Fracking Joe Camel gearing up for attack on Gasland II and health impacts.

Can you feel it?

 

The Fracking Joe Camels are uptight and working feverishly on their spin to discredit Gaslsnd II, which premeiring is on Sunday in New York. They’ve been, ah, hung up, on Gasland II for a good while now.

I’m going to predict that their attacks will be focused on health impacts because, as drilling expands, more people are having health complaints. And the one thing people value over money is their health.

For your convenience, I  put together just a smidgen of the evidence that fracking for shale oil and gas causes health impacts.

First let’s consider what we don’t know:

• Every chemical used at every stage of the entire process from clearing the pad site to delivering the gas to homes.
• Access to all the information hidden in the non-disclosure agreements victims had to sign in order to get their families to safety.
• Actual metered methane, NOx and other particulates,  and volatile organic compound and toxics releases from every stage of development.
• Toxicological studies.
• Tracking of waste from cradle to grave.
• Thorough testing of all waste produced.
• What happens when people are exposed to mixes of chemicals? There are exposure limits for various chemicals but no one knows what happens when people are exposed to mixtures of chemicals.  VIDEO

Second, what we do know:

• Toxic and carcinogenic chemicals are used in fracking and to produce shale oil & gas. VIDEO
• Emissions of VOCs and chemicals are released into the air at every stage of production. VIDEO
• Over 1,000 anecdotal stories of health impacts from the U.S. and stories from other countries.

Peer-reviewed scientific studies on health impacts: PSE

• Bamberger, M. & Oswald, R. (2012) Impacts of gas drilling on human and animal health. New Solutions, 22, 51-77.
• McKenzie, L. M., Witter, R. Z., Newman, L. S. & Adgate, J. L. (2012) Human health risk assessment of air emissions from development of unconventional natural gas resources. Sci Total Environ, 424, 79-87.

Peer-reviewed journal papers on health impacts:

• Simona L. Perry, Using Ethnography to Monitor the Community Health Implications of Onshore Unconventional Oil and Gas Developments: Examples from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, Volume 23, No. 1 — 2013
• Nadia Steinzor, Wilma Subra, and Lisa Sumi, Investigating Links between Shale Gas Development and Health Impacts Through a Community Survey Project in Pennsylvania, NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, Volume 23, No. 1 — 2013
• Stephen M. Penningroth, Matthew M. Yarrow, Abner X. Figueroa, Rebecca J. Bowen, and Soraya Delgado, Community-Based Risk Assessment of Water Contamination from High-Volume Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing, NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, Volume 23, No. 1 — 2013

Peer-reviewed scientific studies on exposure pathways: PSE

• Colborn, T., Kwiatkouwski, C., Schultz, K. & Bachran, M. (2011) Natural gas operations from a public health perspective. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 17, 1039-1056.
• Colborn, T., Schultz, K., Herrick, L. & Kwiatkowski, C. (2012) An Exploratory Study of Air Quality near Natural Gas Operations. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, In Press.
• Kemball-Cook, S., Bar-Ilan, A., Grant, J., Parker, L., Jung, J., Santamaria, W., Mathews, J. & Yarwood, G. (2010) Ozone Impacts of Natural Gas Development in the Haynesville Shale. Environ Sci Technol, 44, 9357–9363.
• Litovitz A, Curtright A, Abramzon S, Burger N, Samaras C. (2013) Estimation of regional airquality damages from Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania. Environmental Research Letters, 8, 014017.
• Olaguer, E. P. (2012) The potential near-source ozone impacts of upstream oil and gas industry emissions. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 62, 966-977.
• Osborn, S. G., Vengosh, A., Warner, N. R. & Jackson, R. B. (2011) Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 108, 8172-6.
• Pétron, G., Frost, G., Miller, B. R., Hirsch, A. I., Montzka, S. A., Karion, A., Trainer, M., Sweeney, C., Andrews, A. E., Miller, L., Kofler, J., Bar-Ilan, A., Dlugokencky, E. J., Patrick, L., Moore, C. T., Ryerson, T. B., Siso, C., Kolodzey, W., Lang, P. M., Conway, T., Novelli, P., Masarie, K., Hall, B., Guenther, D., Kitzis, D., Miller, J., Welsh, D., Wolfe, D., Neff, W. & Tans, P. (2012) Hydrocarbon emissions characterization in the Colorado Front Range: A pilot study. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 117, 1-19.
• Schnell, R. C., Oltmans, S. J., Neely, R. R., Endres, M. S., Molenar, J. V. & White, A. B. (2009) Rapid photochemical production of ozone at high concentrations in a rural site during winter. Nature Geoscience, 2, 120-122.
• US EPA (2012) Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion, Wyoming Phase V Sampling Event: Summary of Methods and Results. Denver, CO, United States Environmental Protection Agency.
• Warner, N., Jackson, R., Darrah, T., Osborn, S., Down, A., Zhao, K., White, A. & Vengosh, A. (2012) Geochemical evidence for possible natural migration of Marcellus Formation brine to shallow aquifers in Pennsylvania. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, Early Edition.

Emerging concerns:

• Report calls for investigation into environmental causes of breast cancer.
• Heart attack rates may be higher in areas of drilling and fracking.
• Too much fracking might give your children a dirty mind. 

 

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some important items so feel free to remind me.

UPDATE: Affirming Gasland
A de-debunking document in response to specious and misleading gas industry claims against the film.