20 years on, fracking鈥檚 potential health impacts eyed
Editor鈥檚 note: This is the fourth in a series of stories reflecting on 20 years of gas drilling in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Twenty years after the first gas well was fracked on the Renz farm in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County, a body of evidence points to the possible correlation between the drilling technique and health harms, ranging from cancers, respiratory ailments, lower birth weights, and cardiovascular disease.
The industry maintains that drilling for natural gas is safe, but an increasing number of studies suggests that fracking poses a threat to public health, say public health groups and health professionals.
Last October, the ninth edition of the fracking science compendium, which includes more than 2,300 peer-reviewed medical and scientific papers, media investigations and government reports, was released and concluded that fracking poses serious health issues.
Included in the compendium was a set of three studies completed in early 2023 by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, conducted after dozens of concerned community members in Southwestern Pennsylvania demanded an investigation into the cause of more than 67 rare cancer cases, including Ewing sarcoma, in a four-county area.
According to the PA Health and Environment Study, released in August of 2023, children living within a mile of a well had a five to seven times greater risk of developing lymphoma.
Additionally, people with asthma living within 10 miles of wells during the production phase had a four to five times greater chance of their asthma worsening. And babies whose mothers lived within 10 miles had higher odds of being born underweight and small for gestational age, the study states.
Another study, conducted by Yale University in 2022, showed that young children living about a mile from natural gas wells were two to three times more likely to develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia than children who do not live near a gas development.
鈥淭he science is in. Study after study shows fracking can鈥檛 be done safely anywhere, including in Pennsylvania,鈥 said Dr. Ned Ketyer, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania and who lives in Washington County, the most heavily fracked county in the state. 鈥淟ook, we have enough scientific and medical studies, we have enough data to say fracking is dangerous, and the closer you live to it, the higher the risk to you and your family.鈥
Pennsylvania is the nation鈥檚 second-largest natural gas producer after Texas.
Industry groups, including Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Pittsburgh-based organization for the natural gas industry, dismiss several shale gas studies as ambiguous studies filled with suspect statists used by opponents that 鈥済oal-seek the desired conclusions.鈥
They maintain there is no evidence that fracking harms public health or contaminates groundwater or air, and that natural gas is safely and responsibly extracted.
The coalition said that the Pitt study, in particular, carried 鈥渟ignificant flaws, including no new research being conducted nor actual site-level measurements taken,鈥 and pointed out that the study found no link between unconventional natural gas activity and childhood leukemia, brain or bone cancers.
鈥淧rotecting the health and safety of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we operate is our highest priority. As an industry rooted in science and engineering, we take objective and transparent research seriously. Research based on actual field monitoring by qualified professionals in Pennsylvania and across the nation demonstrates that natural gas development is protective of public health and the environment,鈥 said David Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, in an email.
鈥淚n fact, because of this safe development, increased use of natural gas has reduced air pollutants detrimental to human health, along with greenhouse gas emissions, and has delivered up to $1 trillion in public health benefits for Pennsylvania residents. Our industry鈥檚 commitment to health and safety is second to none, and our members will continue to responsibly develop clean, reliable, domestic natural gas that is essential to modern life.鈥
It also pointed to findings from 鈥渄ozens of peer reviewed studies that confirm natural gas is developed safely and responsibly鈥 and to recent results of air emissions monitoring at well pads as part of CNX Resources鈥 鈥淩adical Transparency鈥 initiative that, the company said, shows emissions readily meet science-based air quality standards.
Said CNX Resources Chief Risk Officer Hayley Scott at an address at last month鈥檚 Shale Insight Conference in Erie, 鈥淲e all want to do everything we can to keep our communities (which includes us) safe.鈥
Safety questioned
But a number of residents in the region who have experienced illnesses since fracking boomed question fracking鈥檚 safety.
Ketyer and other local health advocates argue that while they can鈥檛 prove causation, 鈥減ublic health research is designed to find correlations and associations, and not establish causation,鈥 and that there is, indeed, a link.
