EPA-Approved Fracking Chemicals Include PFAS, a ‘Forever Chemical’

From an Article by Susan Phillips, The Allegheny Front, July 14, 2021

Companies that drill for natural gas in Pennsylvania have used EPA-approved PFAS or pre-cursors to PFAS in fracking operations in other states, according to a report by Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The report’s author, Dusty Horwitt, says that while he couldn’t find evidence the chemicals were used in Pennsylvania wells, Exxon/XTO Energy and Chevron are among the companies that have used it elsewhere. “We can’t be confident that we know everything that has been used in Pennsylvania,” Horwitt said.

That’s because Pennsylvania’s fracking disclosure law allows exemptions for trade secrets, and does not require drillers to disclose chemicals used to drill a well. The chemical disclosure requirements include the fracking process, which uses high-pressure water and chemicals to break up the shale rock and release the gas.

What are PFAS (per-fluoro-alkyl substances, fluorine containing complex organic compounds)?

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of 9,252 man-made chemicals, according to the EPA. They contain strong carbon-fluorine bonds that don’t break down easily in the environment, which has garnered them the nickname “forever chemicals.” The strength of the bond makes them useful for waterproofing and stain resistance. They are used to make teflon, food packaging and firefighting foam.

Some, including PFOA and PFOS, are no longer made in the U.S. But use of PFAS continues, and the chemicals have been detected at concerning levels in some water supplies, especially near military installations in Pennsylvania and across the country. Studies of some of the PFAS chemicals show a link to low birth weight, pre-eclampsia and increased cholesterol; exposure also causes impacts to liver, kidney and thyroid health.

There are no easy ways to break [PFAS] down. They are going to be with us forever.

PFAS Used in 1,200 Wells in Six States

The Physicians for Social Responsibility report, Fracking with “Forever Chemicals“, found evidence the substance was used in 1,200 wells in six states between 2012 and 2020. The group obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The American Petroleum Institute said PFAS use is limited.

“Although PFAS is not widely used in fracking and only at extremely low levels, API will continue to review available data and analyses to better understand and mitigate the use of these chemicals across the upstream segment,” API spokeswoman Bethany Aronhalt said. “We uphold long-standing procedures to transport, handle, and use chemicals safely, including well-bore integrity, chemical containment, science-based hazard assessments and other operational practices, and we will continue to use science-based measures to further protect health and safety.”

The public records PSR received included thousands of heavily redacted documents, including instances where the companies redacted their own name and chemical identification, or CAS, claiming a trade secret. The documents revealed EPA itself had questions about the approval in 2011:

“EPA has concerns that these degradation products will persist in the environment, could bioaccumulate or biomagnify, and could be toxic (PBT) to people, wild mammals, and birds based on data on analog chemicals, including PFOA and [REDACTED].”

Lack of Transparency is an Issue

The report highlights the difficulty of trying to find out information on the substances, which are often referred to differently in disclosure reports.

Linda Birnbaum, a toxicologist and the former head of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said transparency around fracking chemicals remains an issue despite the growing epidemiological evidence of impacts like low birth weight, linked to living near fracking sites. When it comes to PFAS, Birnbaum said, it’s ubiquitous and it causes a number of health impacts, including on both male and female reproduction.

“We don’t have just one source of exposure, but we’re also finding it’s just everywhere. PFAS are useful chemicals, they are very helpful for solubilization, and to prevent sticking,” she said. “The carbon fluorine bond is extremely difficult to make, barely exists in nature and there are no easy ways to break it down. They are going to be with us forever.”

Exposure to any fracking chemicals could happen at the well site, but studies have shown that wastewater transport can pose the greatest risk.

>> This story is produced in partnership with StateImpact Pennsylvania, a collaboration among The Allegheny Front, WPSU, WITF and WHYY to cover the commonwealth’s energy economy.

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See the Report here: New Report: Fracking with “Forever Chemicals” – Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Dusty Horwitt, July 12, 2021

PSR is proud to publish Fracking with “Forever Chemicals,” a report presenting previously unpublicized evidence that major oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, have used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or substances that could degrade into PFAS, in hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for oil and gas in more than 1,200 wells in six U.S. states.

Toxic in minuscule concentrations, these man-made chemicals accumulate inside the human body and do not break down in the environment – hence their nickname, “forever chemicals.” Various PFAS have been linked by the U.S. EPA to low infant birth weights, effects on the immune system, cancer, and hormone disruption.

Impoundments Create Public Risks

Environmentalists Call for New Study of Fracking Radiation

From an Article by Andrea Sears, Public News Service PA, December 24, 2015

Radium 226 found in fracking waste has a half-life of 1,600 years. (Delaware Riverkeeper Network)

Bristol, PA – Environmentalists say a state study of radiation in waste from gas drilling is inaccurate and incomplete. The PA Department of Environmental Protection study found little cause for concern about radioactive materials in waste from drilling operations.

But Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, says scientists have known for years, compared with other shale formations, Marcellus shale has high levels of radiation.

“The various scientific reports point out that when the Marcellus shale is fracked, that radioactivity, which is naturally occurring in those deep formations, comes back up to the surface,” says Carluccio.

The Network has published its own report, criticizing the PA-DEP study for inaccurate or incomplete sampling of rock cuttings and waste water, and failing to take action when radiation was detected. A lobbying organization for the gas drilling industry has dismissed the criticisms as “baseless.”

But according to Carluccio, the samples tested by the company hired to do the PA-DEP study may not reflect the true amounts of radiation present in the waste materials. ”For instance, where you have drill cuttings buried at well sites they basically took samples from the surface they did not do push probes,” says Carluccio.

Push probes, she says, would better sample radiation in the drill cuttings themselves and in the surrounding soil.

Carluccio says trucks carrying drilling waste to landfills sometimes set off radiation detectors and though the PA-DEP report said radiation levels in water that accumulates at these sites was too low to pose a health risk, Carluccio points out the amount of waste being buried at those sites continues to grow. “If radium 226 is ending up in the leachate at these landfills, then it’s ending up in our environment and it could even enter our drinking-water sources,” she says.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network says the PA-DEP study is so flawed that the agency needs to start over and conduct a whole new study.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net