Picture Courtesy of DeSmogBlog by LesstonePhoto

http://www.desmogblog.com/

As a citizen of California, I first heard about hydraulic fracturing being a distant problem that was unlikely to affect me. Through personal research involving interviews with CEO's of major companies, Stanford Professors, and even members of activist groups, I discovered the secrets and lies behind this practice. I discovered that in geothermal fracturing, earthquakes on 3.5 magnitude occur, and in shale fracturing, people are fed a steady stream of lies and poisoned water.

This needs to stop. We all have a basic HUMAN right to clean, pure drinking water. Now, despite the constant assurance of Gas and Oil companies, these people drink water that causes cancer, brain damage, and birth defects. It is filled with over 500 different chemicals, from radioactive byproducts, to neurotoxins, to known carcinogens it's like drinking a bottle full of arsenic, which believe it or not has been identified as a chemical used in hydraulic fracturing.

I knew that these companies were exempted from the clean air act, the clean water act, the safe drinking water act, the superfund law, and a dozen others. And I heard that they're heading for New York, where 15.6 million people drink unfiltered water from the Delaware watershed.

But then I found out about California, where drilling has been going on for more than 40 years. And its been proposed to have drilling in Monterey, right next to home. These poisonous chemicals like benzene, glycol ethers, formaldehydes, and hydrochloric acid, to radium, and radon, and countless unknown chemicals could wind up in the San Francisco Bay, an already fragile and threatened environment. There is a bill, called AB591 that would regulate this practice properly and require the disclosure of the chemicals. This is our first step towards making a difference all over the country, be it in Colorado, or New York, or even in Europe, all collective action starts with a single step.

So in the name of the lives of people, to the lives of animals, to the lives of our children and our children's children, I beg you to make a difference, make a stand, and do whats right.