Key Assembly Member On Fracking Panel Calls For Health Study Do-Over | WXXI News
October 10, 2013
Key Assembly Member On Fracking Panel Calls For Health Study Do-Over | WXXI News.
The Social Costs of Fracking | Food & Water Watch
September 24, 2013
The Social Costs of Fracking | Food & Water Watch.
September 24th, 2013
The Social Costs of Fracking
Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom has brought thousands of new gas wells, a number of transient workers and a host of social problems. Food & Water Watch found that traffic accidents, civic disturbances and public health problems in rural Pennsylvania counties have increased since the shale rush began in 2005, diminishing the quality of life for residents of once-bucolic communities.
Economic downturns like the Great Recession are often associated with negative outcomes, but these social and public health costs increased more in rural counties with the new shale gas wells than in rural counties without shale gas drilling. These negative social impacts were especially pronounced in the counties with the highest density of shale gas wells.
The oil and gas industry has surged over the past decade by employing new techniques and technologies that combine horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) to extract gas from shale and other underground rock formations. Fracking injects large quantities of water, sand and toxic chemicals under high pressure to release gas tightly held in rock layers. Fracking has expanded rapidly in areas across the country, but Pennsylvania has been at the epicenter of the nation’s fracking boom, with nearly 5,000 shale gas wells drilled between 2005 and 2011.
The fracking boom has brought heavy trucks crowding rural roads and out-of-state workers flooding small towns, often overwhelming local housing, police and public health capacities. The influx of transient workers with disposable income and little to do in their off hours is a recipe for trouble in small-town America, where alcohol-related crimes, traffic accidents, emergency room visits and sexually transmitted infection have all been on the rise.
Much of the national discussion about fracking has focused on the obvious environmental risks, while the social costs of fracking have been largely ignored. This study is the first detailed, long-term analysis of the social costs of fracking borne by rural Pennsylvania communities.
EARTHWORKS | Reckless Endangerment While Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale| Reckless Endangerment in the Eagle Ford Shale
September 19, 2013
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Reckless Endangerment While Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale
Government fails, public health suffers and industry profits from the shale oil boom
Published: September 19, 2013
By: Sharon Wilson, Lisa Sumi, Wilma Subra
From the report SUMMARY (7 pages)
In an unprecedented investigation of oil and gas operations and government oversight in Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale, Earthworks reports a toxic mix of irresponsible industry operators and negligent regulators, and the families who suffer the consequences. Specifically, Reckless Endangerment while Fracking the Eagle Ford, reveals:
- Residents requested state regulators provide relief from oil and gas air pollution;
- Regulators discovered pollution so dangerous they evacuated themselves;
- Regulators took no subsequent action to warn or otherwise protect the residents at risk;
- Regulators took no subsequent action to penalize the responsible company;
- Residents continue to live with exposure to dangerous oil and gas air pollution.
Oil and gas operations in shale formations release chemicals to air, water, and soil that are hazardous to human health.
Government shares the blame for these releases because rules governing oil and gas development don’t protect the public. Adding insult to injury, state regulators don’t reliably enforce these rules. By failing to deter reckless operator behavior, regulators practically condone it, thereby increasing health risks for residents living near oil and gas development.
Report materials:
- Summary report (7 pages)
- Full report (47 pages)
- Press release
- Videos (interview with Cerny family, and infrared videos of invisible to naked eye pollution) – see below
- Pictures from the report
VIDEOS
NOTE: Apart from the Cerny’s interview, the following videos show emissions that are invisible to the naked eye. One otherwise wouldn’t suspect that the tanks and other infrastructure could be a threat to public health, but using a special FLIR GasFind infrared camera you can see the highly active volatile chemicals — like benzene — escaping into the air and crossing the fenceline. The camera does not quantify, nor does the camera speciate the compounds that are detected.
