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- NEWSAugust 17, 2016 · Fracking,Methane,Four CornersMore Posts
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Methane Emission, Historical Sites, Earthquakes, Health, Water, Livestock & Food, Crime
1) METHANE EMISSION
NASA has found that there is so much methane being released in the Four Corners area that it's visible from space. Studies have recently shown that it is primarily due to gas emissions from hydraulic fracturing.2) HISTORICAL SITES - CHACO, MESA VERDE & OTHERS
The Four Corners area is a national treasure. Some of it is protected but most of it is not. The Anasazi had a huge network of connecting lines leading to spiritual sites. They are becoming almost impossible to see because of the new fracking well access roads created on top of them. Archeologists haven't finished their research in this area, much is still left to be discovered.Fracking is fast encroaching on Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Additional land leases are set to be auctioned off in January for fracking sites in the Greater Chaco area. Some of this land comes within 15 miles of the main Chaco Canyon which is designated as a World Heritage site.
3) INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
Many of the fracking sites butt up to indigenous communities causing health, environmental issues as well as crimes committed against the Native American communities.4) EARTHQUAKES
Studies have shown that disposal wells for wastewater from fracking have caused earthquake swarms in many places around the country. Some are even quite large as we saw recently in Oklahoma. If this should happen anywhere near the Anasazi ruins it could be disastrous for these historical treasures.5) HEALTH
People are reporting being sickened by the air quality in communities near the fracking sites.6) WATER
The Four Corners area doesn't have a lot of water. Companies are fracking right up to the rivers and Navajo Lake. When toxic chemicals leak it will be disastrous, not only for the people nearby but also for those living downriver.The Navajo Nation's eastern side, which falls in New Mexico, is desperate for water. With basically no water rights, they are forced to rely on groundwater. They have to dig very deep, through layers and layers of rock, because the water that's closer to the surface is contaminated with uranium from mining in the WWII era.
40% of the Navajo in this area have no running water in their homes. We should be making things better for them, not worse. Fracking not only endangers the limited water supply but it also uses an enormous amount of water in the process. This is water which would be much better utilized as drinking water rather than fracking water. People can't drink natural gas or oil.
7) LIVESTOCK, FARMING & FOOD
"In addition to the cases documented by Bamberger, hair testing of sick cattle that grazed around well pads in New Mexico found petroleum residues in fifty-four of fifty-six animals."Methane emission: http://bit.ly/4CornersMethane
Earthquakes: http://on.doi.gov/2cvICBe
Health (air): http://bit.ly/FrackingAir
Health Link 2: http://bit.ly/FrackingAir
Water Link 2: http://bit.ly/FrackWater
Livestock: http://bit.ly/2cvK4Dy- ENORMOUS METHANE PLUME SEEN FROM SPACENASA discovered a methane hotspot over the Four Corners region that is the largest in the United States.
At least half of a Delaware-sized cloud of methane hovering over the Four Corners region is coming from natural gas operations, and most of that is coming from two dozen individual sources, according to a new NASA-led study.
The report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said about 250 individual sources — including gas wells, storage tanks, pipelines, and processing plants — appear to account for about half of all methane emissions in the area. Of that, about 50 percent is coming from just 25 individual sources, meaning two dozen points of emission are responsible for about one-fourth of all the methane spewing into the atmosphere in the Four Corners.
The report showed broad variation in methane leakage rates from identified sources, with emissions ranging from just a few pounds to 11,000 pounds per hour.
Frack Free Four Corners © 2016