High Levels of Dangerous Chemicals Found in Air Near Oil and Gas Sites

[Octafish]

A five-state study raises new questions about the health impacts of the U.S. energy boom

by Jamie Smith Hopkins
The Center for Public Integrity, OCTOBER 30, 2014

EXCERPT...

The answer—in many of the areas monitored for the peer-reviewed study, published today in the journal Environmental Health—is "potentially dangerous compounds and chemical mixtures" that can make people feel ill and raise their risk of getting cancer.

"The implications for health effects are just enormous," said David O. Carpenter, the paper's senior author and director of the University at Albany's Institute for Health and the Environment.

The study monitored air at locations in five states: Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.

In 40 percent of the air samples, laboratory tests found benzene, formaldehyde, or other toxic substances associated with oil and gas production that were above levels the federal government considers safe for brief or longer-term exposure. Far above, in some cases.

SNIP...

The study comes amid a growing body of research suggesting that the country's ballooning oil and gas production—often next to homes and schools—could be endangering the health of people living or working nearby. For the past 18 months, the Center for Public Integrity and InsideClimate News have been investigating this topic, focusing mainly on the Eagle Ford Shale formation of south Texas.

A study published in Environmental Health Studies in September found that Pennsylvania residents living less than two-thirds of a mile from natural gas wells were much more likely to report skin and upper-respiratory problems than people living farther away.

CONTINUED w links, details, etc...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/10/141030-dangerous-chemicals-in-air-near-oil-and-gas-sites-study/#at_pco=cfd-1.0&at_ab=-&at_pos=2&at_tot=4&at_si=5452c6919c2144b0

Thank you, Cheney.

[pscot]

1. K&R

[Octafish]

4. PA residents living < 2/3 mile from well 'much more likely to report skin and upper-respiratory prob

A study published in Environmental Health Studies in September found that Pennsylvania residents living less than two-thirds of a mile from natural gas wells were much more likely to report skin and upper-respiratory problems than people living farther away.

PDF: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/advpub/2014/9/ehp.1307732.pdf

[Politicalboi]

2. But, But, EBOLAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're too busy following a rabid nurse in the countryside infecting everything she looks at and touches.

[Octafish]

5. Toxic Chemicals, Carcinogens Skyrocket Near Fracking Sites

The spikes almost certainly will lead to a cancer increase in surrounding areas, a study author says.

By Alan Neuhauser
U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 30, 2014 | 12:01 a.m. EDT

Oil and gas wells across the country are spewing “dangerous" cancer-causing chemicals into the air, according to a new study that further corroborates reports of health problems around hydraulic fracturing sites.

“This is a significant public health risk,” says Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany-State University of New York and lead author of the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Environmental Health. “Cancer has a long latency, so you’re not seeing an elevation in cancer in these communities. But five, 10, 15 years from now, elevation in cancer is almost certain to happen.”

Eight poisonous chemicals were found near wells and fracking sites in Arkansas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wyoming at levels that far exceeded recommended federal limits. Benzene, a carcinogen, was the most common, as was formaldehyde, which also has been linked to cancer. Hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs and can affect the brain and upper-respiratory system, also was found.

“I was amazed,” Carpenter says. “Five orders of magnitude over federal limits for benzene at one site – that’s just incredible. You could practically just light a match and have an explosion with that concentration.

“It’s an indication of how leaky these systems are.”

CONTROL...

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/10/30/toxic-chemicals-and-carcinogens-skyrocket-near-fracking-sites-study-says

Absolutely, Politicalboi. Were it not for Ebola, and all the rest of the scary and interesting things that bring fear and terror since 9-11 changed everything, we'd know that stuff.

[Politicalboi]

8. And we'd care more

We only seem to care when it's too late. Go Human's!

[seveneyes]

3. Fire found near fuel, oxidizer and sparks

It's like when I stub my toe it hurts.

Apologies in advance for any smart ass comments I made have made in the past or future.

[Octafish]

6. Explosive Environment

What's a few innocent bystanders when profit calls?

[Octafish]

7. These are worse than Gangster Times... worse than NAZI Times...

...these are BFEE Times, when those who own the Oil possess Global Power.

