tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273309608611309575.post280208024915622793..comments2017-08-23T07:11:12.907-07:00Comments on SacLatino.com: Latinos and the Politics of Frackingpop9comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01418020348485957674noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273309608611309575.post-32792746256423471942013-10-24T02:01:36.596-07:002013-10-24T02:01:36.596-07:00This article glazes over the real issues forming t...This article glazes over the real issues forming the foundation of the politics behind oil fracking in California. If anyone enjoys being on the losing end of democracy, then yeah. let's drill horizontal holes all over California, fill them with lethal chemicals and very powerful corrosives such as hydrofluoric acid and hydrochloric acid, potentially contaminating drinking and agricultural water, degrading soil and property value, jeopardizing biological diversity, and substantially exacerbating global warming. Are you aware that each time a well is drilled in the ground, even if for oil, significant levels of methane gas escapes into the atmosphere? Are you also aware the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose influential report released in September, stated methane gas in the atmosphere is twenty-times worse than CO2 over a twenty year period?<br /><br />Democracy has been demolished by Governor Brown. As he changed the language of SB4 at the eleventh hour, essentially handing over the vast majority of guidance to the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) bypassing California's landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA is a statute passed in 1970, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act, to institute a statewide policy of environmental protection. CEQA sets the thresholds that trigger an environmental review of any infrastructure project, including digging fossil fuel wells. Governor Brown's language diverted the responsibility of CEQA to DOGGR, an agency known to favor the oil and gas industries over the protection of human health and environmental protections. Governor Brown's action thwarted democracy as he decided his judgment of democracy overrules established environmental laws. To make matters even worse, Governor Brown included language that virtually mandates oil fracking and well acidization take place until the time the SB4-mandated scientific and independent report is concluded by January 2015. That means both human health and environmental protection will not be available for over a period of a year in California.<br /><br />Let me return to the type of acid that is used to dissolve geology deep underground - under our homes and crisscrossing our watersheds. Hydrofluoric acid in particular is a powerful corrosive, capable of eating through steel as well as rock. Hydrofluoric acid (HF) has a number of chemical, physical and toxicological properties, which make handling this material especially hazardous and has the potential to produce serious health effects. HF shares the corrosive properties common among mineral acids but is unique in its ability to cause deep tissue damage and hypocalcemia. The unique toxicological properties of HF are due to the action of the fluoride ion. Fluoride ion causes soft tissue necrosis and bone damage by binding calcium. Fluoride ions are both acutely and chronically toxic. Acute effects of HF exposure include extreme respiratory irritation, immediate and severe eye damage and pulmonary edema.<br /><br />Hydrocloric acid is a colorless liquid with a sharp and extremely irritating odor. Upon exposure to air, there is an immediate release of toxic hydrogen chloride gas. As a strong corrosive acid, hydrochloric acid reacts with many metals producing flammable hydrogen gas that can become an explosion hazard.<br /><br />Considering the toxicity of each of these acids, I would much prefer CEQA develop the threshold model rather than an industry stooge, DOGGR. <br /><br />There are dozens of other reasons oil fracking in the state of California should be banned and not based on "fear"; however, on facts and reality. I would be happy to share these facts with you and your readers because what you have written is at best, weak and does not produce any facts whatsoever. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05812304754269093059noreply@blogger.com