Letter: Warnings from Texas mayor over fracking

I recently attended the presentation by Mr. Tillman, the former mayor of Dish, Texas who was forced to sell his dream house on six acres at a loss and move to another town that was not over a shale deposit. As soon as he moved his two young sons began to recover from their nosebleeds and asthma. I found his story to be a wakeup call for those of us who do live over shale deposits that are potential oil and gas wells.
I am writing this in response to a question that was asked by one of the audience. He said he wanted evidence that oil and gas drilling operations expose surrounding residents to cancer. I decided to look into this. This is what I found from my investigation.
From 2010 through 2012, an investigation in Garfield County, Colorado was completed with Susan Nagel a veteran endocrinologist at the University of Missouri School of Medicine who headed the study. Garfield County is the site of more than 10,000 natural gas wells. Water samples were taken over the two-year period from five natural gas sites where wastewater spills had occurred. People living in these areas get their water from local wells. The group of scientists found endocrine disrupting chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, and disturbed neural and immune functions. The samples were collected from surface water and groundwater. This study concluded, “This is the canary in the coal mine that we need to pay attention to.” Equally alarming were the samples taken from the Colorado River drainage basin near the fracking sites where significantly higher levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals were found flowing into the Colorado River which is used for irrigation by California farmers.
A more recent study (July 2014) was commissioned by the Canadian government and peer reviewed. The senior researcher in this study was Dr. McLachlan of the University of Manitoba. Fort Chipewyan is a Native American community living next to the tar sands oil extraction. The people living in this area get their water from local wells and eat the fish and animals from the area. The researchers found the food consumed by the tribal members were full of contaminants from the tar sands oil production nearby. Twenty-three of the 94 tribal members were afflicted with cancer, a rate unknown in other areas of Canada. Dr. McLachlan concluded: “Many of the results as they relate to human health are alarming. It should function as a wake-up call to industry, government and communities alike.”
Are we in this lovely county of San Benito going to wait to close the barn door after the horses have fled? Or will we heed the lived experience of Mayor Tillman who emphatically said, “ If you wait until the first well is fracked, your community is finished.” The oil and gas industry with the combined power of their million-dollar lawyers will keep you from challenging them until you too, will sell your homes to the corporation as long as you sign a non disclosure agreement which binds you to silence about why you had to give up your home.
Natasha Wist, Hollister