On Healthstyles (WBAI, 99.5 FM; wbai.org) this Thursday, April 7th at 11:00 PM, I’ll be interviewing Peggy Rafferty, DNP, RN, Associate Professor of Nursing at NY City Technical College, CUNY, and Owen Crowley, of United For Action (www.unitedforaction.org) about the health effects of hydrofracking. This important program focuses on the proposed drilling for gas in upstate New York, the Delaware Basin, and Pennsylvania (already underway there) by blasting harmful and sometimes undisclosed chemicals into shale rock to break up the rock to release the gas. If you watched the HBO documentary, Gasland, you know what this is about. That film showed the effects of hydrofracking on people, animals, and the environment in Colorado. As Dr. Rafferty states, “This is potentially the most damaging environmental health issue of this century.”
New York City gets its water from areas where the hydrofracking it being proposed. While some politicians have called for no hydrofracking in the watershed area, those who live upstate outside of the watershed areas have adamantly and rightly argued that if it’s too dangerous for NYC’s water supply, then it’s too dangerous for everyone’s. But the oil companies are paying farmers and other private land owners big bucks to let the drilling on their land. As you’ll hear from Owen Crowley, the oil companies are even pushing to drill in the pristine waters of the Delaware Basin.
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