Those of living in gas-patch communities, like in DISH, TX, have had the burden to show regulators that their water is contaminated — that dirty gas development is making us sick from polluted water, air and soil.
With a new survey released today, the landowners, public interest groups and scientists involved in Pavillion, Wyoming, are doing just that and calling on our public health agencies to step up and put people’s health before corporate profit. EARTHWORKS and Powder River Basin Resource Council released the results of a community-based health survey conducted in Pavillion, Wyoming.
The health survey results show an alarming overlap of residents health symptoms with the known health effects of fracking and other oil and gas contaminants that have already been found by EPA in the area's drinking water.
While health impacts in Pavillion are not only about hydraulic fracturing, the toxic, risky practice and a lack of oversight have made a bad situation worse. A legacy of bad drilling practices has impacted the Pavillion area. Inadequate well casings, onsite burial of waste, unmonitored emissions set the stage only to be blown through the system by toxic fracking.
The community-based health survey’s biggest lessons:
- our drinking water, air, soil, homes and health are all connected, and
- those of us in the gas-patch need federal and state officials' help to protect our health and our communities from unnecessary exposures to drilling toxics. Here’s hoping that our federal and state agencies fully identify the sources of contamination and get down to the business of ensuring that people are protected from dirty gas development.
Check out the report recommendations here
.