For proof, look around. Wars without end to profit those making the gear needed to fight them, spying on the entire American people in order to do who-knows-what with the information, welfare for Wall Street and penure the Middle Class, destroy all hope for the poor and any chance at opportunity other than imprisonment. Other than that, times aren't all that bad for the richest people.

[Oilwellian]

9. It's all about...

The Precious.

[Octafish]

12. A holistic system of systems...

Arthur Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU... WILL... ATONE! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that... perfect world... in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.

Howard Beale: Why me?

Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.

Howard Beale: I have seen the face of God.

Arthur Jensen: You just might be right, Mr. Beale.

[CanSocDem]

19. One of the great rants...

...from 'Tinseltown' that at the time seemed like over the top hyperbole. Not only were we unaware of the power of television generally, but it took a few more years for me to see that this was closer to reality than I had originally thought.

"The world is a business."

Indeed!


.

[seveneyes]

13. Games without frontiers, war without tears

[Octafish]

15. Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it.

Perhaps the good folks at the Skunkworks will come through, again:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/compact-fusion.html

[Agony]

10. not to mention the NORM being concentrated from the Marcellus and dumped in rivers and landfills.

[Octafish]

14. NORM? Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials? That NORM? Geezh.

Radionuclides in Fracking Wastewater: Managing a Toxic Blend

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-a50/

The stuff one learns on television. Not.

[sabrina 1]

11. "NASA Confirms US's 2500- square- mile Methane Cloud"

NASA Confirms US 2500-square-mile Methane Cloud



Flaring the Bakken shale with cows, North Dakota. Photo: Sarah Christianson / Earthworks via Flickr.

Floating over the US Southwest is a cloud of methane the size of Delaware, writes Mike G - reflecting the release of almost 600,000 tonnes of the powerful greenhouse gas every year. Its origins? Coalbed gas production, fracking and horizontal drilling.

When NASA researchers first saw data indicating a massive cloud of methane floating over the American Southwest, they found it so incredible that they dismissed it as an instrument error.

But as they continued analyzing data from the European Space Agency's Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography instrument from 2002 to 2012, the 'atmospheric hot spot' kept appearing.

The team at NASA was finally able to take a closer look, and have now concluded that there is in fact a 2,500-square-mile cloud of methane - roughly the size of Delaware - floating over the Four Corners region, where the borders of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all intersect.

We only have one planet. Whhat gets me that the greedy, unethical profiteers have to live here too. Do they think that their money will protect them from the results of their greed?

[Octafish]

16. Gosh. For some reason that news from Four Corners didn't make it onto my television screen.

U.S. Methane 'Hot Spot' Bigger than Expected

Oct. 9, 2014: One small “hot spot” in the U.S. Southwest is responsible for producing the largest concentration of the greenhouse gas methane seen over the United States – more than triple the standard ground-based estimate -- according to a new study of satellite data by scientists at NASA and the University of Michigan.

Methane is very efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere and, like carbon dioxide, it contributes to global warming. The hot spot, near the Four Corners intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, covers only about 2,500 square miles (6,500 square kilometers), or half the size of Connecticut.

In each of the seven years studied from 2003-2009, the area released about 0.59 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere. This is almost 3.5 times the estimate for the same area in the European Union’s widely used Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research.

In the study published online today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers used observations made by the European Space Agency’s Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument. SCIAMACHY measured greenhouse gases from 2002 to 2012. The atmospheric hot spot persisted throughout the study period. A ground station in the Total Carbon Column Observing Network, operated by the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, provided independent validation of the measurement.

To calculate the emissions rate that would be required to produce the observed concentration of methane in the air, the authors performed high-resolution regional simulations using a chemical transport model, which simulates how weather moves and changes airborne chemical compounds.

Research scientist Christian Frankenberg of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, first noticed the Four Corners signal years ago in SCIAMACHY data.

"We didn't focus on it because we weren't sure if it was a true signal or an instrument error," Frankenberg said.

The study's lead author, Eric Kort of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, noted the study period predates the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, near the hot spot. This indicates the methane emissions should not be attributed to fracking but instead to leaks in natural gas production and processing equipment in New Mexico's San Juan Basin, which is the most active coalbed methane production area in the country.