During the fracking process, natural gas is extracted by drilling thousands of feet underground and injecting massive amounts of water and a mix of chemicals to break up layers of shale rock. According to studies, people who live near production and distribution sites are exposed to pollutants including benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, diesel exhaust, fine particles, and nitrous oxides, all of which can impact health and contaminate soil, water and air.
Ketyer and other experts worry that those living near fracking wells and infrastructure including compressor stations and pipelines in Southwestern Pennsylvania are paying a heavy price.
Jodi Borello, a community organizer for the nonprofit Center for Coalfield Justice and co-founder of MAD-FACTS (Moms and Dads 鈥 Family Awareness of Cancer Threat Spike), contends that she, her family and neighbors have suffered health problems since a well pad and pigging station were placed 1,500 feet from her South Franklin Township home in 2011.
鈥淎lmost immediately we started smelling things, and all of us had issues. We had nose bleeds, sinus issues, dizziness, headaches, nausea, rashes that covered our bodies,鈥 said Borello, a mother of three who started to keep a journal detailing the family鈥檚 symptoms.
Starting in 2012, Borello said, emissions were vented from the pigging station seven days a week, three times a day for nearly a decade.
She said she installed a Dilos monitor (an air-quality monitor that measures particulates) in her son鈥檚 bedroom that once recorded particulate pollution nearly 900 times the level deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Borello鈥檚 testimony at the 43rd statewide grand jury was a key part of the two-year investigation that, in 2020, called out the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health for 鈥渇ailing to oversee the fracking industry and fulfilling their responsibility to protect Pennsylvanians from the inherent risks of industry operations.鈥
The grand jury made eight recommendations to better protect Pennsylvanians.
Those recommendations included expanding setbacks from 500 feet to 2,500 feet from homes and 5,000 feet from schools and hospitals, and disclosing all chemicals used during drilling and fracking 鈥 something the gas industry is not required to do for 鈥減roprietary鈥 reasons.
But Alison Steele, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Environmental Health Project, said meaningful action has lagged in Harrisburg. The 2,500-foot buffer proposal 鈥 which the gas industry says would effectively shut down drilling 鈥 remains stuck in the House of Representatives.
鈥淲e have a mountain of studies pointing to health harms, but we鈥檙e still not seeing enough of a meaningful health protective response from the government, from people who are tasked with protecting the health of Pennsylvania鈥檚 residents,鈥 said Steele. 鈥淲e have a massive gap between what is known in the scientific community about the health harms of fracking, and how that is being reflected in health protective policy.鈥
Bryan Latkanich of Deemston said his life 鈥渉as been a nightmare鈥 since Chevron put a well pad and pump station on his property in 2013.
鈥淚t has sucked all the joy out of life,鈥 said Latkanich, a former counselor at Washington County jail who is now on disability and battling a host of illnesses, including a brain tumor, stage four kidney failure, and congestive heart failure.
Latkanich鈥檚 14-year-old son, Ryan 鈥 who broke out in a rash and welts when his mom bathed him in April 2013 鈥 has been diagnosed with severe asthma and suffered from incontinence, ringing in his ears, and other health issues.
Latkanich is suing Chevron in Washington County Court, claiming he and his son were sickened after the company drilled the natural gas well on the property.
鈥淚 remember I stepped into the water after Ryan got out of the tub and it was the slipperiest substance I felt. It did not feel right,鈥 he recalled. 鈥淎nd that was the beginning of all of this.鈥
A toxicology study of Latkanich鈥檚 and Ryan鈥檚 urine and saliva showed the presence of high levels of benzene and styrene in their bodies, and additional tests showed Ryan had been exposed to hydrocarbons and radiation, Latkanich said.
鈥淚 worry about my son. The anxiety and stress from this is off the charts,鈥 said Latkanich. 鈥淢y health is destroyed, my house is destroyed. I don鈥檛 want anyone else to have to go through what I鈥檓 going through.鈥
鈥楢n accidental advocate鈥
Janice Blanock, of Cecil Township, who co-founded MAD-FACTS at Center for Coalfield Justice with Borello, calls herself 鈥渁n accidental advocate.鈥
In 2016, her 19-year-old son, Luke, died from Ewing sarcoma. Only about 200 cases of Ewing sarcoma are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, but 27 cases 鈥 including six in the Canon-McMillan School District 鈥 were diagnosed in Southwestern Pennsylvania during a 10-year period.
