New studies on fracking, toxic exposure

Fracking criticism spreads, even in Alberta and Texas

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"It was beautiful up until fracking started," said Nielle Hawkwood. Nielle and Howard Hawkwood say their ranch outside Cochrane, Alta., northwest of Calgary, hasn't been the same since 2009, when fracking began. Water started tasting strange and cows began to die off in large numbers. Instead of an average of two to three cows per year, they were losing closer to 20. By the spring of 2011, Nielle Hawkwood noticed her hair falling out in clumps every spring. They had their soil tested and found a three-fold increase in the amount of chlorine, nitrogen and phosphorus. The testing also showed a large increase in the concentration of strontium and uranium. The Hawkwoods blame fracking.

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In a March 2015 study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health, researchers took six-hour average measurements of air pollution instead of the traditional 24-hour averages. They found pollution levels tend to spike at certain times of the day and under certain weather conditions, which previous studies had ignored. The study found that the closer people live to drilling sites and other gas production facilities, the more likely they are to exhibit symptoms of toxic exposure. The study was based on observed conditions in Washington County, Pa., population 28,000, using emissions reports from nearby fracking sites and weather conditions over 14 months. The researchers also compared illness reports to the weather conditions and time of day. They found that residents living in the area would have 300 toxic-level exposures, more than enough to account for the reported illnesses. The most common health effects reported for residents living near fracking sites include shortness of breath, coughing, chronic fatigue and skin burning.

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...even in Texas, where Big Oil reigns supreme, there are concerns. Last year, the Lubbock Board of Health released a report focusing on the human health impacts of air and water pollution as a result of fracking. It found that volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, associated with fracking could be linked to increased rates of leukemia and possible fetal abnormalities. VOCs, chemicals found naturally in oil and gas, are also used to fracture wells. They include benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene. The report found at six sites, 15 of 17 measurements of benzene alone were exceeding the allowable limit of one part per million for 15 minutes of exposure. The wells were giving off 200 times that. Through examining more than 100,000 births between 1996 and 2009 in rural Colorado, the report concluded that babies born within a high concentration of wells saw a 30 per cent increase in congenital heart disease.

(CBC)

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