The Cernys tell their story
– See more at: http://www.earthworksaction.org/library/detail/reckless_endangerment_in_the_eagle_ford_shale#.UjtyLvmsim6
Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts:
July 10, 2013
Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts: prospective analyses from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE)
Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, Zorana J Andersen, Rob Beelen, Evangelia Samoli, Massimo Stafoggia, Gudrun Weinmayr, Barbara Hoffmann, Paul Fischer,
Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen, Bert Brunekreef, Wei W Xun, Klea Katsouyanni, Konstantina Dimakopoulou, Johan Sommar, Bertil Forsberg, Lars Modig,
Anna Oudin, Bente Oftedal, Per E Schwarze, Per Nafstad, Ulf De Faire, Nancy L Pedersen, Claes-Göran Östenson, Laura Fratiglioni, Johanna Penell,
Michal Korek, Göran Pershagen, Kirsten T Eriksen, Mette Sørensen, Anne Tjønneland, Thomas Ellermann, Marloes Eeftens, Petra H Peeters,
Kees Meliefste, Meng Wang, Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Timothy J Key, Kees de Hoogh, Hans Concin, Gabriele Nagel, Alice Vilier, Sara Grioni,
Vittorio Krogh, Ming-Yi Tsai, Fulvio Ricceri, Carlotta Sacerdote, Claudia Galassi, Enrica Migliore, Andrea Ranzi, Giulia Cesaroni, Chiara Badaloni,
Francesco Forastiere, Ibon Tamayo, Pilar Amiano, Miren Dorronsoro, Antonia Trichopoulou, ChristinaBamia, Paolo Vineis*, Gerard Hoek*
Summary
Background Ambient air pollution is suspected to cause lung cancer. We aimed to assess the association between
long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lung cancer incidence in European populations.
Methods This prospective analysis of data obtained by the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects used
data from 17 cohort studies based in nine European countries. Baseline addresses were geocoded and we assessed air
pollution by land-use regression models for particulate matter (PM) with diameter of less than 10 µm (PM10), less than
2·5 µm (PM2·5), and between 2·5 and 10 µm (PMcoarse), soot (PM2·5absorbance), nitrogen oxides, and two traffic indicators.
We used Cox regression models with adjustment for potential confounders for cohort-specific analyses and random
effects models for meta-analyses.
Findings The 312944 cohort members contributed 4013131 person-years at risk. During follow-up (mean 12·8 years),
2095 incident lung cancer cases were diagnosed. The meta-analyses showed a statistically significant association between
risk for lung cancer and PM10 (hazard ratio [HR] 1·22 [95% CI 1·03–1·45] per 10 µg/m³). For PM2·5 the HR was 1·18
(0·96–1·46) per 5 µg/m³. The same increments of PM10 and PM2·5 were associated with HRs for adenocarcinomas of the
lung of 1·51 (1·10–2·08) and 1·55 (1·05–2·29), respectively. An increase in road traffic of 4000 vehicle-km per day within
100 m of the residence was associated with an HR for lung cancer of 1·09 (0·99–1·21). The results showed no association
between lung cancer and nitrogen oxides concentration (HR 1·01 [0·95–1·07] per 20 µg/m³) or traffic intensity on the
nearest street (HR 1·00 [0·97–1·04] per 5000 vehicles per day).
Interpretation Particulate matter air pollution contributes to lung cancer incidence in Europe.
Funding European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.
Duke Study Finds Higher Gas Levels in Drinking Water Wells Near Marcellus Fracking Sites – EcoWatch: Cutting Edge Environmental News Service
June 24, 2013
Duke Study Finds Higher Gas Levels in Drinking Water Wells Near Marcellus Fracking Sites – EcoWatch: Cutting Edge Environmental News Service.
Counterpoint:
As expected, Energy in Depth (abgas industry group) has issued a critique of Duke University’s “Higher Levels of Stray Gases Found in Water Wells Near Shale Gas Sites”
*UPDATE* Four Things to Know about Duke Study #2
UPDATE (11:39 A.M. ET, 6/25/2013): This post originally suggested the Park Foundation financed the D…
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