Aruba Petroleum–remember them–is going to trial today. They are saying this is the first fracking trial in the U.S. and I was there, up close and personal, the whole time.
Bob and Lisa Parr were neighbors to Tim and Christine Ruggiero in Wise County. I was there, in the Ruggiero kitchen, the day Lisa discovered that her timeline of doctor’s visits matched–exactly–Christine’s timeline of releases from the Aruba gas wells on her property.
I was often on the Ruggiero property and sometimes on the Parrs’. I saw the suffering of both families and experienced my own health impacts when I visited. I gave tours to journalists, government officials, environmentalists and others so they could witness for themselves the impacts of fracking. The people on the tours often got headaches and sore throats while we were.
The Ruggiero and Parr case studies were included in Flowback: How the Texas Natural Gas Boom Affects Health and Safety and I presented these case studies to the EPA at Research Triangle Park and in DC.
This is Bob, Lisa and Emma Parr on their wedding day on the 40 acres where Bob built a beautiful custom home.
This is a picture of what their life became shortly after.
They were surrounded by gas wells.
Lisa’s suffered from
- Breathing difficulties
- Nausea
- Rashes that left her scarred with pock-marks.
- She had biopsies of the oozing welts on her scalp and the 4 ping-pong-ball-sized lumps on her neck.
- Testing showed drilling chemicals in Lisa’s blood and lungs that match chemicals detected by the state in air testing outside her home.
- She had a whole host of other ailments.
I didn’t realize that this is the first time a fracking case has gone to trial. I guess that’s because the rest of the lawsuits get buried here:
