A Hike Through The Dead Zone

June 24th, 2006 at 12:30pm Keith Hemstreet 8

It’s Saturday.  You pack up your family for a weekend hike in the White River National Forest.  A sign at the trailhead reads, “Natural Gas Exploration Area.  Enter At Your Own Risk.  Poisonous Gases May be Present.  If inhaled, gases may cause dizziness, blurred vision, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, internal bleeding, paralysis, and death.”

From the trailhead, you trek slowly through majestic evergreens, the smell of pine wisps through the air.  The trail gently meanders through a flower spotted meadow and into a forest of Aspens.  You take pleasure in your family’s enjoyment of nature in its pristine state.  This is a special place, sacred.  It allows one to reconnect with the soul.

Settling in the shade of an Aspen tree for a picnic, you get the sense that something isn’t quite right.  You hear is a rumbling sound coming from just over the ridge.  The sound of heavy machinery, of rocks being split, earth being mined.  Suddenly, you feel dizzy.  You’re vision blurs.  A wave of nausea comes over you.

“Kids,” you say.  “Time to put on your gas masks.”

Does this scenario seem like an exaggeration?  If the roadless areas are opened for development, it may not be an exaggeration at all.

To learn more about the harmful byproduct of gas exploration, click the article below, which claims that gas wells are killing the citizens who live nearby.

Aspen Daily News: “Something In The Air?”

Entry Filed under: Health, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Aspen, El Jebel, Environment, Pitkin County, Colorado, Crested Butte, Woody Creek, Rifle, Silt, Garfield County, Eagle County, Hiking, Outdoors