Health concerns from oil and gas development
Oil and gas development has a long history in the United States. And in most areas where development has occurred or is occurring there are cases of people being exposed to chemicals used and hydrocarbons produced during drilling and production; and people getting sick.
For example, landowners throughout the gas fields of western Colorado, have complained of health problems they believe are caused by rapidly expanding natural gas development. Complaints include dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, sinus problems, eye and skin irritation and blistering. More severe concerns have included cancer, neurological disorders and acute chemical sensitivities.
Chemicals used in oil and gas development
The chemicals used to drill for and extract oil and gas have many known health effects associated with them.
The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) explores the health effects of products and chemicals used to produce oil and natural gas. These chemicals include toxic solvents, biocides, acids and others. To date, TEDX research has uncovered more than 450 chemicals used in five Western U.S states. More than 90% of the chemicals have potential health effects associated with exposure to them.
The need for disclosure of chemicals used
One of the most pressing public health issues related to oil and gas development is the lack of disclosure required by companies on all of the chemicals used during oil and gas drilling and production operations.
Not only does the prevent government agencies and citizens from being able to monitor and test for these chemicals in air, water and soil, it also presents problems for emergency responders to be able to adequately treat people who have been exposed to oil and gas chemicals. For example:
In April, 2008, a gas-field worker was rushed to a Durango, Colorado hospital after he came into contact with a hydraulic fracturing chemical. A nurse named Cathy Behr helped treat the worker, whose clothes were soaked in a sweet-smelling fluid from a chemical called ZetaFlow. A week later, Behr spent 30 hours in intensive care. She was diagnosed with chemical exposure. When Behr’s doctor called Marshall’s drilling company, Weatherford, to obtain a list of chemicals in the frac’ing fluid, Weatherford refused to disclose the chemical contents, saying it was a trade secret.
Spills and chemical releases
Spills, leaks and chemical releases of raw chemicals or oil and gas wastes have impacted land, water and air and human health. A partial listing of recent releases shows that the problem is chronic and ongoing:
- In June 2008, oil and gas wastes from two natural gas drilling operations were reported to have contaminated springs and streams. One spring had a noticeable sheen, and there were stained sediments along and some streams, as well as a strong hydrocarbon odor. A water sample collected by a rancher found levels of benzene and other hydrocarbons in a spring near Parachute, Colorado.
- In June 2008, several hundred gallons of diesel fuel leaked from a tank at a natural gas drilling operation into a wetland in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.
- In April 2008, a tank carrying fracturing fluids broke, spilling its chemicals contents and sending one spill clean-up worker to the hospital.
- In January 2008, one hundred gallons of a chemical called sulfolane inadvertently leaked from the Popco Oil and Gas facility near El Capitan, California. A gasket failure allowed the sulfolane to seep into the flowing waters of a nearby creek.
- Late in the evening on June 7, 2006, a spill of hydraulic fracturing fluid at a Halliburton facility in New Mexico created a toxic cloud that caused a mass evacuation of 200 residents from a nearby neighborhood.
- Between September and December 2005, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission documented 10 complaints from eight separate households related to odors emanating from natural gas well sites. These sites had overflowing tanks or open pits filled with condensate or hydraulic fracturing waste products. In some cases, the odors were so bad that people could not breathe if they went outside.
- On October 4, 2005, a valve on a wellhead failed, resulting in the release of more than a hundred gallons of flowback fluid that had returned to the surface from an hydraulic fracturing operation. The fluid sprayed into the air and drifted offsite, primarily onto pasture land, resulting in a visible coating that was as much as 1/2 inch thick.
- In June 2005, fumes filled the air and a yellow substance formed puddles along a roadside near Silt, Colorado after a tanker truck overturned. The truck was reportedly carrying 189 barrels of produced water and condensates (a hydrocarbon-containing byproduct of natural-gas drilling). Another truck crashed and spilled hydraulic fracturing fluids near Silt in October, 2007.
- In 2000, Koch Industries incurred the largest civil fine under federal environmental law to resolve claims related to more than 300 oil spills from its pipelines and oil facilities in six states. Between 1990 and 1997, crude oil and related products leaked from its pipelines into ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, or onto adjacent shorelines.
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) releases and exposures
Hydrogen sulfide releases can be fatal at high concentrations. And lower concentrations have been associated with brain damage and other health impacts. H2S is a known threat to worker health and safety. But citizens living in oil and gas communities across North America have also experienced health concerns and health problems related to hydrogen sulfide releases.
- The Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) has documented a string of releases of poisonous hydrogen sulfide from oil and gas installations that occurred between 1980 and 1997 in that state. Examples include 11 people being rushed to the hospital after hydrogen sulfide, intentionally released during a maintenance procedure, drifted from a gas well into nearby businesses. MLUI also documented at least 10 separate accidental releases leading to hundreds of people being forced to evacuate their homes; and releases of H2S from pipelines and processing plants that killed cattle.
- Big Oil in Small Town America documents a Michigan community's struggle to get oil and gas companies, and various government agencies charged with protecting citizens, to take responsibility for what the citizens claim were illegal emissions of hydrogen sulfide.
- In Concord, Ohio, residents smelled hydrogen sulfide believed to be associated with a nearby natural gas drilling rig. Residents reported nose bleeds, headaches, chemical bronchitis, and muscle spasms.
- A southern Alberta, Canada family has won the right to challenge the provincial energy regulator's approval of a new sour gas well near their home. Barbara Graff and her son are believed to have become extremely sensitive to low levels of chemicals due to H2S exposure from other sour gas wells in the area.
