Why renewable energy needs to supplant fracking and its dangerous waste byproducts [Video]

Among disturbing revelations in the May 5 story, “Taxpayers paying to clean up someone else’s mess,” is that there are 250 Class II injection wells in Ohio, “each housing millions of gallons of brine at high pressure underground.” Also concerning are “tens of thousands” of abandoned production wells in our state, potential conduits for fracking waste to flow from leaky injection wells to the surface, as occurred with waste stored in wells owned by State Sen. Brian Chavez.

In his new book, “Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It,” science journalist Justin Nobel shows that brine waste – an unavoidable by-product of oil and gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – is extremely hazardous. It contains carcinogens, toxic chemicals and, often, radioactive elements, yet is not classed as hazardous, and thus avoids labeling and regulations that could protect workers and the environment. One trillion gallons per yearof toxic fracking waste is the dangerous burden of an industry Sen. Chavez says …