Comprehending Health Implications of Natural Gas Development Through Public Health Research Roxana Witter, MD, MSPH [email protected] American Public Health Association October 30, 2012 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO |
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Transcript Comprehending Health Implications of Natural Gas Development Through Public Health Research Roxana Witter, MD, MSPH [email protected] American Public Health Association October 30, 2012 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO |
Comprehending Health Implications
of Natural Gas Development Through
Public Health Research
Roxana Witter, MD, MSPH
[email protected]
American Public Health Association
October 30, 2012
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO | COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY | UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO
Natural Gas-Shale Gas-Unconventional Gas
• 2010-2035:
– 29 % increase in NG
production
– Most of the increase
is in shale gas
Public Health Research and LiteratureIn its infancy
• Environment Health Perspectives News, 2011
– Review of water, air, regulatory, concerns and lack of
health effects studies
• Finkel, 2011 AJPH Commentary
– Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals
• Known: dangerous; some unknown
• Multiple pathways for exposure
• Guidotti, 2011 Arch Enviro Occ Health Editorial
– Scientific uncertainty
– Risk- risk tradeoffs
• climate change vs. local environmental degradation
Policy Responses to Public Health
Concerns
• Colorado sketches out proposed oil, gas setback rules
– September 24, 2012
• State Health department won't enforce all oil and gas well
clean-air rules
– October 18, 2012
• New York State Plans Health Review as It Weighs Gas
Drilling
– September 20, 2012
Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Bill
February 14, 2012
• Restrict drilling within 1000 ft of a public water
supply
• Double distance from water wells
– 250 ft
500 ft
• Operator’s presumptive liability for pollution and
water loss
– 1,000 ft
2,500 ft
Hazards to Public Health
• Chemical
– Water
– Air
• Physical
– Noise
– Traffic
• Community
– Population changes
– Physical changes
• Psychosocial
– Stress
• Susceptible
subpopulations
•
•
•
•
•
Children
Elderly
Fetus
Chronic Disease
Poor
Concerns About Water
• Quantity
– 1-2 million gallons/drill
– 2-5 million gallons/hydraulic fracture
• Quality
– Chemicals
• Hydraulic fracturing, drilling, naturally occurring
– Contamination of ground water and surface water
• Disposal
– Salts, metals, hydrocarbons, radioactivity (NORM)
– Earthquakes
Water-recent Studies and Data
Pennsylvania
Osborne, 2011 PNAS, Warner, 2012 PNAS
• Active gas areas
– Methane
concentrations in
drinking water higher
close to gas wells
• Geochemical
evidence for natural
fractures between
shale gas formations
and shallow aquifers
– Increased risk for
contamination,
especially for fugitive
gases
Water-Recent Studies and Data
Pavillion, Wyoming EPA http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/
• Chemicals found in drinking
water aquifer
• Consistent with NG
operations
• Organic and inorganic
chemicals
• NG activities enhanced gas
migration to aquifer
• Deep source of
contamination (wells,
fracturing)
– High pH, salts, petroleum
hydrocarbons (BTEX
gasoline range organics,
trimethylbenzenes) synthetic
organic compounds
(isopropanol, di&triethylene
glycol)
• Shallow source of
contamination (pits)
– Benzene, xylenes, gasoline
range and diesel range
organics in shallow ground
water
USGS repeated analysis from 2 sites: similar findings
/http://fracfocus.org
Colorado Oil and Gas Association
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
“an industry-led
voluntary Baseline
Groundwater Quality
Sampling Program …”
“to demonstrate that
drilling operations are
safe and do not
compromise the quality
of Colorado’s important
water resources.”
http://cogcc.state.co.us/COGIS/EnviroSample.asp?facid=750115
Water Contamination- Risk Analysis
Rozell, 2012 Risk Analysis
• Probability bounds analysis
• Modeled 5 possible water contamination
pathways
– Casing failure, fracture migrations, surface
contamination, transportation, disposal
• Wastewater disposal poses highest risk (by
several orders of magnitude)
Wastewater Management
Wastewater
• Drilling fluids
• Flowback water
• Produced water
•
•
•
•
•
Hydrocarbons, BTEX,
fracturing chemicals, salts,
metals, NORM, barite
•
Spray on roads, lands
Evaporation pits
Discharge to dry/flowing
streambeds
(Municipal wastewater treatment)
Deep injection wells (EPA
regulated)
Commercial treatment
Reuse/recycling
Daily Kos.com
Wastewater Contamination
Balba, 2012 Chemosphere
• High levels of arsenic
and selenium in
Marcellus shale
• High volume hydraulic
fracturing could
mobilized these
chemicals into
wastewater, posing
environmental hazard.
