A committee of local Nebraska officials was debating the merits of dumping the wastewater from fracking on local properties. It’s only a conglomerate of toxic chemicals, shouldn’t be harmful. Right? They were debating the matter in abstract terms until one practical farmer, James Osbourne, made them understand just how serious the issue was.
Osbourne has experience working on pipelines, so his presentation was based on firsthand knowledge of how these operations proceed. Osbourne spent a good deal of time talking about Nebraska’s dependence on its local water supply. The state’s economy, he said, is driven by water and would collapse if this resource were compromised in any way. And you can always depend on fracking to contaminate water.
He began by pouring some clean, clear drinking water into three plastic cups. He then dumped dirty, muddy sludge into the water, turning it an unpalatable shade of brownish yellow. He asked the committee members if they would seriously consider drinking this mixture. Osbourne did not ask this question lightly.
Before Osbourne began his presentation, a committee member had insisted that the water would still be drinkable even after being mixed with the wastewater. When challenged by Osbourne, the committee member refused to respond directly, stating that hearing protocols do not allow for that kind of back-and-forth.
Osbourne continued by stating that after being dumped in one location, it would only take three days for the wastewater to infiltrate the water in the rest of the state. He said things are made even worse by the fact that many of the components in the wastewater are not disclosed. Gas companies don’t want people to know exactly what they use in fracking fluids for some reason. Perhaps they know something we don’t.