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Recent Posts by NastassjaNoell

• > Protecting Our Waters Press Release: Philadelphia City Council Passed Resolution saying 'No Gas Drilling in city's watershed'
• > Dangerous foam in waterways: DEP fails to take precautionary measures
• > Conneticuts Natural Gas Explosion Warns: FERC Pending Pipeline Projects in the U.S.A.
• > Natural Gas Compressor Station Coats Farmland in Used Gear Oil

The SunGazette is reporting that a natural gas drilling product called Air Foam HD has contaminated groundwater in Cummings Township and Pine Creek, the contamination has spread downhill and more than a mile past the nearby town of Waterville, Pennsylvania. 

Photos in the news article show shockingly active foam in the ditch alongside Route 44.  The DEP is stating to the press that the foam is caused by Air Foam HD, a gas drilling product.  The DEP began conducting tests on the foam this past Monday. 

Air Foam HD contains large amounts of a toxic chemical called 2-Butoxyethanol (2-BE).  2-BE is a type of glycol ether, similar to the main component of anti-freeze.  The chemical is known to cause cancer and blood problems in rats; a woman in Colorado was diagnosed with the same rare form of adrenal cancer found in rats subjected to 2-BE; she became ill three years after her drinking water well was contaminated by gas drilling operations using 2-BE. 

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Air Foam HD states that the product is harmful or fatal if ingested, can cause skin reactions, and can easily vaporize and enter your bloodstream when you inhale the vapor.  Despite these clear warnings the DEP is stating to the press that the product is not listed as hazardous on the MSDS sheet and is telling residents that it is safe to drink their tap water. 

The MSDS sheets clearly indicate that area residents who get their tap water from a well or spring may be at risk of 2-BE contamination.

Lack of precautionary measures taken to protect area residents and wildlife

Cummings Township is home to two of Pennsylvania's 120 state parks, both state parks border the contaminated Pine Creek.  Its is unknown at the time of publication whether the state parks are downstream from the source of contamination. 

The SunGazette is reporting that "the only precaution [Daniel T. Spadoni, spokesman for DEP's northcentral regional office] recommended to residents is to avoid the suspicious spring water run-off in the area."

"I don't think you would want to drink this discharge," Spadoni stated.

The SunGazette also reports that Spadoni said "area residents can continue regularly using tap water in their home."  For towns downstream such as Waterville he stated "I don't believe there are concerns about drinking water in Waterville at this time." 

The article did not mention whether municipal water systems downstream are equipped to filter out water soluble chemicals such as 2-BE.

The article did not mention measures to protect the wildlife which live in the state parks, state forests, wilderness areas, and state game lands surrounding the contamination route and drink water from Pine Creek.

Risks associated with 2-BE

2-BE affects animals and humans causing hemolysis at low doses.  Hemolysis is a rupture of your red blood cells making your blood unable to carry oxygen to respirating cells in your body, essentially suffocating your cells (anemia).  Signs of slight anemia include lack of energy.  Strong signs of hemolysis include bloody urine or bloody feces; blood in urine is the result of kidney damage which can lead to kidney failure requiring you to have dialysis performed twice a week or you must replace your kidneys which will require you to take expensive anti-immune reaction drugs for the rest of your life.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) states that animals forced to ingest or inhale large amounts of 2-BE become sluggish, drowsy, or curl up into a ball ("prostrate position"). At these high doses animals often have abnormal eye movement, convulsions, birth defects in their offspring such as underdeveloped bones and cleft palates, and vaginal bleeding.

Theo Colburn, is a zoologist and endocrinologist that has served the ATSDR, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; she specializes in chemical contamination of wildlife and humans.  In an statement submitted to the federal government, Dr. Colburn warned the government to take precautionary measures before using this chemical to drill for natural gas in Colorado, citing extensive laboratory research. 

Laboratory research has determined that 2-BE is especially toxic to your spleen, the bones in your spine, the bone marrow where new blood cells are forms, and your liver which removes toxins from your body.  Rats exposed to 2-BE are shown to have higher rates of liver cancer, adrenal cancer, miscarriage, and severe eye problems such as "retinal detachment, photoreceptor degeneration and occlusion resulting from multiple thrombosis of the blood vessels in the eye." Exposed rats will often have their tails rot off due to lack of oxygen circulation to extremeties. 

2-BE takes a long time to breakdown
2-BE is persistent in the environment; it takes 7-28 days for half of a given amount of 2-BE to break down in normal surface water conditions, it can takes many months for almost all the 2-BE to break down in surface water.

"With an aerobic bio-degradation [(breakdown in the presence of oxygen)] rate this slow, humans, wildlife and domestic animals could come into direct contact with 2-BE through ingestion, inhalation, dermal sorption [(absorption through your skin)], and the eye in its liquid or vapor form as the entrapped water reaches the surface."

In areas where oxygen is not present, such as aquifers or deep bodies of water (the chemical is water soluble), the biodegradation rate is much slower.  "Therefore the deeper 2-BE is injected underground the longer it will persist," stated Dr. Colburn.

Like any molecule that breaks down, new chemicals are formed from those broken apart pieces.  Dr. Colburn's report states that it is currently unknown what new chemicals are formed during environmental breakdown of 2-BE.  There is the potential for these breakdown products to be toxic; for example, when 2-BE is broken down inside your body it turns into its toxic form 2-Butoxyacetic acid (2-BAA).

Testing for 2-BE

To find out if your water supply is contaminated with 2-BE, the test will cost over $100 to indicate the presence of 2-BE at concentrations of 500ppm or more (a very large concentration).

"The chemistry to detect the glycol ethers, including 2-BE, in environmental samples is very difficult and therefore there are few laboratories with the ability to accurately quantify its
presence," states Dr. Colburns report.

Spending $100 to test for 2-BE is prohibitive for many residents who cannot either persuade the DEP to test for this chemical using taxpayer funds, or who do not trust the impartiality claims of the DEP.

For a cost of $35 residents may perform a more general test which can indicate the migration of other drilling surfactants (soap like substances) into your water source, indicating the possibility that your water supply may also be contaminated with 2-BE.  The test measures for the presence of methyl-blue active substances (MBAS).  Although some MBAS positive chemicals are natural in the environment, many MBAS positive chemicals are used for gas drilling and production.

If you are concerned that your water source may be contaminated with 2-BE do not bathe in the water.  Washing your dishes in the water may lead to vaporization of 2-BE causing you to inhale the chemical. 

Inhalation from running tap water should not be dismissed as a minor route of contamination in your home.  Many of the human and animal studies referred were experimentally subjected to 2-BE through inhalation of vapors.  The DEP worker shown in the SunGazette photo taking a sample of the foam should have been wearing a chemical mask.

Dan Spadoni of the DEP did not return phone calls by the time of this publication; Philly Indymedia will report future updates on the situation.

###

For more information about gas production chemicals and drinking water please see the report Our Drinking Water at Risk

For information on the exemptions from federal environmental regulations enjoyed by the oil and gas industry please read the report Free Pass for Oil and Gas by the Environmental Working Group

For MSDS sheets on Air Foam HD and Dr. Theo Colburn's statement to the U.S. government about the risks associated with using 2-BE in natural gas drilling operations, please visit Internet Archive: Free Download: Air Foam HD Material Data Safety Sheet (MSDS)