Debbie Wasserman Schultz on fracking in debate with Tim Canova

[womanofthehills]

167. Analysis of California's Fracking Wastewater Reveals a Slew of Toxic Chemicals Linked to Cancer and

other illnesses. (Radioactive radium in Fracking Wastewater - thousands of times more than goals set by the state)

California is currently the only state that requires chemical testing of fracking wastewater and public disclosure of the findings. That's good. What's not so good is what the testing and disclosure reveal.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has completed an analysis of data released by the state during the first year of new reporting requirements. It found that the high levels of the carcinogen benzene in California's fracking wastewater isn't the only thing Californians have to worry about from the state's extensive oil and gas fracking operations and the injection of chemical-laced wastewater back into the ground once drilling is completed.

The study, Toxic Stew: What's in Fracking Wasterwater, revealed the presence of hundreds of chemicals, including many linked to cancer, nervous system damage and reproductive disorders. Among the chemicals found in up to 50 percent of the samples were chromium-6, lead and arsenic, all linked to cancer and/or reproductive damage. The samples also contained thousands of times more radioactive radium than the goals set by the state, along with high levels of nitrate and chloride ions. And an another analysis last month by the Center for Biological Diversity found that 98 percent of the fracking wastewater samples tested exceeded federal and state water safety levels for benzene.

“Cancer-causing chemicals are surfacing in fracking flowback fluid just as we learn that the California oil industry is disposing of wastewater in hundreds of illegal disposal wells and open pits,” said Center for Biological Diversity lawyer Hollin Kretzmann, who conducted that group's analysis. “Governor Brown needs to shut down all the illegal wells immediately and ban fracking to fight this devastating threat to California’s water supply.”
http://www.ecowatch.com/analysis-of-californias-fracking-wastewater-reveals-a-slew-of-toxic-ch-1882020160.html