DEATH BY CORPORATION: Dissolving the Planet for Oil

How are they getting oil out of tar sands?  Are the chemicals harmful?


hydrofluoric acid, or HF. It's not quite as depicted in Breaking Bad, but through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed, HF readily penetrates tissue, poisoning as it goes. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident, but because HF interferes with nerve function it can wreak systemic havoc, resulting in death. HF is likely still being used and stored by a refinery near you.
But just when you thought that the oil companies couldn't possibly put more poison into our air and water, do more damage to the earth, to our climate, to our future and our hope for survival, along comes "matrix acidizing," the oil industry's latest stroke of genius to extract oil from shale formations by literally disintegrating underground rock formations using - you guessed it, hydrofluoric acid.


http://truth-out.org/news/item/18369-mankind-death-by-corporation-part-iv-disintegrating-the-planet-for-oil