Air Pollution From Fracking May be Life-Threatening/ Fracking Waste in CA Aquifers

New Study Finds Life-Threatening Formaldehyde Levels at Fracking Sites

by Amanda Frank, 11/5/2014   Center for Effective Government

People living near fracking sites have reported health problems for years, with symptoms ranging from respiratory ailments to birth defects. But because air and water quality are often not monitored near fracking sites, surprisingly little is known about the overall public health impacts of the gas drilling process. To help fill the knowledge gap, a new study explores air quality at fracking sites across several states and finds numerous instances of toxic chemicals above national safety standards.
Coming Clean and Global Community Monitor conducted the air quality study in six states – Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wyoming. It is the first peer-reviewed study on air pollution from fracking that uses samples from multiple U.S. sites.

 

Breathing Toxic Air

Local residents collected air samples near fracking wells and production pads, as well as wastewater pools and processing stations. (In New York, for example, samples were collected near compressor stations on natural gas pipelines, as the state currently has a moratorium on fracking.)
An accredited laboratory analyzed the samples for the presence of nearly 100 toxic chemical compounds, with alarming results. Twenty-nine out of 76 samples analyzed (38 percent) found toxic chemicals at levels that exceed federal health and safety standards. Those chemicals included:

• Hydrogen sulfide, a deadly gas that has killed oil workers in the field
• Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing substance
• Benzene, also known to cause cancer
• 1,3-butadiene, a skin and eye irritant that can also effect the neurological system
• Toluene, which can cause neurological effects
• Ethylbenzene, which can affect development
• Mixed xylenes, which can bring on headaches and respiratory problems
• N-hexane, which is found in crude oil and is capable of causing neurological and reproductive issues

In Wyoming, seven sites tested positive for hydrogen sulfide at levels two to 660 times what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers life-threatening.

In Arkansas, seven samples tested positive for formaldehyde at levels up to 60 times what EPA classifies as cancer-causing.

Two other states also had chemicals at levels exceeding these standards, including hydrogen sulfide in Colorado and formaldehyde and benzene in Pennsylvania.... read more here

Waste Water from Oil Fracking Injected into Clean Aquifers

California Dept. of Conservation Deputy Director admits that errors were made

By Stephen Stock, Liza Meak, Mark Villarreal and Scott Pham   11/14/14    NBC Bay Area 

--video also at site--

State officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump nearly three billion gallons of waste water into underground aquifers that could have been used for drinking water or irrigation.

Those aquifers are supposed to be off-limits to that kind of activity, protected by the EPA.

“It’s inexcusable,” said Hollin Kretzmann, at the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco. “At (a) time when California is experiencing one of the worst droughts in history, we’re allowing oil companies to contaminate what could otherwise be very useful ground water resources for irrigation and for drinking. It’s possible these aquifers are now contaminated irreparably.”.... read more here

also see this October Blog post: 

California aquifers contaminated with billions of gallons of fracking wastewater

 

Air Quality Problems at Canada Oil-Rail Terminal

An Irving Oil storage facility and crude rail cars are photographed at the edge of Courtenay Bay

Irving downplays air quality problems at Canada oil-rail terminal

Reuters     By Richard Valdmanis    Nov 20, 2014 
 
Irving Oil has told regulators that recent air quality testing it commissioned around its oil-by-rail terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada's largest such facility, shows no cause for public health concern.

Irving commissioned the study after it was flooded with complaints from residents of the eastern province's most populous city last winter about powerful smells wafting toward downtown when trains unloaded their cargoes.....

.... Irving's air quality study, conducted by engineering firm Stantec, used standards used by other provinces because New Brunswick does not have ambient air quality limits for benzene, a known carcinogen found in oil, the documents said. It showed levels of benzene rose above Ontario's 24-hour limit in one out of six tests between March and July, and exceeded Alberta's one-hour limit in one out of 31 tests over the same period.

