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Health & Fitness

Occupy Well Street

An examination of Occupy Well Street, the segment of the OCCUPY Movement that aims to end fracking.

One of the biggest concerns of the OWS Movement is hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a method used for extracting oil and natural gas from the ground that involves pumping highly pressurized fluid into rock strata, and results in water pollution. Toxins migrate into the ground and drinking water, endangering the health of beings. Anti-fracking activists maintain that fracking provides a classic example of how greedy corporations place profits before the health and safety of communities.

ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsource, has identified more than 1,000 verifiable instances of water contamination near drilling sites. Injecting brine into deep rock formations can lubricate faults and catalyze earthquakes. In the last few months, seven earthquakes have been recorded in Youngstown, Ohio, where there is fracking. V & M Star, a company in Youngstown planning a $650 million expansion that will produce about 350 jobs, argues that providing work could only be a boon in a depressed area such as this, that has been so hard hit by unemployment. But in the process, the V & M Star mill will also create materials used in fracking and therefore endanger the community.

Fracking causes air pollution via methane and produces radioactive gas and hydrogen sulfide, all of which can kill you; it seriously endangers natural resources. Many wells can exist in a gas field and a well may be fracked up to 18 times. An average of 4.5 million gallons may be used to frack a well.

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The Delaware River Basin Commission has been attempting to approve regulations that would allow horizontal drilling, which is even more dangerous than vertical drilling as it involves injecting more water and poisons into shale. Marcellus Shale has already been fracked in Pennsylvania, but plans are to extend this into four states, including New Jersey. The Marcellus shale, sedimentary rock that is found deep underground, extends from upstate New York through Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Ohio. The drillers will inject cancer-producing substances, toxins and chemicals that mutate fetuses into the ground and near the aquifer; most of that material will stay underground. All beings – humans, wildlife, and pets – will be exposed to radioactive, brain-damaging poisons. Currently, there are 10,000 permit applications ready to proceed with drilling sites starting this spring.

What will happen as a result of drilling is that individuals will drink contaminated water, a fact even gas company executives do not dispute. But there will be other negative consequences. Unless water changes color or smell, there will be no way for humans to know they are drinking contaminated water. Additionally, individual properties will be usurped by drilling companies via eminent domain; state parks and state gas lands will turn into industrial sites; public roads will be decimated and repairs  charged to taxpayers; people in fracking communities will have to buy their water, while those in cities will experience water shortages. In addition, there may be more earthquakes in areas being fracked. And, if there is a spill, communities will be on their own, as there is no plan in place to deal with such an eventuality.

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Fracking may potentially devastate entire communities. The fracking proposed for the Delaware River Basin will affect several states, among them, New Jersey. Occupy Bergen County should join the Occupy Well Street movement, dedicating a portion of its energies to stop fracking. A gas well costs about $4 million to dig. Anything that interferes with this process will be more expensive to gas companies, and will serve to frustrate their efforts, which is what anti-fracking activists aim to do.

If you are interested in Occupy Well Street, check out, www.owsstopfracking.org. Another helpful Web site is: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2011/12/13/fracking-in-the-delaware-river-basin-the-potential-impact-to-our-natural-resources/.

An excellent legal resource is www.owstopfracking.org/p/legal-resources.html.

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