17 million Americans live within a mile of at least one oil or gas well

 By Theodora Filis

As of 2023, from rural Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, more than 17 million Americans live within a mile of at least one oil or gas well. Since 2014, most new oil and gas wells have been fracked.

The Safe Drinking Water Act, enacted in 1974, regulates the underground injection of chemicals that can threaten drinking water supplies. However, Congress has exempted fracking from most federal regulations under the law. As a result, fracking is regulated at the state level, and requirements vary from state to state.

The “Halliburton loophole” was created by Congress in 2005, at the “urging” of then, Vice President, Dick Cheney. Despite serious concerns, from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that chemicals used in Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) demonstrate spoiling and contamination of drinking water, Cheney's “energy task force” promoted the benefits of fracking and disregarded any references to human health hazards.

Halliburton, previously led by Cheney, reportedly earns $1.5 billion a year from its energy operations – which relies heavily on its fracking business.

The Vallourec SA's V&M Star factory employs 350 workers and produces seamless pipes used in fracking. “It’s part of a development that an oil and gas industry study calculates will mean more than 200,000 jobs and $22 billion in economic output in Ohio -- with neighboring sites in on the action.”

According to the Pennsylvania Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, Marcellus shale grew 114 percent in the first quarter of 2011 – up from the same period in 2008.

According to the center, wages in Marcellus Industries average $76,036 compared with the state average of $46,222.

Despite reported earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio – so severe the mayor of Youngstown has decided to take out earthquake insurance on his home – a new mill is being built about 2 miles from where an injection well was closed after 11 earthquakes shook the Youngstown area in 2011.

During an energy summit in Ohio the chief executive officer of Chesapeake Energy Corp – the most active oil and natural gas driller in the US – said “This will be the biggest thing to hit the state of Ohio economically since maybe the plow.”

While Cheney and his pals over at Hailburton are patting themselves on the back for a very lucrative job well done – thousands of residents across the US are living with, and trying to avoid, the very costly side effects of fracking.

 
The director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said:

“We do not have enough information to say with certainty whether shale gas drilling poses a threat to public health.”

People living close to drilling sights will tell you it does cause a very serious health risk to both human and animal life. Many community residents have tested their water and soil and have found it to be contaminated.