Fifth in a series
Re “Fracking: Meghan Stumps for the First Comprehensive Health Study”
[img]1154|right|Meghan Sahli-Wells||no_popup[/img]When an anti-fracking activist at the last City Council meeting cited five cases of cancer on a single block, Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells said, “It is appalling, appalling.”
She acknowledges that a comprehensive health study has not been conducted into fracking activities, even though widespread reports tie the controversial drilling method to declines in health.
“We live in a big city,” the vice mayor said. “A lot of traffic, a lot of air pollution from a lot of sources. What happens when you put all of these things together? It is dangerous.
“California has done a lot to improve air quality. It definitely is better than when I was growing up here and we had to stay indoors on bad smog days.
“But we still have a long way to go,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said. “Something like these enhanced drilling techniques, these proprietary chemical cocktails… All we are saying is:
“‘Study it first. Don’t unleash it without knowing what effect it is going to have.’
“For now, the one health study that has been done,” said the vice mayor, “is completely inadequate in my opinion and the opinion of many other people, even in the opinion of the people who did the study.
“It is unconscionable that the County would not provide enough money for a real comprehensive health study.”
(To be continued)
