"I feel like an alien, like I don't fit into my own environment. It's frightening," says Haire, 55, tears filling her pale slate eyes as she looks through her living room window out on her back fields. "It's horrifying what's happening here. The changes that have happened in the past 18 months are so dramatic. It's just a nightmare."

I just dont think the poisoning of American citizens by the oil and gas industry is getting the attention it deserves. It just doesnt seem to matter.

Rebecca Clarren, a top-notch journalist if there ever was one, is trying. She recently wrote on on the process of "fracking" and the chemical stew that the process is injecting into our bodies.

EPA to citizens: Frack you

Some choice quotes:

Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a half century-old process in which a gas company injects water, sand and the chemicals into the wells. Developed by Halliburton, the corporation formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, fracking loosens the rock and maximizes the flow of gas to the surface.

A group of 18 top public health experts wrote EPA and Interior Department officials in 2004, asserting that accelerated oil and gas drilling is taking place without adequate regard for human health. But rather than conduct tests, the EPA appears to be trying to get out of the gas companies' way. Last June, Steve Johnson, an EPA administrator, said the agency was asking itself, "What can we be doing to identify the pitfalls [that] energy companies are experiencing to obtain permits, rather than being a stumbling block or a hindrance?"

Hogle explains that it really isn't the EPA's job to deal with the health concerns of citizens in places like Garfield County. "The EPA doesn't control oil and gas production; the states control that. If citizens have a complaint, they would go to the [state oil and gas commission]. They're the first line of defense. They get the first swing at the ball," Hogle says, leaning back in his chair. "We help them when they request it. We don't override state decisions for the most part."

Because so many of the chemicals used in the fluid are proprietary, the industry isn't required to disclose their contents or ratios of concentration. The products' material data safety sheets, OSHA-required forms available on the Web, warn that the volatile chemicals have serious skin, respiratory and nervous-system effects. So far, Colborn and her staff have identified 190 chemicals that could be used in fracking fluids in Colorado, but there could be far more. A study by the Canadian government found more than 900 chemicals used in the fracking process.

In 2001, while EnCana Gas Co., a Canadian company that is among the largest gas producers in North America, was drilling four gas wells near Laura Amos' property, the cap on her water well blew off and fizzy gray water gushed from the well. After the company assured them that no gas or chemicals had polluted their well, Laura, her husband and their baby daughter continued to drink the water. Two years later, Amos, 43, contracted a tumor in her adrenal gland. She had to have both the tumor and gland removed; she's healthy now, but without her adrenal gland, she is at risk for future thyroid problems. Such rare tumors are associated with a chemical found in fracturing fluid called 2BE, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. EnCana has subsequently admitted that it used 2BE while fracking in the same geological formation that Amos' water comes from, just 750 feet away from her water well. In March, the COGCC fined the company $99,400 for contaminating the Amos well. While it didn't specify whether fracking fluid seeped into Amos' water, local newspapers reported EnCana reached an out-of-court settlement with Amos; both parties are legally obliged not to disclose the amount.

Did you know about this?

Today, I will repost a series I ran in November 2005 that highlight the health effects of oil and gas drilling. Clarren's article is a good primer.