Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas have all recorded massively increased air pollution as a result of fracking, including local concentrations of toxic hydrocarbons fumes as well as region-wide ozone pollution, with residents suffering headaches, sore throats, nosebleeds, dizziness and breathing difficulties. Continue reading
Infra-Red Image Of A Frack Pad In The Barnett Shale, Texas Showing Hydrocarbon Fumes (Invisible To Naked Eye) Boiling Off Condensate Tanks (Click To Enlarge)
What’s Behind Surging Ozone Pollution in Texas? Study to Weigh Role of Fracking in Health Hazard (Inside Climate News, October 2013) In San Antonio, the steepest increase in ozone, a hazardous air pollutant that causes serious respiratory problems, coincides with the boom in the Eagle Ford shale
As air pollution from fracking rises, EPA to set rules (Lake Wylie Pilot, August 2013) Fracking has led to giant compressor stations, drilling rigs and huge flares in the middle of communities exposing people to variety of air pollution includes the fumes breathed in by people nearby, as well as smog spread over a wide region and emissions of the greenhouse gas methane
‘Let’s learn from the past’: Pam Judy speaks out on the health impacts of compressor stations (Protecting Our Waters, March 2013) Family in Green County, Pennsylvania who live 780 feet from a compressor station suffering headaches, sore throats, nosebleeds, vertigo, mouth blisters, some of which have landed them in the emergency room
Air emissions near natural gas drilling sites may contribute to health problems (Medical News, March 2012) Researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health have found a number of toxic, and carcinogenic, petroleum hydrocarbons in the air near fracking wells including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene, which cause acute and chronic health problems for those living nearby
First Study of Its Kind Detects 44 Hazardous Air Pollutants at Gas Drilling Sites (Inside Climate News, December 2012) A new study detected more than 50 chemicals, including 44 with reported health effects, in the air near fracking sites in Garfield County, Colorado, an area with little other industry aside from natural gas production
Like Wyoming, Utah finds high wintertime ozone pollution near oil, gas wells (Denver Post, February 2012) In 2010 and 2011, ozone air pollution which can impair breathing and has until recently been an urban issue, soared in the Uintah Basin, Utah where 10,000 wells have been drilled, with the phenomenon also seen in Wyoming, raising concerns that such pollution could become more widespread
Wyoming plagued by big-city problem: smog (Washington Post, March 2011) In western Wyoming, once famous for its crisp mountain air, people are now complaining of watery eyes, shortness of breath and bloody noses because of ozone levels that have exceeded Los Angeles on its worst pollution days, due to the expansion gas drilling in the region