WHAT THE FRACK?.......

My hubby, Roger, is sick with respiratory stuff again. He's been sick off and on since December. Went all the way to pneumonia in early January. He thought he was over it and got it again. Got shots twice from the doctor and finally got rid of it. Now...he has it again. So, off to the doctor to get another shot and another prescription this morning. There was a surprising aspect to the doctor's diagnosis this morning. Based on questions he's been asking his patients who have come in for respiratory problems for the last several months, he's getting 100% "yes" answers when he asks them if they live within a mile or so of a natural gas well! We live on the Barnett Shale and there is natural gas in there that is very, very abundant. Everywhere we look, there are gas wells going up, coming down, going back up. They are noisy, ugly, and now, apparently, bad for our health. The "fracking" of the wells that is done when they are drilling deep into the ground is one of the things that apparently allows all kinds of possible toxic pollution into our air and water and ground. This can cause respiratory problems, including an increase in asthma, and all sorts of other health problems. And in doing some research on this......the EPA puts no environmental controls on oil and gas exploration and production. Can you believe that? If you want to read a very interesting report on this, go to www.nrdc.org/policy and look for the Drilling Down report. In the meantime, we will have to deal with all of this, plus all of the big semi-trucks tearing up our roads and giving us ample opportunity to ruin tires in the foot-deep chuckholes they make and creating more dust for us to breathe in, not to mention practically forcing us off the road every time we meet one while driving. Aw.....progress! Just "sick" of it!!!