Letters December23,2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

By Planet User

Your own frackyard
In the editorial from Dec. 9 through Dec.15 [“Cut the Frack”], editor Matthew Irwin does let his emotions clearly get in the way of what is really going on here in Sublette County, as well as in his own backyard. In his statement to the Oil and Gas Industry here in Wyoming, Mr. Irwin failed to consider the reality that the majority of these same chemicals used in ‘fracking fluids’ are readily available in the hardware and cleaning sections of local stores. These chemicals, which the EPA classifies as priority pollutants, can be found in everyday products used in commercial and residential applications in Teton County, and for that matter all counties in Wyoming.

I make this point to highlight Mr. Irwin’s extreme emotional position of shutting down the Oil and Gas Industry in Wyoming until they can prove that ‘fracking fluids’ are safe. Will Mr. Irwin also ‘throwdown’ with all industries in Teton County and other Wyoming counties, which use products with these same chemicals?  Mr. Irwin’s blind eye to the toxic chemicals found in prod-
ucts used by Teton County industries to put the “shine on” everything from basketball floors, to fire engines, to gondolas, to stripping floors, to thinning stains, to commercial cleaning, is clearly apparent. These are the commercial applications where MSDS sheets are available and hopefully used. The difficulty with
MSDS sheets is they only highlight the toxicity of chemicals when abused, not the toxicity of their regular use.

In addition to the risks associated with their usage, these chemicals end up in Teton County’s treatment plants after the products which they are associated with are disposed, after which they are eventually passed down the river or injected into the ground. Is the editor, going to ask all industry in Teton County to shut down for further study until they can prove that the pristine resources of your own backyard are not being compromised by the cleaning, staining, polishing and stripping products that contain many of the same chemicals that exist in ‘fracking fluids’?

Hopefully, you will see that the chemicals used are the culprits, not the industry that demands the use of a product to get the job done. These products are everywhere, and therefore how people are being potentially injured by them is also equally broad and evasive. For many of these applications there are alternative products available, however it takes public support and cost effectiveness to bring about the conversion to new methods. My experience shows that although your approach sells papers, it does little to move the conversation forward.

–Forest Wakefield
President-Sublette County Chamber of Commerce

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Letters December23,2009 | Planet JH News Article: Letters To Editor

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