Blanock, who suspects Luke鈥檚 illness was linked to fracking, said, 鈥渢here are enough studies that show kids are getting sick.鈥
Through MAD-FACTS, Blanock and Borello promote common sense solutions to help protect families who live near fracking, and to educate others about fracking.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 aware of what fracking was. When Jodi and I created (MAD-FACTS), we wanted parents to be informed. Sometimes you feel like you鈥檙e taking three steps forward but get knocked back one or two, but you just keep pushing forward and spreading the word and getting people involved. We鈥檝e got to do it together, we鈥檝e got to do it as a team,鈥 said Blanock.
鈥淚 lost an exceptional child. He could have been a great leader in this world and we certainly need those now, so I鈥檒l keep pushing on.鈥
Blanock said she would like Gov. Josh Shapiro 鈥 who as Pennsylvania鈥檚 attorney general said there was a need to hold oil and gas companies to account 鈥 to put the eight grand jury recommendations into action.
Borello, along with Lois Bower-Bjornson, a field organizer with Clean Air Council who hosts 鈥淔rackland Tours鈥 in Washington County to give elected officials and members of the media a first-hand account of what it is like to live near fracking and related operations, travel monthly to Harrisburg.
They set up a MAD-FACTS table, organize meetings with legislators and do drop-in visits.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really relationship-building with legislators, getting to know them and letting them know what鈥檚 happening. They see us and they know us, and we鈥檝e been met with positive responses and we鈥檝e been met with negative responses,鈥 said Bower-Bjornson, who started the tours after her family 鈥 including her four children 鈥 started getting sick with nosebleeds, rashes, and swollen limbs, when natural gas compression stations were built within a mile of her home. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance to get our message out,鈥 she said.
On Nov. 4, Cecil Township supervisors are set to vote on changing the oil and gas ordinance that would place surface drilling operations 2,500 feet away from 鈥減rotected structures,鈥 but waive that distance if all homeowners within that buffer zone agree to permit drilling.
Josh and Michelle Stonemark, who live about 530 feet away from a well pad in the township, plan to attend the meeting. The couple moved into what they thought was their dream home around Christmas of 2018, and drilling began in 2020.
鈥淓very time they drill, it鈥檚 24/7 noise, the smells, it鈥檚 not sleeping, it鈥檚 constant anxiety about whether or not my kids are going to get sick,鈥 said Michelle Stonemark.
She said she and her husband and their three children have experienced health problems, which she declined to disclose.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbearable at times,鈥 said Stonemark, who has installed two air monitors in the family鈥檚 back yard. 鈥淚 want people to know that these problems are real. We have seen the impacts, we have dealt with them. We鈥檙e being impacted on a daily basis. They exist.鈥
Lisa DePaoli, communications director at Center for Coalfield Justice, said it鈥檚 critical to work for policy change, especially with the Appalachian hydrogen hub on the horizon.
DePaoli said CCJ isn鈥檛 seeking to stop fracking (although other groups would like an outright ban), but wants to make sure regulations are in place that will better protect the communities where fracking takes place.
She pointed to a recent poll conducted by the Ohio River Valley Institute and Upswing Research & Strategy that suggests Pennsylvanians are open to stricter regulations on the fracking industry. The survey of 700 likely voters across the state showed that 90% of respondents support measures such as requiring fracking companies to disclose all chemicals used and increasing the distance between fracking operations and schools. It also found that 80% of respondents support classifying fracking fluids as hazardous materials. A majority of Pennsylvanians (58%) oppose a complete ban on fracking.
鈥淲e recognize we can鈥檛 just stop fracking because, first, we need the energy, and second, we don鈥檛 want anyone to lose their jobs, but there has to be a just transition toward cleaner energy sources,鈥 said DePaoli.