Diesel Frack Sand Truck & Hill Side Gas Well Pad

Study finds lower birth weight babies near Penna. gas sites

From an Article by Ken Ward, Jr., Charleston Gazette, June 3, 2015

Women living close to a high-density of natural gas operations were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights than women living farther from such operations, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

The study from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health does not argue that proximity to gas wells caused the lower birth rates, but reports an “association” that emphasizes the need for more and larger such examinations to “evaluate the potential public health significance” of the boom in natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region.

“These things are important clues that more work needs to be done,” said Bruce Pitt, chairman of Pitt’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. “There really is a dearth of evidence-based research.”

While the Pitt study focused on wells in three southwestern Pennsylvania counties, it comes as West Virginia citizen groups continue to push for the state to act on a series of legislatively mandated reports that concluded more protections are needed for residents in the areas where Marcellus gas production has been booming.

“It is past time for the state to act on the recommendations of the studies mandated by the Horizontal Well Control Act, which include air quality monitoring to control emissions,” said Julie Archer, project manager for the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization.

In the Pitt study, researchers cross-referenced the birth outcomes for more than 15,000 babies born in Washington, Westmoreland and Butler counties between 2007 and 2010 with the proximity of their mother’s homes to wells drilled using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies. They divided the data into four groups, depending on the number and proximity of wells within a 10-mile radius of the mother’s homes.

Mothers whose homes were closest to a high density of wells were 34 percent more likely to have babies who were “small for gestational age” than mothers whose homes fell in the bottom 25 percent, the study said.

The term “small for gestational age” means refers to babies whose birth weight ranks them below the smallest 10 percent of babies born at the same gestational age. The term is distinct from “low birth weight,” which is defined as a birth weight of less than 5.5 pounds, regardless of gestational age.

Generally, lower birth weight can put babies at risk of being born prematurely, and it can also be related to infections and a variety of chronic illnesses. The Pitt study, though, did not find a significant association between proximity and density of wells and prematurity. A previous study of 125,000 births in Colorado found an association between closer proximity to a density of wells and an increase in the prevalence of congenital heart defects, but also found an increase in birth weights associated with well density.

Authors of the Pitt study conceded that they didn’t have exact data about exposures to any pollution from wells, and used proximity as a surrogate for exposure figures. “Active drilling of a well occurs over a period of only a few months, so incorporating more specific timings of exposure will be critical in future work as further data become available as to the time period during which air or water exposures are most likely,” the study said.

Michael McCawley, a West Virginia University researcher who has been looking into gas drilling impacts in the state, said that the new Pitt study is consistent with the kinds of concerns his work has raised about impacts on public health and the need for more studies.

A new study by McCawley, for example, found that air pollution from truck traffic associated with drilling, hydraulic fracturing and gas production needs to be more closely examined for potential public health impacts.

“Not all of the pieces of the puzzle are there yet,” McCawley said Wednesday.

The Pitt study was published online Wednesday in PLOS ONE, a journal that is peer-reviewed but focuses on quick turnaround and publication of scientific papers once they are reviewed.

The study was funded by the Heinz Endowments, whose work supporting such research has been criticized by oil and gas industry groups, and shortly after the Pitt paper was published Wednesday, the Marcellus Shale Coalition posted a statement criticizing its methods and findings.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

WVU researchers to investigate methane emissions in shale gas development

From the article at The State Journal, Dec 06, 2013

A team of researchers at West Virginia University’s Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions will study the amount of methane emitted from dual fuel engines in the development of shale gas.

According to WVU, one of the biggest costs associated with shale gas development and utilization comes from the use of diesel fuel. Diesel engines power everything associated with well development, including the trucks that move equipment to a well site, the drilling rig itself and the compressors used for the hydraulic stimulation of wells.

Several companies are looking into possibly converting those engines to a mix of diesel and natural gas to reduce operating costs while using a domestic fuel source.

The WVU research team will look into the amount of methane emissions associated with dual fuel and dedicated natural gas technologies because of a $2 million grant from the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Andrew Nix, principal investigator and assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, will lead the CAFEE team, which has a history of conducting alternative fuels research, in collecting data from in-use equipment operating in the Marcellus Shale region.

“This collection will help us identify and quantify in-use fugitive methane emissions,” Nix said. “Our next step will be to develop test cycles to conduct additional laboratory testing at CAFEE’s Engines and Emissions Research Laboratory to mitigate fugitive methane.”

Extreme Levels of Benzene Floating Around

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, August 25, 2013

NEW MARTINSVILLE – Levels of carcinogenic benzene in the air 625 feet away from one natural gas drill site were so bad that a West Virginia University professor said he would recommend “respiratory protection.”

Although these extreme levels of benzene lasted for only about three hours at one particular site, Michael McCawley, chairman of the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at WVU, said the readings show that air emissions from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling need more regulation.

A West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection study – which the state Legislature requested and which included McCawley’s work – does not recommend any change to existing state law, noting “no additional legislative rules establishing special requirements need to be promulgated at this time.” The report concludes there are no indications of a public health emergency or threat based on air quality monitoring data.

However, McCawley said this is only a small part of the picture because the DEP study primarily dealt with whether the Legislature should extend the current 625-foot setback requirement for wells to be located away from occupied dwellings.
“Not everything happens at the center of the well pad, the way the Legislature seems to believe,” McCawley said. “Distance is less important than monitoring.”

In multiple legal advertisements during the past few years, natural gas producers have confirmed the “potential to discharge” various amounts of chemical substances, listed below, into the air on an annual basis from the operations at the natural gas wells and compressor stations:

>>>>> benzene, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, carbon dioxide equivalent, xylenes, toluene, formaldehyde.

McCawley studied the air near seven wells throughout the state, including five in Wetzel County, one in Brooke County and one in Marion County. Each well was in a different stage of development at the time he monitored them from July through October 2012.

He said benzene was the primary constituent that he found at the sites, though he does not believe all of this came from the well itself. “It appears the diesel activity at the well sites could be contributing to the readings we are seeing at the sites,” McCawley said.

For those who live in the rural areas near these well sites, such as Wetzel County Action Group member Bill Hughes, the time for more regulation is now. “These things are totally unregulated, unmonitored and unaccounted for,” Hughes said of the air emissions from well pads. “The diesel fumes are continuous and almost unbearable. My neighbors do not live in the country to constantly breath in diesel fumes.”

In terms of the immediate hazards for those living in the vicinity of natural gas wells, McCawley said, “There is cause for concern.” However, he said the Legislature does not have to change any rules to protect public health because he believes the DEP already has all the authority it needs. The DEP study determines the agency already has the “regulatory framework” to reduce air emissions from drilling. McCawley would like to see this put into action.

“The DEP could require companies to monitor their own air emissions as a way to control this,” he said. “That way, they could at least know when there is a problem.”

McCawley also said he is working with the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department to conduct a long-term study regarding how drilling is impacting Ohio County’s air quality. “You are not necessarily going to see benzene at well sites. But we need to know what is being emitted, how it is being emitted, and for how long it is being emitted,” he said.

Hughes agrees, noting his neighbors do not want their children or grandchildren to get sick from the fumes. “We will make no progress in minimizing the long-term regional air quality deterioration in our state until we formulate a process that requires all natural gas exploration and production companies to inventory and measure all emissions,” he added.