Dear Mrs. Obama: We are mothers from all walks of life writing to you about an urgent matter: the health threats to our children posed by extreme forms of fossil fuel extraction, in particular, the process of drilling oil and natural gas using high-volume, hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking.”
The ongoing drilling and fracking boom has spurred the proliferation of drill rigs in
backyards, schoolyards, and family farms across America. These are places where our
children live, play, and learn. Even areas near daycare centers and summer camps have
been targeted for drilling and fracking, a process in which explosives and high-pressure
mixtures of water and chemicals are used to blast apart bedrock.
Because children cannot vote or make public policy, because children are more
vulnerable than adults to toxic exposures, and because parents are charged with keeping
children safe and providing for their future, we, the undersigned mothers, have joined
with scientists, pediatricians, and public health officials in calling for a moratorium on
fracking until the potential effects on children’s health and the environment can be
carefully studied.1 Right now, demonstration of safety does not exist.
We are concerned about air pollution. Smog levels are high in communities near drilling
and fracking sites.2 This kind of air pollution is linked to childhood asthma, lost school
days, and higher health care costs.3 It is also linked to low birth weight and preterm
birth.4
We are concerned about drinking water. Methane contamination of family drinking water
wells has occurred near gas wells in Pennsylvania. Benzene and other chemicals used
during natural gas operations have been detected in groundwater near gas drilling
operations in Wyoming.5