Newsworks.org
Air Quality
• On site
– Silica, Diesel exhaust, BTEX, PM, glutaraldehyde
• Near pad
– Diesel exhaust, BTEX, PM (PAH, SO4)
• Regional
– Ozone
• Global
– Methane
BOLD= Preliminary data of levels
Silica
NIOSH & OSHA
• OSHA-NIOSH HAZARD
ALERT
• 11 sites in AR, CO, ND,
PA, TX
• 116 Personal breathing
zone, full shift samples
• Exceeded OSHA PEL,
NIOSH REL, ACGIH TLV
• 31% w/ levels above what
respirator could handle
http://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/hydraulic_frac_hazard_alert.html
Centers for Disease Control
Local Air Quality
(near pad) Mckenzie, 2012 Sci Total Environ
Health Risk Assessment
• EPA screening assumptions
• 24 samples from near well pad
National Geographic
• 163 samples from ambient air in NG
area
• Risk of sub-chronic and chronic non- Contributing Chemicals
• Aliphatic hydrocarbons
cancer health effects elevated
• Trimethylbenzenes
• Excess cancer risk slightly higher
• Benzene
• Xylene
• 1,3 Butadiene
• Ethylbenzene
Suspected Effects on Pets, Livestock,
Humans
Bamberger, 2012 New Solutions
•
•
•
Case series (24)
Animal owners in six states (CO,
LA, NY, OH, PA, TX)
Water exposures
– Well casing failures, blowouts,
wastewater dumping and leakage,
fracturing/drilling chemical spills
•
Air exposures
– Flares, compressor station
•
Animal health effects
– Reproduction, milk production, poor
condition (skin, GI, urological,
respiratory, neurological), death
•
Human (owner) effects
– Respiratory, neurological, skin, GI
Frank Finan
Regional Wintertime Ozone
Wyoming, Utah Schnell, 2009 Nature Geoscience
NOx from combustion
Sunlight
Snow reflection
VOC from wells, tanks,
compressors
Ozone
NAAQS 75 ppb
100-125 ppb
JENNIFER FRAZIER
http://deq.state.wy.us/aqd/Ozone%20Main.asp
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_20042330
Predicted Regional Ozone Impacts in
TX and LA
Kembal-Cook, 2010 Enviro Sci Technology
• Ozone Impacts of
Natural Gas
Development in the
Haynesville Shale
– Increases of 5 ppb
from increased
precursors 2 to NG
FIGURE 4. Twelve km grid ozone modeling results: a) Episode average difference in daily maximum 8-h ozone (ppb): Haynesville
Low Secenario-2012 Baseline and b) Episode average difference in daily maximum 8-h ozone (ppb): Haynesville High Scenario-2012
Baseline and c) Episode maximum difference in daily maximum 8-h ozone (ppb): Haynesville Low Scenario-2012 Baseline and d)
Episode maximum difference in daily maximum 8-h ozone (ppb): Haynesville High Scenario-2012 Baseline.
Global Climate Change & NG Lifecycle
Topic of much debate and uncertainty
NG Combustion
• Less CO2
emissions than
coal
– Also less
mercury into
the
atmosphere
NG Whole lifecycle
• Methane 20x
stronger GHG
• Methane leakage
–
–
–
–
Extraction
Processing
Distribution
Inefficient engines
Lifecycle GHG Emissions
Based on emission estimates
• Howarth, 2011 Climatic Change
– Shale gas > conventional gas> coal
• Weber, 2012 Environ Sci Technol
– Shale gas = conventional gas < coal
• Burnham 2012 Environ. Sci Technol
– Shale gas = conventional gas < coal
• Alvarez, 2012 PNAS
– NG < coal (electricity generation);
– NG > gasoline, diesel (transportation)
• Due to inefficient engines and leaky distribution system
CO2 emissions from
power plants
decreased in 2009
relative to 2008, due
to cheaper NG
Lu, 2012 Environ. Sci. Technol.
Methane Leaks
http://www.picarro.com/about_picarro/
Nathan Phillips, Picarro
Measurements of GHG in Atmosphere
Greater than Estimates
• Katzenstein, et al 2003
• Methane and other hydrocarbon emissions
from oil and gas fields underestimated
• Petron, 2012 J Geophysical Atmospheres
• Methane from Natural Gas activities in
Colorado likely underestimated by a factor of 2
Planned Research
• University of Colorado
– Air and water quality, social science, human health, information
technology, outreach and education
• Colorado State University
– Assess air emissions and dispersion of drilling, hydraulic fracturing,
flowback in Garfield County, CO
– Data released in 2015
• Geisinger Health System
– Pennsylvania integrated health care delivery system
– Longitudinal dataset of health outcomes for researchers to determine
NG related health outcomes
– Health, environmental, community, occupational data
Thank You!