Petition: Require Disclosure of the Chemicals Used During Hydraulic Fracking

Require Disclosure of the Chemicals used During Hydraulic Fracking

ENVIRONMENT, PETITIONS — BY JOSH SAGER ON MAY 2, 2012 4:29 PM 

Sign the Petition: http://forcechange.com/19822/require-disclosure-of-the-chemicals-used-during-hydraulic-fracking/

Target: EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson

Goal: To push the EPA to demand full disclosure from all hydraulic fracturing operations as to the exact chemical makeup of their “fracking fluid”, as well as all internal safety studies.

Every year, hundreds of millions of gallons of “fracking” fluid are pumped into American soil by extraction companies during the process of hydraulic fracturing. While natural gas companies claim that this fluid is safe, they often refuse to disclose the exact chemical formulas of their fracking fluid to state and federal regulators.

While we don’t know the exact composition of fracking fluid, due to them being considered “proprietary information”, we do know that it contains over 700 chemicals, many of which are caustic, toxic, or highly flammable. Studies by regulators and academic institutions have shown a sharp increase in serious health problems (Ex. Cancer and respiratory problems) in the populations who live near fracking operations.

Unless a full chemical breakdown, as well as the corresponding internal safety tests by the extraction companies (if they exist), are given to regulators, there is no way to ensure that fracking fluid is actually safe. Oil companies have a monetary incentive to lie about the safety of their product, and should not have their words taken without evidence when they claim that fracking fluid is safe.

This situation boils down to a simple question: Do we, as a society, want to know what chemicals are being pumped into our environment, as well as whether they are dangerous to us and our children?

PETITION LETTER

Dear EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson,

Hydraulic fracturing is a massive, and growing, industry in the USA. Fracking requires that millions of gallons of chemicals be pumped into the earth per well, and the extraction industries expect the American people to take it on faith that these chemicals are not dangerous. Despite these companies’ assertions, evidence has shown concrete and statistically significant health consequences to the populations in proximity to fracking wells.

Regulatory agencies have a compelling and vital interest in ensuring that chemicals pumped into the environment comply with all regulations and safety standards; this interest far overshadows the interests of extraction companies in keeping their fracking recipes secret.

As a scientist, you know that incomplete data cannot be used to decide upon a scientific consensus as to whether or not fracking is safe. If regulators, such as those in your agency, don’t even have access to the composition of what they are regulating, there is no way that they can accurately assess the consequences of what they are supposed to regulate.

I ask you to support a push towards full disclosure by all extraction companies operating on US soil as to the exact chemical composition of the fracking fluid which they are using. Companies should be compelled to hand over full chemical lists, as well as all internal studies surrounding the creation and use of fracking fluids to the EPA. This data will allow your agency to more accurately determine the effects of fracking, and will allow science to dictate the regulations surrounding fracking rather than political lobbying.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]