Pittsburgh’s drinking water is radioactive, thanks to fracking. Only question is, how much?

[Ian David]

Pittsburgh’s drinking water is radioactive, thanks to fracking. Only question is, how much?

Residents of Pittsburgh -- as well as potentially tens of millions of other everyday citizens in the Northeast corridor who rely on their taps to deliver safe water -- are consuming unknown and potentially dangerous amounts of radium in every glass of water. That's the buried lede in the Sunday New York Times' massive exposé on fracking, the relatively new process for extracting natural gas from the massive shale formation that stretches from Virginia to New York state.

But don't take the Times' word for it: The day the exposé appeared in print, John Hanger, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection until June 2010, confirmed on his own blog that the main thrust of the story was dead-on: No one has any idea if the radioactive material in the wastewater from fracking is appearing downstream, in drinking water supplies, in quantities in excess of EPA recommendations, and we'd better find out:

We must not drift into a war of competing theories or studies. We need the facts. Pennsylvanians deserve nothing less.

More:
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-28-pittsburgh-drinking-water-radioactive-fracking-natural-gas-times

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/RepowerAmerica/status/43341123430785024

[xchrom]

1. oy. nt

[jberryhill]

2. In all fairness

The article fails to mention that these additional ingredients are being provided at no extra charge.

[TalkingDog]

3. 8 down votes out of 12 overall?

Dag...

[blue neen]

4. Here's another interesting little tidbit:

"Industry dodges on the issue of radiation: A rebuttal of the Times piece by an industry group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, does not even address the issue of radium in the wastewater that is dumped from fracking operations into water-treatment plants and thence water sources that are ultimately used by cities for drinking water."

[Altoid_Cyclist]

5. If Mr. Hanger had done his job while head of the PA DEP, we could have avoided this mess.

He chose to allow the energy companies to do whatever they wanted to do including giving them permits to withdraw water from various sources. This is something that the PA DEP doesn't even have the authority to do.
Hanger was a complete disgrace as head of the PA DEP.

DEP Admits It Has No Authority To Permit Water Withdrawals For Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling In Western PA

More here:

http://www.bradfordtoday.com/local-regional-news/dep-admits-it-has-no-authority-to-permit-water-withdrawals-for-marcellus-shale-gas-drilling-in-western-pa.html

[HopeHoops]

6. Corbett won't give up until he's fracked up the entire frackin' state.

I can't even look at a picture of the futher-mucker. He makes me want to :puke:

[WinkyDink]

7. Yeah, like Gov. Corbett cares. Or the President.

[reformist2]

8. This is going to be a huge fight... fracking is the last hope for domestic oil and gas.

[WinkyDink]

9. The NYC residents who drink PA. water might fight this.

[tigereye]

10. well, the city council in Pgh did pass an ordinance to

keep fracking out of the city limits. It certainly is a complex problem. Hard to know what the long-term effects will be despite the frackers protestations to the contrary...