What does the phrase 'chemical injections' make you think of?
Vaccines? Maybe Botox?
Oil and gas mining probably doesn't spring to mind when you hear talk of chemical injections -- but maybe it should. In Colorado alone, at least 430 million gallons of fluids have been injected into just 9,000 of the state's 35,000 oil and gas wells, and the toxic chemicals being injected are essentially unregulated.
See, all that Texas Colorado tea isn't easy to get out of the ground. Once the wells are drilled, the industry uses a host of different chemicals to eat through rock and increase production. The process, called hydraulic fracturing, isn't regulated by any state or federal law -- and that means companies can use more or less whatever chemicals they want, and they don't even have to report it.
That's convenient for them, since hydraulic fracturing often involves toxic chemicals linked to neurological and immune disorders and cancer, among other things. EWG and The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) analyzed industry data and found that at least 65 of the chemicals used are regulated by 6 different US laws. When other industries use or emit those chemicals, they've got to report it to the EPA, comply with pollution permits, and follow specific cleanup standards.
Not so for the oil and gas industry. Even though the chemicals they inject may leach into water and soil, they don't have to report to the EPA at all; not about the 65 chemicals that us law regulates, or the more than 150 other chemicals they use. According to EWG analyst Dusty Horwitt,
Despite a record number of wells approved in Colorado -- more than 6,300 in 2007 versus just 2,900 in 2004 -- state and federal officials and the public have almost no idea how any of these industry chemicals are used, whether or not their use threatens water supplies, pollutes the local air, or presents a risk to public safety.
Colorado's lawmakers are in the process of rewriting the state's drilling standards, so those who call the centennial state home may want to make a phone call to their representative and urge them to support mandatory comprehensive reporting and public disclosure of all the chemicals the oil and gas industry uses.