Strange Hum and Underground Vibration

I came upon a disturbing article in a local village magazine about "fracking" also known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) which involves injecting huge volumes of water into underground natural gas wells in order to release the trapped gas. I personally had never heard of this drilling practice (although I noted that there were a few previous posts here on ATS) but something about it made me wonder if it's possibly the cause of the unusual hum and underground vibrations that many of us have felt and discussed. Also, I live in the Metro NY area, about 20 miles from the Indian Point nuclear power facility, and as I read through the various articles linked together below, it REALLY got my attention.

Keep in mind that this drilling technique is being practiced throughout the United States. Information about, and the perils of, fracking are documented by filmmaker Josh Fox in his film Gasland, which was the winner of the Special Jury Prize - Best US Documentary Feature at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered on HBO this past summer.

You can view the film's HBO trailer here:

The following is a link to the film's website which is filled with a plethora of information:
www.gaslandthemovie.com...

A link to the referenced magazine is www.nyackvillager.com... and this is the first article entitled "The News on Fracking Gets Worse":

In Gasland, filmmaker, Josh Fox, describes the unintended consequences of the relatively new drilling method, known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, (hydrofracking). The process injects huge amounts of water into natural gas wells to release the gas that formed underground eons ago and lies trapped deep in the Earth in countless tiny bubbles, between thin layers of shale. Each well that is fracked can produce a million gallons of wastewater laced with corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, which occur naturally underground in many places. The risks are particularly severe in Pennsylvania, with 71,000 active gas wells. Though sewage treatment plant operators say they are incapable of removing enough radioactive contaminants to meet federal drinking-water standards, drillers trucked at least half of their waste to public sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania in 2008 and 2009, according to state officials. Some of it was sent on to other states, including New York and West Virginia, discharged into rivers, sometimes just miles upstream from drinking-water intake plants. Energy companies are clamoring to drill—and they are getting rare support from some environmentalists, who say using natural gas will help slow climate change and help wean the U.S. off Middle Eastern oil. Where fracking has gone unchecked, some frightening consequences have been recorded. As the film, “Gasland,” shows, there are places where, if you touch a match to the water flowing from a kitchen faucet, the water bursts into flames.

It gets even scarier in the next article entitled "Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?":

As though this were not enough to worry about, comes news that seismologists suspect activities related to fracking may be linked to earthquakes. The State of Arkansas experienced a cluster of small quakes in the vicinity of two “injection wells” used to dispose of waste fluid from natural gas production. There were about 100 earthquakes during fracking operations, including the largest quake to hit the state in 35 years, a magnitude 4.7 on February 27.

[align=center][atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5f540cc8e0ec.jpg[/atsimg][/align]

A dozen quakes were of magnitudes 3.0 or greater. This has special significance for the Hudson Valley and Indian Point. (See story, New Fault Discovered at Indian Point). Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 41, creating a partial moratorium on fracking, urgently needs to be extended.

Lastly, the final article, "New Fault Discovered at Indian Point", explains my concern regarding the facility (one of many actually) and adds an additional layer to the hazardous picture:

A study by a group of prominent seismologists based at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, indicates “the risk of earthquakes … is substantially greater than formerly believed.”

The previously unknown active seismic zone runs from Stamford, Connecticut to Peekskill, NY, where it passes less than a mile north of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

It crosses the Ramapo Seismic Zone, which runs from eastern Pennsylvania to the mid-Hudson Valley, passing within a mile or two northwest of Indian Point. The Ramapo fault has been known to exist since 1884.

It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City, in the village of Buchanan, NY just south of Peekskill. The troubled nuclear power company started operations in September, 1962.

Upon reading and reviewing all of this data, my own cautionary radar has increased expotentionally and I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about this. Feel free to post any comments or arguments that either support or allay these concerns...

BTW, this is only my second original post so I ask that you overlook if I messed up on some of the embedded items.

I've actually watched this documentary and let me tell you I found it most chilling on what we are doing to this planet. This is happening everywhere, not just America.

