North Carolina gets a Texas-sized warning on fracking
...Among the chemicals the study found at dangerously high levels were benzene, a known cancer-causing chemical that was detected in one sample at 55 times the Texas standard for long-term health effects. Naphthalene, a potential human carcinogen, was found at levels 3.6 times the standard. Detected levels of xylenes, potent neurotoxins, were double the long-term health standard.
Other chemicals found at levels exceeding TCEQ's health standards were dimethyl sulfide, methyl ethyl disulfide, ethyl-methyl-disulfide, trimethyl benzene, 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene, carbonyl sulfide, carbon disulfide, methyl pyridine and dimethyl pyridine.
In response, TCEQ conducted its own study, testing blood and urine samples from 28 people living in or near Dish. While it did find elevated levels of some toxic compounds in people's bodies, it attributed those to other exposures such as cigarette smoking and household cleaning products. However, TCEQ acknowledged that its study had limitations -- including the fact that it was based on a one-time sample even though the compounds of concern typically stay in the body for only a few hours.
TCEQ's findings did not assuage Tillman's worries. When his sons suffered three severe nosebleeds in the middle of the night during a single week in late May 2010, he decided to leave. In March 2011 the family moved to Aubrey, Texas -- 15 miles from the nearest gas well. Since then, he reports, his sons have not experienced a single middle-of-the-night nosebleed.
But it's not only the health impact of fracking that upset Tillman. As a conservative who was a registered Republican until he became disgusted over
former Vice President Dick Cheney's role in securing the "Halliburton loophole" exempting fracking fluid ingredients from disclosure under environmental laws, Tillman is offended by the impact the gas industry has on private property rights. He says that the bill North Carolina is considering is especially troubling on that front.
North Carolina gets a Texas-sized warning on fracking