cover image The Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our Families, Pets, and Food

The Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our Families, Pets, and Food

Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald. Beacon, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-8070-8493-9

Veterinarian Bamberger (Help! The Quick Guide to First Aid for Your Dog) and pharmacologist Oswald present case studies from Pennsylvania to support their assertion that processes involved in hydraulic fracturing have health consequences oil companies or regulatory agencies refuse to acknowledge. In case after case, the authors describe adults, children, pets, and livestock suffering symptoms of “shale gas syndrome,” which they link to contaminated water sources and poisoned air. As it stands, companies are neither required to test before drilling operations nor do they have to disclose the chemicals used in their operations. Physicians and residents who have accepted settlements are often legally prohibited from speaking about health problems linked to drilling. In 2005, Congress excluded “fracking” from the Safe Drinking Water Act, thus removing the EPA oversight of the industry, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has repeatedly failed to find in favor of the citizens, leaving those individuals to the mercy of the corporations. With the economic benefits of fracking in doubt and strong evidence for health and environmental risks, the authors urge subsidies for alternative energy development. This work should be a wake-up call to concerned citizens and policy makers alike. (Aug.)