Egads, you mean there actually might be an explination for this nightmare of buzzing that will not leave my ear. Thank you so much, now if only I could stop it. I am in Queens not to far from the LIE and I have been hearing the buzzing most of my life but figured it was power lines with electricty noise because medical has been dismissed. It increased not only in volume but went up a bit about a month to a month and a half ago. Also it spiked last night twice. If you caught the channel 11 Emergancy broadcast system buzz last night it hit the pitch that I hear for about 5 seconds. It was not fun and very painful.

Now time to go research a bit more, maybe I can find the buzz buster and stop hearing the ring....

Ainge

Excellent find, although very frightening. The things we have done to the planet in the last 5 years is staggering. How can we continue like this!?

Great post but alot of this has been posted in the arkansas earthquake thread
Im interested to see if we have some different input because i read the whole thread
going to keep an eye on this one SnF

reply to post by Ainge


A bit of news that might be helpful as well.

thelinknewspaper.ca...
These chemicals, if not illegally deposited into fields and streams, are seeping into the clean water supply and contaminating not only the earth and its natural systems, but also communities.

Thanks to former American Vice President Dick Cheney, the “Halliburton Loophole” ensures that fracking is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. The industry’s frack water is a trade secret but, as Gasland finds, that isn’t stopping people from getting their own answers, as painful as they may be.

Victims of bad fracking are experiencing headaches, ringing in their ears, disorientation, dizziness, asthma, brain damage, loss of body control, excruciating body aches and the loss of smell and taste. The film is so powerful that, even as a spectator, I was afraid to drink the tap water in my own home that is supposed to be clean and fresh.

reply to post by ed1320
One of the many problems about having such a huge membership at ATS but one we can all live with; too much or redundancy of information definitely beats not enough information. I obviously missed the Arkansas thread and will definitely check it out but what's really chilled me is the discovery of this new fault line and following the dots from fracking to earthquakes to... Ridiculously suspicious of me, I know, but I don't even want to say the words. Thanks for the heads up on the other thread.

Timidgal

reply to post by Ainge
This is insanity. Most of the time there's a level of relief in knowing the cause of illness or discomfort but in this case, it's just crazy...

Timidgal

It is rather disturbing to say the least. Here is a link to the Arkansas thread on the swarms and the fracking:

Arkansas Earthquake Swarm & Fracking Thread

Also within the state of NY there is a very active organization that has managed to get a moratorium on fracking in the Buffalo area. Frack Action Buffalo

From the website above there is a page that anyone from anywhere in the US can sign a petition against fracking:
National Petition

And here is a petition from the same site that is addressed specifically to Gov. Cuomo: NY State Petition

I would urge anyone who is concerned about this to reach out to whoever will listen and get them, as well as yourself, as active as possible to get this dangerous practice stopped, for all of our sakes as well as for the sake of the generations after us.

- MMIMO

reply to post by MyMindIsMyOwn
Thanks for the direction and the links. Looks like I have a bit of reading and petitioning to do...

Timidgal

reply to post by timidgal


Timidgal,

I totally agree. The noise actually went down a bit now it is at a low hum but they are running huge planes out of JFK and have been since 9 am. About 3 an hour. Been quiet for the most part until today.
I will say this buzzing issue does mess with food, balance, etc because I am experiencing it. Really sucks.
In this case knowing definantly does not help, because there is not much we can do about it.

Ainge

reply to post by timidgal



Ok that was frustrating and most annoying, apparently the video is not available for my country??? Very not cool.
Can somebody please explain to me why people do this?

Do they let you hear the humming sound in the video? I would have liked to hear if it sounds the same as all the other recent posts about the humming sound.

The only thing I have with this theory, fracking has been going on for quite some time now, yet the humming sounds that people have been recording is recent. Shouldn't they have been hearing it from the get go of fracking starting?

Whichever way, fracking is evil, and now Shell wants to start here in SA Maybe I shouldn't get started, I am totally exploding with pent up anger and frustration and seriously feel like taking matters into my own hands to stop these evil monsters. I just need to keep reminding myself, "Fenix, taking matters into your own hands is only going to land your butt in jail and and the world is going to see you as an extrmist" *sigh*. Conclusion I come to every time after this little process: we need to stand together, force them from the oil rigs and where they're fracking and turn off the machines, occupy it and disassemble them. We need numbers for that to work though, so we need to get a grip and start standing together. Enough griping and time for action.