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Study Finds Chemicals In Residents Living Near Gas Wells

In this March 29, 2013, file photo, a worker helps monitor water pumping pressure and temperature, at a hydraulic fracturing and extraction site, outside Rifle, in western Colorado. The Colorado Supreme Court has struck down attempts by two cities to ban or delay fracking. The Monday, May 2, 2016, ruling is a victory for the oil and gas industry and for state officials who say only state government can regulate energy, not cities or counties. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/BRENNAN LINSLEY
In this March 29, 2013, file photo, a worker helps monitor water pumping pressure and temperature, at a hydraulic fracturing and extraction site, outside Rifle, in western Colorado. The Colorado Supreme Court has struck down attempts by two cities to ban or delay fracking. The Monday, May 2, 2016, ruling is a victory for the oil and gas industry and for state officials who say only state government can regulate energy, not cities or counties. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/BRENNAN LINSLEY

On Thursday, environmental health groups and community members from Pavillion, Wyoming released the first study of its kind linking chemicals released from gas and oil production sites to those in bodies of residents living near the wells. In the town of 240 residents and another 200 living east of the town, community members have railed against the EPA and state agencies to act on fracking activities in their communities for years. This report, however, is the first to track air pollutants from the gas wells in the residents themselves.

The report found that residents who live near the gas sites have a higher amount of the chemicals in their urine than the general population. Scientists focused on how oil and gas fields can pollute the air and how that pollution ends up in humans living nearby. That’s a point Wilma Subra, president of the Subra Company involved in the study, and other leaders in the study have been emphasizing.

“If you have contaminated air, you have no choice but to breathe it,” Subra, who has worked on environmental health research across the country, told ThinkProgress. “That’s why it is so important to help citizens understand the quality of the air they are breathing.”

This May 22, 2009 picture shows John Fenton, a farmer who lives near Pavillion in central Wyoming, near a tank used in natural gas extraction, in background. CREDIT: AP Photo/Bob Moen
This May 22, 2009 picture shows John Fenton, a farmer who lives near Pavillion in central Wyoming, near a tank used in natural gas extraction, in background. CREDIT: AP Photo/Bob Moen

John Fenton, a Pavillion resident and farmer, said in a release that his family “has experienced phantom odors, rashes, hair loss, respiratory conditions, neurological problems, epileptic seizures, cancer, and huge hits to how we think and reason.”

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In a 2014 presentation, he said “we went from living on a farm to living on a refinery.” His farm is within 350 feet of a gas well, according to the presentation. He first saw health impacts in his mother-in-law, who lost her sense of smell and taste. Later, his wife experienced similar symptoms. He goes on to explain many women often have neuropathy, men experience chronic fatigue and ringing in the ears, and children have nosebleeds and even kidney problems.

“This biomonitoring project was an opportunity to find out if the chemicals we know are in the air, are also in our bodies,” Fenton said.

The environmental health groups who worked on this study and past ones have been closely involved with the community. It’s critical for them to have some understanding of what is happening in their lives and their health, Subra said.

“They have to understand what they are experiencing,” she said. “We can show them that when you had these health impacts and when you smelled these odors,” these are the specific chemicals that were in the air at that time.

A rig drills an oil well for State College, Pa.-based Rex Energy about 15 miles east of Cheyenne on Aug. 4, 2010. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mead Gruver
A rig drills an oil well for State College, Pa.-based Rex Energy about 15 miles east of Cheyenne on Aug. 4, 2010. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mead Gruver

Eight chemicals were found in the air near Pavillion and the bodies of participants. These chemicals, termed by scientists as ‘volatile organic compounds’ (VOCs), are linked to several immediate and long-term health problems, including: eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches; lower cognitive function; loss of coordination and nausea; and damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system. Some VOCs are considered to be carcinogens. The study focused on a specific family of VOCs called BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylenes).

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For instance, the median level of “trans,transmuconic acid” (ttMA — a benzene chemical) in the residents of Pavillion was 10 times higher than the general population. For hippuric acid — a toulene chemical — the median level was 80 percent higher than the general population. Both of these are ranked as a substance of high concern according to the GreenScreen method. Benzene is highly carcinogenic and linked to gene mutation, reproductive toxicity, and developmental toxicity. Toulene is linked to reproductive and developmental toxicity.

The seemingly less serious issues linked with VOCs become serious when people have to deal with them every day.

“If you have a child that has a nosebleed every single day, it is so scary for the parents and that child,” Katie Huffling, Director of Programs at Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, told ThinkProgress. “Why can’t we get it to go away? What’s causing it?”

When it comes to small issues like this, “if you’re dealing with that day after day, and that’s where your home is, that can be a significant impact on your quality of life,” said Huffling, a nurse-midwife who worked to condense health data to engage health professionals on how to address the health impacts from gas and oil production sites.

Since the number of gas sites have sharply increased in recent years, there is no current scientific analysis on the health impact from long-term exposures to VOC mixtures around oil and gas sites, according to the report. To eliminate confounding factors, participants avoided everyday activities which lead to exposure of VOCs including filling car, truck, or tractor gas tanks, being around cigarette smoke, burning trash, driving farm equipment, and using pesticides or other household products with VOCs for the duration of the study.

Fracking’s Total Environmental Impact Is Staggering, Report FindsClimate by CREDIT: AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File The body of evidence is growing that fracking is not only bad for the…thinkprogress.orgThis study is a follow-up to a 2014 report in six different states which showed that some emissions near oil and gas sites in Wyoming were up to 7,000 times higher than the health standards set by U.S. federal environmental and health agencies.

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Another study released this week gathered data on methane and ozone-causing compounds released from new natural gas wells in western Colorado. Methane is a greenhouse gas released during the fracking process, leaks of which counteract the cleaner-burning natural gas’ climate benefits. On Tuesday, Colorado State University professor Jeff Collett released the study’s data to be used in later studies to analyze health impacts.

State officials will use the data in computer modeling to determine the health risks, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Mike Van Dyke told the Associated Press. The state plans to complete the study by January 2018.

Past reports have already shown the environmental and health impacts from fracking, though the focus has usually been on water pollution. Other studies have shown that fracking has become the leading cause of earthquakes in Texas.

Recently, the EPA announced new regulations to lower methane emissions from fracking. On the new EPA announcement, Huffling said “we really applaud the EPA for taking this step,” but stresses that the regulations need to be adequately and quickly applied to existing wells and their emissions in order to help the communities already living in those areas.

Sydney is an intern with ThinkProgress.