Frack Check WV » school children

New Studies of Fracking and Childhood Cancer Authorized in Pennsylvania

Diana Gooding — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 08:04:32 +0000

Could fracking be to blame for spike in childhood cancers ... (KDKA/CBS)

Pennsylvania To Spend $3M To Study Possible Link Between Fracking And Spike In Childhood Cancer

From an Article by KDKA News 2, CBS Network, November 22, 2019

HARRISBURG (KDKA/AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says his administration will spend $3 million on a pair of studies to explore the potential health impacts of the natural gas industry.

Wolf is taking action after months of impassioned pleas by the families of pediatric cancer patients who live in the most heavily drilled region of the state.

Dozens of children and young adults have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and other forms of cancer in a four-county area outside Pittsburgh.

Ewing has no known environmental cause, but the families have been pressing the Wolf administration for an investigation into any possible link between this extremely rare form of bone cancer and shale gas development.

Wolf says the research will address “the concern that there is a relationship between hydraulic fracturing and childhood cancers.”

The full statement of Gov. Tom Wolf reads as follows:

“I want to thank the families that have shared their heartbreaking stories. I understand and support the concerns of parents and desire of community members to learn more about the possible reasons for these cancer cases. Ewing Sarcoma is rare and currently has no known environmental cause, but it is imperative that we do all that we can to thoroughly research and advance the science on the health effects of oil and gas extraction.

“Secretary of Health Levine and her team, including the commonwealth’s top epidemiological experts, have done diligent work to explore possible avenues to look more closely at available science. To further their efforts, I am directing the Department of Health to undertake two research projects that will help to better understand the possible health effects related to the natural gas industry, in particular as they pertain to confirmed cases of Ewing Sarcoma and other childhood cancers in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“This investment will advance science by building upon previous research and investigating the concern that there is a relationship between hydraulic fracturing and childhood cancers. I believe this is a responsible way for the commonwealth to undertake additional research in this area.”

State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine released this statement:

“It is essential to better understand the scientific evidence of public health issues related to hydraulic fracturing. These studies will provide us with a more in-depth understanding of this issue than we have been able to do with the resources at our disposal. I want to thank Gov. Wolf for his continued commitment to public health and finding solutions using the best data available.”

The news of the funding for the studies comes one day after a KDKA Investigation aired into whether there could be a link between fracking and a spike in childhood cancer.

Emotions are running high throughout the four-county area of Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties, and at a recent meeting in Canon-McMillan High School’s Auditorium.

With fewer than 250 cases of Ewing sarcoma recorded annually in the United States, parents and family members believe they are living in a cancer cluster and the shale gas industry is to blame.

A panel of public health experts couldn’t draw that connection. Citing a department study, a state Health Department director said that while the number of childhood cancers may seem high in the region, they are not out of line with the rest of the state and do not constitute a cluster.

Against the perception, the Health Department says over the 10-year time period, the number of cancers is not “statistically significant.”

A Ewing sarcoma doctor from UPMC indicated that the cancer is primarily genetic in nature and mostly related to family history, but while current research does not show a link to environmental causes, retired pediatrician Dr. Ned Ketyer does not find that persuasive.

“The fact that there is no known environmental factor associated with the development of Ewing Sarcoma does not mean there is no environmental factor in the development of Ewing Sarcoma,” Dr. Ketyer said. “It just hasn’t been studied. The cancer is very rare.”

If environment is a factor, you could cite several other potential health threats. The region has long hosted the coal industry, industrial farming chemicals, and even an abandoned uranium disposal site.

However, environmental advocates say the spike in these cancers matches the decade-long rise of fracking and shale gas drilling.

“We’ve been living with that uranium depot for decades, we’ve been living with these chemicals. There’s one thing that’s new, there’s one thing that’s different and that’s fracked gas,” he said.

Marcellus Shale Gas Well Planned Near High School in Marshall County

Duane Nichols — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 13:51:25 +0000

: Cameron High School

Even at a legal distance, officials express concern about gas well

From Article & Photo by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, August 8, 2013

Cameron, WV – When Cameron High School students and employees returned to classes on August 1, they may not have realized a natural gas well could soon be drilled just up the hill from campus.

According to Marshall County Schools Superintendent Michael Hince and Cameron Assistant Principal Wyatt O’Neil, Trans Energy plans to drill and frack near the school, which just opened for its first regular school year under its modified calendar schedule.”I don’t want to overreact, but I don’t want to underreact either,” said Hince. “I am concerned about the exit strategy. We need to see some sort of an evacuation plan.”

O’Neil said he believes the well site is roughly 1/2 mile, or 2,640 feet, from the school, which would exceed the 625-foot distance the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection requires wells to be from “occupied dwellings.” Nevertheless, concerns regarding potential accidents at the well site remain for Hince and O’Neil.

“What if there is some sort of an explosion? Does that mean we have to stop air flow into our building?” Hince wondered. “I don’t know if having it there will be detrimental to the school itself, but the real concern is if something should happen.”

DEP records show Trans Energy of St. Marys, WV, is seeking a permit to drill a well in the Cameron District of Marshall County on property in the name of Woodruff. “We’ve never had any problems with them,” Marshall County Office of Emergency Management Assistant Director Michael Mucheck said of Trans Energy. “They regularly attend our energy task force meetings. They quickly responded to some road issues we notified them about.”

This is not the first time Northern Panhandle school officials have expressed concerns about companies planning natural gas wells in close proximity to school buildings. Last year, Chesapeake Energy wanted to sink a well about 1,300 feet away from Wheeling Park High School on property owned by the Parks System Trust Fund of Wheeling. This organization’s trustees are the members of the Wheeling Park Commission, which oversees Oglebay Park.

Following public outcry, the Ohio County Board of Education filed official objections with the DEP. More than 310 people also signed an online petition to stop the well. Chesapeake officials eventually withdrew the permit application, noting they would retrieve the gas via another well pad.

WPHS houses nearly 2,000 ninth through 12th grade students and employees each day; by comparison, CHS has only about 350 students in seventh through 12th grades. “Strength in numbers,” said O’Neil regarding the objections that prompted Chesapeake to abandon plans to drill near WPHS. “It will be harder to stop something like this out here.”

Hince said he has not yet spoken with anyone from Trans Energy regarding the plans, but he will keep trying to do so.

O’Neil said even without an accident at the well site, its presence is likely to cause frustrations for students and teachers. He said related truck traffic – which could include dozens of water, sand and equipment trucks daily – likely will be turning off U.S. 250 onto Clouston Road, which runs past the school. “The geography is the problem out here. The traffic from the gas and oil companies is changing everything,” he said. “We used to ride bikes on the road, but I wouldn’t do it now.”

Cameron Mayor Julie Beresford and Delegate David Evans, R-Marshall, recently expressed similar concerns, noting they are seeking help from the West Virginia Division of Highways regarding road conditions and traffic.

O’Neil said he is glad to see new development in the area and is happy to see mineral owners collect lease and royalty payments. Still, he said Cameron “is just not the same place” it was when he was a high school student a little more than a decade ago.

The drilling boom “is an adjustment for all of us,” he said.