- In 2006, residents in Conecuh County, Alabama, began experiencing headaches, open sores, miscarriages and other health effects, which they believe are related to air and water contamination. In March, 2006, an oil and gas company operating in Conecuh County was fined for releasing unpermitted emissions of various compounds including hydrogen sulfide.
- State regulators received complaints from several individuals about irritated eyes, nosebleeds and respiratory difficulties after a gas well near Paradox, Colorado vented toxic fumes. Residents reported smelling sulphur, and having symptoms such as burning eyes, throat and lungs that lasted for weeks. At least one resident was treated for exposure to hydrogen sulfide.
Benzene
The chemical benzene is known to cause cancer. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, even brief exposure to benzene above drinking water levels can cause temporary nervous system disorders, immune system depression and anemia. Longer-term exposures can lead to chromosome aberrations and cancer.
- In 2004, high levels of benzene from an improperly cased natural gas well was found in West Divide Creek in Colorado, prompting the oil and gas company EnCana to halt drilling operations in the area and supply local residents with drinking water; four years later, local residents are concerned with the build-up of orange and black sludge in the creek.
- A man was hospitalized after drinking his cabin’s spring water. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a Notice of Alleged Violation to four oil and gas companies after tests found benzene in the drinking water in the outfitter's cabin near Parachute, Colorado.
- A May 2008 Air Toxic Inhalation study conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health found that some of the higher concentrations of benzene found in oil and gas areas (compared to other rural or urban areas in Colorado) posed an increased risk of cancer and immune system) effects.
Methane seepage
 Methane seepage from coalbed methane development and development of conventional natural gas has long been known to cause methane contamination in homes and water wells.
- In May, 2008, a number of residents in Bainbridge, Ohio still couldn’t drink water from their wells five months after a natural gas explosion damaged a house and forced 15 families from their homes. The incident is also believed to be related to contamination of a water well at a nearby police station, where the water caught on fire.
- Ranchers in the Raton Basin of Colorado have concerns about crop fields and yards becoming "hot spots" of accumulating gas, while at least 25 homes in nearby Walsenburg, CO have water wells contaminated with methane.
Improper waste disposal
- A family in Eufala, Oklahoma did not expect to receive hazardous waste when it accepted "fill dirt" from an oil company. But hazardous it was. The dirt came from an old drilling pit, and the company, West Bay Exploration, was supposed to transport the waste to a commercial waste disposal site. Instead, they offered it as “clean fill” to the family. When the dirt was found to contain high levels of arsenic, dioxins and total petroleum hydrocarbons, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered West Bay Exploration to remove the contaminated dirt. After the initial removal, tests showed continued contamination, but instead of requiring additional excavation EPA gave the company the option of covering up the contaminated areas.
- In 2005, a Weld County, Colorado man was sent to federal prison for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act. Mike Cervi owned a company called Envirocyle, which recycled and disposed of wastewater from oil drilling operations by injecting them deep into the ground (a common practice for disposing of oil and gas wastes). Cervi and his employees were caught "tampering with monitoring equipment to hide leaks in the underground storage of chemical-laced wastewater left over from oil well drilling." These acts resulted in the contamination of soil and groundwater with oilfield wastewater that contained benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.
Fires and explosions
Fires and explosions at oil and gas wells not only cause immediate safety issues for workers and nearby residents, but they also present longer-term health risks from breathing in toxic fumes associated with these events.
- Methane seepage associated with past and present drilling has caused explosions. In February 2005, a Durango, Colorado trailer exploded and a man was sent to the hospital when methane from an abandoned well seeped into his home and exploded when he lit his stove. The 70-year-old man in the home was severely burned -- his hair was singed off and his clothes were burned to his body.
- In November 2005, a hydraulic fracturing pit caught fire at natural gas well site near Rifle, Colorado.
- In December 2005, residents living near Silt, Colorado raised concerns about chemicals being released from the intentional burning of condensate pits at gas well sites in their neighborhood.
- In February 2006, a gas well fire injured six people in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Other incidents in Pennsylvania that year included a hydraulic fracturing fluid fire, truck explosions at well sites, and other gas well explosions.
- In February 2006, as many as 50 people were evacuated from their homes in Weld County, Colorado when thick, black smoke from a burning natural-gas tank spread through their community.
- In November 2007, An explosion at a natural-gas processing plant west of the Durango Colorado airport shook homes and woke residents. The plant was purged of all petroleum products , but because of the hazardous materials on site firefighters had to allowed a certain amount of the fire to burn itself down before they could attempt to put out the fire.
A string of explosions have been documented in Texas recently, as drilling of the Barnett Shale has intensified. These explosions have resulted in deaths, noxious fumes, evacuations and property damage. Some example include:
- April 2005: Tab Dotson, a worker on a crew drilling a natural gas well in Wise County, Texas, was killed when the forklift he was driving knocked open a closed gas well causing it to explode. The ensuing explosion and fire killed Dotson instantly. Another worker was injured.
- December 2005: A natural gas well and pipeline explosion injured a worker at a nearby rig and ignited secondary fires for a mile around. The sound from the blast shook residents for miles around the area, and the flash was visible for 100 miles.
- April 2006: Robert Gayan was killed when a natural gas well he was working on in Forest Hill exploded. Nearby residents complained of breathing problems. The gas well exploded in the Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill, Texas, forcing the mandatory evacuation of 500 homes.
- March 2007: plumes of black smoke were created from a pipeline explosion and fire that occurred after a backhoe digging a trench for a new Barnett Shale pipeline hit existing propane and gas lines. A number of vehicles were destroyed, and the fire melted a high-voltage power line that left 5,000 people without electricity for several hours.
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