An observation worth noting … and pondering, from Ellen Cantarow:
Now, a new generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the next wonder technology -- in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Whether they live in Texas, Colorado, or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain, intestinal illnesses, memory loss, and more. ‘In my opinion,’ says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ‘what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning.’
So how do we square this with all the skip-past-the-facts Happy Talk nonsense fossil fuel industry shills routinely dispense to an unknowing public and lazy, cowardly media about this magnificent testament to the greatness of free market ingenuity and technological prowess?
The stories of unseen harm to local citizens once hydraulic fracturing is in place are now regular events. The story quoted from above is just one of dozens I’ve come across in the past year or two. Accounts of similar harm to locals in the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada appear just as often.
Are these people faking it? Is there some class on how to fool environmentalists with pretend rashes; fake blood; headaches; intestinal problems…?
Or is this the price we exact from other people so that the industry continues to reap billions in profits and the rest of us enjoy our lifestyles without so much as a bump in the road? Good thing it’s those “other people” in those “other places” suffering for us. What a relief to know it’s not my family!
You don’t suppose they weren’t informed about the possibilities, do you? Is it even possible to think that industry just jumped in and hoped for the best? What’s a few citizens serving as guinea pigs for the rest of us, Right?
Just how far do we pursue the great god of profit and ignorance of impending realities in order to ensure that benefits accrue to the few? We’re asking countless tens of thousands (or more) of our fellow citizens to serve as ongoing science experiments with companies refusing to disclose just what experiments are being conducted! Disclose the chemical compositions used to frack shale formations? The horror of such a thing!
Shouldn’t we insist on more and better before permitting ideologies and corporate priorities to dictate the harm that’s done to the public?
Adapted from a blog post of mine
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