The summary also provided results for three other pollutants, none of which exceeded other provinces' limits, and said results collected for another 68 pollutants were withheld for the sake of brevity. A Stantec spokeswoman declined to provide the full study to Reuters. An Irving official did not respond to requests for comment.... read more here

What Happened When a Hazardous Substance Train Derailed on a Puget Sound Beach | Sightline Daily

Eric de Place  11/21/14

If you’ve ever wondered how an oil train derailment might go down on the shores of Puget Sound, it might look a bit like the winter night derailment in 2011 that spilled sodium hydroxide on a beach at Chambers Bay south of Tacoma. It was hardly the kind of disaster that has resulted from oil trains derailing, but it still makes for a rather instructive lesson in how these things happen.....
read more here 

 

Nov 1: Health Impacts of Oil Trains & Terminals- panel discussion

NY: UAlbany professor finds elevated benzene near Albany rail yard

 

The Legislative Gazette  Oct 6, 2014      By KEITH J. FERRANTE, Gazette staff writer

 

According to a report submitted September 30 to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, residents of Albany's south end neighborhood face a significantly greater risk of cancer and other diseases because of chronic exposure to toxic pollutants associated with crude oil operations.
 

The report was written by Dr. David Carpenter, the director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the State University of New York at Albany.

According to the DEC's own air quality monitoring data in the area, benzene levels exceed the long-term health standard. Benzene is a known human carcinogen.

Carpenter's report criticizes DEC's August 2014 conclusion that the air in the South End does not raise a public concern. The results indicate that benzene levels in 20 out of 21 air samples exceeded the long-term benzene exposure standard, and the mean value for all samples is nearly three times the long-term benzene standard. The report also says that benzene is only one of a number of toxic pollutants, called volatile organic compounds, that were measured at high levels in the area....

 

read more here 

Canada considers special fund for Oil by Rail insurance; Railroad delays first responders on riverside oil spill

Workers stand before mangled tanker cars on July 13, at the crash site of a train derailment and fire in Lac-Megantic, Quebec

Canada may spread oil-by-rail insurance burden, mulls special fund

Sep 23, 2014   By Randall Palmer  (Reuters) 

- The Canadian government is looking at extending the insurance burden for crude-by-rail disasters beyond just railways and is weighing the idea of a special fund similar to one once set up for maritime oil spills, a government official said.....

The country's Conservative government pledged last year to make railways carry more insurance to deal with such disasters, but is coming around to the idea that it is unrealistic for the industry to bear the entire cost, said the official....

"The taxpayer should not have to fund the cost of damages after an incident," said Raitt's press secretary, Jana Regimbal.

Railways and other groups have argued shippers and brokers should also have adequate insurance, and even then some say it may be necessary to set up a separate fund.....

read more here

Derailed: Railroad delays first responders on riverside oil spill 

kdvr.com September 22, 2014, by Chris Halsne        -video at site- 

DENVER — FOX31 Denver has confirmed a May 9 crude oil train car derailment near LaSalle, Colorado polluted area groundwater with toxic levels of benzene.

Environmental Protection Agency records from July show benzene measurements as high as 144 parts per billion near the crash site. Five parts per billion is considered the safe limit.

Federal accident records also show six Union Pacific tankers ripped apart from the train and flipped into a ditch due to a “track misalignment caused by a soft roadbed.” One of the tankers cracked and spilled approximately7,000 gallons of Niobrara crude, according to the EPA....

... According to federal authorities, the Union Pacific oil tanker which rolled, cracked and then spewed thousands of gallons of crude onto the ground in May’s accident is considered a DOT 111 design....

....According to a federal report, the accident happened at around 8 a.m. on May 9.

FOX31 Denver pulled call logs surrounding the accident and found Union Pacific first notified the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at 9:10 am.

Radio traffic shows Weld County fire crews and emergency managers were still scrambling another hour later, trying to figure out exactly where the accident had occurred and whether oil was leaking into the South Platte River.

Rudisill told FOX31 Denver, “A quicker phone call, quicker communication, faster communication to local jurisdiction would have been prudent in my opinion. Now we’ve had two incidents out there. What can we do to make sure the proper actions are taking place so we don’t have another one?”...
read more here