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The Nov. 4 general election ballot in Denton will feature a local proposition calling for a ban on hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, or fracking, within the city. How would you vote on that issue, and why?
Ruth Gamble, Flower Mound: There are more than 500,000 gas wells in the United States. Each gas well requires 400 tankers and the diesel fuel to carry water and supplies to and from the sites. It takes 1 [million] to 8 million gallons of water per each fracture. The water is mixed with sand and chemicals to create the fracking fluid — as much as 40,000 gallons of chemicals per each fracture. There are up to 600 chemicals used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens such as mercury, uranium, formaldehyde, radium, methanol.
500,000 active wells times 8 million gallons of water per fracking times 18 times a well can be fracked equal 72 trillion gallons of water and 360 billions of chemicals to run our current gas wells.
Methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Methane concentrations are 17 times higher in drinking water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells. There are more than 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as documented cases of health issues involving, sensory, respiratory and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water.
Only 30 [percent] to 50 percent of the toxic fracturing fluid is recovered. The rest is left on the ground and is not biodegradable. The waste fluid is left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing harmful volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere, creating contaminated air, acid rain and ground-level ozone.
Hydraulic fracking produces approximately 300,000 barrels of natural gas a day, but at the price of environmental safety, and health hazards.
The math doesn’t make sense and I vote no to fracking inside the city limits of Denton.
Matthew Morrison, Lewisville: What do I feel about fracking? Well it doesn’t really matter. The petrochemical companies are already planning to introduce legislation for the upcoming session of the Texas legislature to make this type of referendum illegal. If Denton decides it wants to limit or curtail fracking in their own neighborhoods, then they will simply take that right away via state legislation.
This state’s history is not one of conservation and thoughtful care or our land, air and water. We live in a state that’s best described as pro-pollution. The petrochemical companies outright own or government due to us chronically electing the corruptible. Having no limitations on campaign financing and or reporting just gives them an easy conduit to these jackanapes.
I mainly blame Republicans, but long-term Democrats should be held to the same standard. We all breathe air. We all drink water. What happens when our water gets permanently contaminated with volatile hydrocarbons? Well the people who got rich exploiting our environment will simply move away. The rest of us will be left to clean up their mess. The involvement of people in the fracking process will create error, which will create pollution, plain and simple.
Doug Fulmer, Flower Mound: I don’t know what Denton’s restrictions are for drilling. If they are reasonable, I would vote for drilling. If they are unreasonable, I would vote against drilling. There is a price to be paid for energy independence. As long as you have reasonable offsets and regulations on traffic, I have no problem with drilling.
Mike Aramanda, Denton: I already voted by mail-in ballot for the ban. With all the uninhabited land in Texas, there’s no reason in the world to allow fracking within city limits. Especially with all the building evidence of water and air pollution, not to mention earthquake risk. The gas companies don’t care about nothing but money and they are bribing politicians. They should all go directly to jail, not to mention hell.
Ronald Brodt, Lewisville: I would not only vote [against drilling], but hell no. Why do I hate it? Let me count the ways.
Areas where fracking has occurred have had earthquakes when they never had them before. Companies are using millions of gallons of water when we are in a drought situation, draining lakes and ponds in some areas to get the water, putting residents at risk of not having drinking water. Chemicals used in the drilling process leech into the soil and can contaminate wells, even to the extent of water out of a faucet catching fire. Some of these operations have been installed near residential areas, increasing the risk of illness from fumes by nearby residents. The companies are brazen enough to state that even if a city or county votes not to allow their fracking, they will go to the state to seek to override the will of the local residents.
This is Big Business at its worst.
Operations near residential areas result in increased heavy traffic damaging local streets and putting children at risk and increasing noise in the area. I believe there are a lot of wilderness areas in this country where fracking would not disturb the environment nor be around people or pets. Fracking in residential areas is just plain stupid.
On Twitter: @neighborsgo
