Microsoft Office Outlook - Memo Style - Montana Board of Oil and Gas

Richmond, Tom
From: summermuth@aol.com
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 12:49 PM
To: DNR FracComments
Subject: Please Disclose Fracking Fluids in New Rules!
Dear Board of Oil and Gas Conservation,
I am urging you with a full heart to please protect my family's health by
requiring full disclosure of the chemicals that are being used in hydraulic
fracturing by oil and gas companies.
I live in beautiful Red Lodge, Montana. My husband and I decided to move here
13 years ago to raise our family of 3 children and be in a clean environment. It
hurts me to even think that this gorgeous state I have grown to love, could be
threatened by the toxic chemicals used in the mining industry.
Toxic run-off into streams, lakes and into aquifers is something I am very
knowledgeable about. Having lived downstream of a super-fund site in rural
Minnesota before, is a scenario I do NOT want to repeat.
It would take a lawsuit to prove that my health and that of my children was
harmed by toxic chemicals that got into our well water from the landfill near
our home in rural Minnesota, but the truth is that my children have been ill and
so have I. Epilepsy, Hashimoto's Syndrome (thyroid disorder), fibromyalgia,
arthritis, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, allergies, testicular
cancer and more - are the illnesses that my family faces.
My children now live in Bozeman and Belgrade, Montana. It concerns me that
mining companies are scoping out and buying mineral rights and leases near
Big Timber, for coal bed methane gas extraction, and that the track record of
DEQ inspections and enforcement is in adequate to protect them from potential
toxic chemical spills and gas leaks in their neighborhoods.
In fact, besides my children, I wish this potential poisoning scenario on no one!
Landowners and residents of Montana, as well as the entire United States and
the whole world, deserve to know what chemicals are being used that could
very easily, and often have been known to, pollute their wells and air.
So I am asking you to please strengthen the existing rules to include:
+ New Rule III full disclosure and an easily accessible web site listing of
fracking fluids for each well which are clearly labeled.
+ Let landowners know if gas and oil and coal extraction companies are
moving into their surrounding neighborhoods.
+ Change in Rule II Disclosure #4, which circumvents the notification rule
and creates loopholes for avoiding disclosure and the intent of the law.
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