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A Bipartisan Issue

This letter is in response to Bob Roxborough, who feels that the push to ban toxic fracking waste from our town is a push by the left-wing (March 1 letter “Alert the Community”].

While Food & Water Watch shares information on the issue freely, none of the residents involved in advocating the ban have settled for their information alone. In making informed decisions, we have referenced studies done by Yale, Duke, University of Pittsburgh, etc. According to an opinion piece recently published by Forbes [“Fracking Is Dangerous to Your Health—Here’s Why”], “there are now more than 700 studies looking at risks—and more than 80 percent of the health studies document risks or actual harms. It’s also important to note that these risks are likely to be seriously underestimated, because the environmental agencies have been downplaying the risks to the public.”

I applaud Mr. Roxborough’s urging for citizens to do some research on the matter themselves, and would encourage him to do some as well, if only on the one website he cites. In visiting FracFocus.org, as Mr. Roxborough encourages, I see that there are a mere 16 publications, none of which include recent studies on the health effects of fracking waste. I also see a report by Harvard cited, which states that “FracFocus is not a good tool for regulatory purposes” [“4/24/2013 FracFocus Responds to Harvard Study”].

This is a bipartisan issue, as emphasized by a visit to the Board of Selectmen by State Senator Ted Kennedy (D-12) and State Representative Noreen Kokoruda (R-101). Left or right, our children all drink the same water.

Briana Benn-Mirandi

Madison