Monday, 23 September 2013 10:00
A hydraulic drilling rig. (Photo:
Chiot’s Run)Cameron Cerny moved with his mother and father to Karnes County in southern Texas 10 years ago. The 15-year-old boy used to take long bike rides through the country with his mother, Myra, but they don’t take rides together much anymore. Karnes County is in the heart of the oil-rich Eagle Ford Shale formation, which has become a relatively new hotspot for intensive oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Since 2010, 18 oil wells were drilled or fracked within a mile from the Cernys’ home, and a total of 37 existing wells, along with processing facilities and a wastewater injection well, operate within two miles of their home.
“[There’s] loud trucks all day, there’s smells that just smell horrible,” Cerny told environmental investigators in July. “Nose bleeds all the time because of [this] stuff, in the middle of the night.”
As oil production increased in their area, the Cernys and other residents began smelling odors described as “bad, terrible, chemical” and “rotten egg.” They soon associated health problems such as headaches, nausea, rashes, burning eyes and nosebleeds with the bad odors. For more of this story please click the link to Truthout: http://truth-out.org/news/item/18973-eco-investigators-say-fracking-air-pollution-is-poisoning-families-in-texas