WHAT WE THE PEOPLE CAN DO ENGAGE your City Council, County Commissioners & State Officials to demand your

rights to safety, transparency, & accountability from the oil & gas industry. Remind them eminent domain exists for the public good, not for corporate profit. Urge them to take back their powers via Home Rule. CONTACT your state & federal representatives to demand they listen to WE THE PEOPLE & not the powerful lobbyists! Insist they support the FRAC ACT (Senate S 587 & House HR 1084) which removes the exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act for gas & oil extraction & calls for the disclosure & monitoring of the chemicals used. If you do not support a ban on fracking & injection wells, at the very least, demand a severe strengthening of their regulation. Support a National Remediation Fund paid for by the oil & gas industry. REACH OUT to your fellow citizens. People are fighting back in the cities of Syracuse, Buffalo, & Pittsburgh, who have all passed anti-fracking/disposal legislation. New Jersey & Maryland have also passed bans or moratoriums.
Information compiled by George Elias Logo Design: Beth Hawks /Graphic Design: Lynn Anderson

neogap.org nofrackohio.com ecowatch.org ohiofracktion.wordpress.com napalmcreek.com frackcheckwv.net celdf.org chej.org ogap.org shaletest.org endocrinedisruption.org foodandwaterwatch.org (nationwide actions) splitestate.com gaslandthemovie.com nytimes.com (gas/oil industry internal documents) youtube.com (Sandra Steingraber, Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Carolyn Knapp, Stephen Cleghorn) psehealthyenergy.org steingraber.com/blog vindy.com/news/fracking frackfreemahoning.blogspot.com facebook.com/occupyyoungstown

ONLINE RESOURCES

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING EXPOSED:

Facts About High-Volume Fracking and Hazardous Waste Disposal Injection Wells.
DO NOT FEAR the gas and oil industry. Factual information is our tool to counter their disinformation and public relations propaganda.
At what point does the preliminary evidence of harm become definitive evidence of harm? When someone says, We were not aware of the dangers of these chemicals back then, whom do they mean by we?

WEB SEARCH THESE TOPICS: Clyde, Ohio Cancer Cluster, EPA Pavillion, Wyoming Groundwater Pollution, EPA ATSDR says Medina Co. well water is explosive Dish, TX air pollution Dimock, PA water contamination OSU Study of the Economic Value of Shale N. Dakota oilfield wastewater radiation Impact of gas drilling on human & animal health Cornell University Radon in Natural Gas from Marcellus Shale Doctors Call for Fracking Moratorium 1990 EPA: Injection wells cause earthquakes 2011 OGS study of fracking induced seismicity

Join other concerned valley citizens: www.frackfreemahoning.blogspot.com frackfreemahoning@gmail.com

Sandra Steingraber

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking is the means of extracting natural gas from deep shale formations. Horizontal hydrofracturing is a means of tapping shale deposits that were previously inaccessible by conventional drilling. The method differs from conventional gas extraction in that, after drilling vertically down to the shale, the drill bore is turned and tunneled horizontally through the shale. Millions of gallons of water, sand, and proprietary chemicals are then injected to fracture the shale. 693 of Ohios wells failed inspection in 2011. The industry claims that hydrofracturing has been used for decades with no adverse affects. This is misleading. While fracking has been used for decades in the U.S., the scale today dwarfs previous practice. Its the difference between smoking 1 cigarette a week compared to 1 pack a day. This new technique of horizontal fracturing has only been in use since the late 90s and is exempted from the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, RCRA, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This is not pickle brine - this is hazardous waste. 2 - 8 million gallons of fresh water is needed for each well - if only 1% of toxic chemicals are added, thats about 50,000 gallons of toxins per well, including the carcinogens toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene. Some of these chemicals, including acid, can degrade well integrity over time. Fracking wastewater is 10 times saltier than ocean water. Above ground equipment like compressors and condensate tanks also emit dangerous levels of toxins while high levels of radioactivity in N. Dakota fracking wastewater recently set off Geiger counters.

INJECTION WELLS
The hazardous waste produced by fracking is so toxic, it must be disposed of in injection wells. There are various classes of injection wells, but Class I and Class II are the most common. Class II wells are tasked with disposing of the hazardous waste from fracking. In Ohio, the State (ODNR) determines where these wells are to be located. Local officials and citizens have little power or say in these decisions, and this must be changed.

like Mill Creek Park and the Meander Creek Reservoir, which supplies fresh water for a major portion of Northeast Ohio. Radon is being detected in high concentrations at Marcellus shale well heads and can pass through gas lines into homes. The ATSDR has found that well water in Medina Co. OH has enough gas content to be considered potentially explosive.

THE MYTH OF JOB CREATION

Two recent studies, including one by Ohio State University, have exposed industry PR as having exaggerated job creation. The actual numbers are 1/10th of industry claims. Many of these jobs are being outsourced (or, a growing number of citizens of Ohio, PA, & W. Virginia are suddenly renewing their license plates in Texas & Oklahoma!) Fracking jobs are unsustainable, and offer no long-term stability. Internal oil & gas industry emails and documents reveal great skepticism over the potential of the socalled Shale Gas Boom. Also, if earthquakes continue to be a problem, businesses will not be inclined to expand into an earthquake zone such as Northeast Ohio, which doesnt require the concomitant building codes.

EARTHQUAKES
It is a Class II well that is responsible for the Earthquake Cluster in Youngstown, Ohio. These wells can degrade over time, as happened in Clyde, Ohio. Injection wells are now responsible for a series of Earthquake Clusters from Lake Erie to central W. Virginia, including Ashtabula Co., Youngstown, Washington Co. OH, and Braxton Co. W. Virginia. One county in Oklahoma has over 180 injection wells and quakes increased from an average of 50 per year, to over 1000 in 2010. A cluster also occurred in Arkansas and Blackpool, UK, all linked to injection wells. In 1990, an EPA study determined injection wells can cause earthquakes, and a 2011 Oklahoma Geological Survey study links hydrofracturing to induced seismicity, both creating new paths for toxic waste to migrate.

THE BURDEN ON COMMUNITIES

There are many cases of emergencies at Pennsylvania well sites, including explosions/ fires/contamination, and even the deaths of workers. Local responders, lacking knowledge of industry materials, face greater risk without this information. The increase in truck traffic causes a tremendous burden on local communities who must deal with the increased noise and stress on infrastructure, not to mention the dangers of hazardous waste spills.

WATER AND AIR POLLUTION

The EPA has completed a study of Pavillion WY, that makes a definitive link between fracking and groundwater pollution. Dimock PAs drinking sources have been virtually destroyed and the EPA has to supply fresh water to the affected well owners. Cases of contaminated well water are surfacing in the Mahoning Valley, potentially threatening crucial resources.