Anti-fracking advocates share personal stories of fracking health impacts
By Richard Moody
Environment New York, an environmental advocacy group and opponent of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state, said there are not only environmental and economic impacts of fracking, but a humanitarian aspect to as well.
Alongside Sen. Tony Avella, a staunch opponent of fracking in New York, Sheila Bushkin-Bedient, a member of the Institute for Health and the Environment, and Pramilla Malick, founder of StopMCS and Protect Orange County — two grassroots organizations fighting against gas infrastructure related to fracking in New York — Environment New York presented its recent compilation of stories about the effects of fracking on citizens' health.
"Behind the alarming numbers that outline fracking's environmental damage, there are real people whose lives have been gravely impacted by these polluting practices," Director of Environment New York Research and Policy Center Heather Leibowitz said. "These are their stories, and it is our responsibility to heed their words of warning on fracking."
The stories cited in the collection included one about Judy Armstrong Stiles of Bradford County, Pa. whose water was found to contain barium and arsenic after Chesapeake Energy started drilling on her land. They were later found traces of the contaminants in her blood.
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-Top-Stories-c-2014-02-12-86753.113122-Antifracking-advocates-share-personal-stories-of-fracking-health-impacts.html