Natural gas is 95-98 percent methane. Methane is colorless and odorless, making leaks hard to detect without scientific instruments.

"The results are indicative that emissions from established fossil fuel harvesting techniques are greater than inventoried," Kort said. "There's been so much attention on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but we need to consider the industry as a whole."

Coalbed methane is gas that lines pores and cracks within coal. In underground coal mines, it is a deadly hazard that causes fatal explosions almost every year as it seeps out of the rock. After the U.S. energy crisis of the 1970s, techniques were invented to extract the methane from the coal and use it for fuel. By 2012, coalbed methane supplied about 8 percent of all natural gas in the United States.

Frankenberg noted that the study demonstrates the unique role space-based measurements can play in monitoring greenhouse gases.

"Satellite data cannot be as accurate as ground-based estimates, but [font color="green"]from space, there are no hiding places[/font color]," Frankenberg said.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/09oct_methanehotspot/

Thank you for the heads-up, sabrina 1. Washington really needs to get the heck out from under the thrall of Big Oil.

Regarding Them: Yes, they expect to survive. I know about their floating castles peddled by Frank Carlucci, CIA-Carlyle Group's Man in the Congo expert. What they have ready in secret, I can only imagine, my pay grade and security level being lower than an entry-level mailroom assistant's. My guess is a secret base on a remote island most likely, off-planet somewhat possibly.

[sabrina 1]

20. That news didn't make it on to my TV either. I was looking for something else when

I found that report. I imagine most Americans are completely unaware of this. I would imaging though that a good journalist would be following stories regarding Fracking considering what a huge issue it is. But apparently the media missed the story. OR, they are not allowed to publish news like this at a time when the US is pushing Natural Gas so hard.

As for them expecting to survive, that is interesting information. I imagine over time their floating castles, being they are still on the planet, would be affected also.

I have concluded, right or wrong, that these people are certifiably insane. Nothing else explains their willingness to harm this planet simply for profit. Their money won't be of much use to them should they succeed in destroying the atmosphere.

Maybe they do think they can all go to Mars. Sometimes I wonder if we didnt come from that planet initially and after destroying their atmosphere, the wealthy landed on this planet. It's just a theory, probably as insane as their theory that they can escape the harm they are doing here.

[Octafish]

21. I've think you've got something there.

Here in Motown, the Emergency Manager, appointed by a Koch appointed governor Snyder, ordered the power turned off on a 100-degree day a year ago to teach the people "a lesson" when it comes to privatization under bankruptcy. Like Governor Crispee over in Jersey, thousands were inconvenienced and many endangered as a result. The reporters at the dailies and the local news channels uttered near zip on the event, which shows you who they work for.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023669148

PS: Your theory is outstanding.

[JEB]

17. K&R for the original post and subsequent informative posts and links.

[RiverLover]

18. And then we have Forbes Mag calling Fracking fear Irrational

This is the type of campaign to win hearts & minds we're fighting against when dealing with the destructive FACTS of fracking...

Fear Is Not A Good Basis For Energy Policy (Fracking And Pipelines)

"...Similarly, bans on the hydraulic fracturing of shales (“fracking”) are on the ballot in a number of places, and most seem to be based on irrational fears and misinformation rather than consideration of the cost/benefit analysis. The presumption that all pollution near a fracking area comes from the fracking is common, as are the reliance on anecdotal stories about illness, most of which can’t be confirmed as related to the practice of fracking.

Again, with fracking widespread and supposedly high-risk, why can’t opponents come up with better evidence? Claims that cell phones caused brain tumors were quickly dismissed by the public who noted the ubiquitous nature of cell-phones and the rarity of brain tumors. Similar logic should be applied to questions relating to the energy industry."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellynch/2014/10/31/fear-is-not-a-good-basis-for-energy-policy-fracking-and-pipelines/

The lies sound so very rational, don't they? This is what makes the Oil industry backed media very dangerous.

[cwydro]

22. I read this too.

I mean. No shit, right?

This country is owned by corporations. I truly despair for us.