebel, Alberta MD: Reckless pollution of our environment

Reckless pollution of our environment by Robert Griebel, Mountain View Gazette, December 31, 2013
Barry Brace’s letter of Dec. 17 “No explosions in fracturing process” would have us believe that fracturing our underground geology with chemical laced solutions is a perfectly benign and harmless procedure.

I would refer him therefore, to an article recently published in the medical journal Endocrinology, the prestigious journal of the American Endocrine Society.

This study reports that a group of American scientists analyzed surface and groundwater samples from Garfield County, Colo.–a hotbed of fracking activity–and compared these to samples drawn from a region with little such activity.

Water samples near the fracking sites contained ‘moderate to high’ levels of 12 different chemicals used in fracking that have known endocrine disrupting activity and have been shown to play a role in causing infertility, cancer, birth defects and other diseases.

Children are particularly sensitive to the effects of these chemicals. Samples taken from the Colorado River, which collects drainage from fracking sites also had moderate levels of these same chemicals. By comparison little activity was found in sites remote from drilling.

More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and the health dangers of many of these are well established. I believe it is naïve and irresponsible to think that tons of these chemicals can be pumped into our environment and that there will not be eventual contamination of our underground and surface water reservoirs.

The fact that apparently so little contamination has been found in Alberta may well indicate a lack of sufficiently broad and rigorous monitoring.

My concern is that our children and grandchildren will pay the price for this reckless pollution of our environment. [Emphasis added]

Robert Griebel, MD
Bergen