Fracking Chemical Mixes – Too Radioactive Even For Waste Sites

In case there was still someone out there thinking environmentalists and anti-fracking protesters were yet another bunch of paranoids, there is now proof that fracking chemicals are way more toxic that we’d even imagined so far.

A truck transporting drill cuttings from a fracking site was quarantined because it set off a radiation alarm at a landfill in Pennsylvania. The truck load was emitting gamma radiation 10 times higher (!) than the waste site permitted, so it was immediately sent back where it came from. The landfill simply couldn’t safely dispose of this kind of radioactive material.

And here are some facts to show you why they weren’t able to do so:

“The cuttings in the truck were found to emit 96 micro-rem per hour of radiation, and the landfill is required to reject materials that emit more than 10 micro-rem.” (Forbes)

The amount of radiation in that truck was ten times higher than the waste site could handle. And that’s not all: it was also 84 times higher than the EPA’s air-pollution standard. This is what Big Oil drills into our soils, into our water. This is what we drink. The radium in that truck could probably make you glow in the dark just by standing near it, I don’t even want to imagine what it does to your body when you ingest it…

The Illinois Department of Public Health website has a section about radioactive materials and here’s what I’ve found about radium:

“Absorbed radium behaves similarly to calcium and is deposited in the tissues of the body, especially bone. (..) Internally deposited radium emits alpha particles that may then damage surrounding tissue.

Studies of workers exposed to high levels of radium and other sources of alpha radiation for extended periods show that high levels of radium may cause depression of the immune system, anemia, cataracts, and fractured teeth. Exposure to high levels of radium also has shown an increased incidence of bone, liver and breast cancer.”

And these are just the effects radium has on our health. But the chemicals used in fracking are actually mixes of various toxic substances. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly how they can affect our health, because they are considered “trade secrets”, therefore oil companies are free to conceal their magical recipes and keep on poisoning us with God knows what.

In the meanwhile, we’re supposed to sit back and see the good side of life. At least that’s what DEP spokesperson Jon Poister said in an interview after the radioactive truck incident. He told The Tribune-Review reporters that the drill cuttings only emitted low-level radiation, so there’s no need to worry. Allegedly, the only reason why the quarantined the truck and sent it back where it came from was because they wanted absolutely no radiation in South Huntington (which is obviously a LIE, otherwise why would there be a waste site that permitted radiation levels of up to 10 micro-rem if they allowed NO radiation whatsoever?).

And then he continued the pep-talk saying the truck carrying an outrageous load of radioactive material was actually a good thing, because now we know for sure the detection systems works properly. Oh, good. So until the death truck came by, they weren’t even sure the alarm was functional. That should make everyone feel at ease.

A lot of things have angered me more than usually in the past few weeks, but this total carelessness when it comes to millions of Americans whose health (or even lives) is endangered makes the blood boil in my veins. How is it possible for the president of the United States of America to issue oil leases all across California without even examining the risks of fracking first? And how can the DEP spokesperson get away with such a gross lie, when the facts clearly show the reality behind the fracking business is downright frightening? I said it before and I will say it again: this is not democracy. This is a tyrannical chaos.

1 Comment

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  By John Stephen Berkebile, May 4, 2013 @ 13:44

  Yeah, if you want America to rely upon Arab oil. I’ll take my chances with fracking and energy conservation.

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