New Study Shows Increased Rate of Birth Defects near Gas Wells

Yesterday, the Joint Landowners Coalition of NY threatened to sue the state if DEC doesn't hurry up and release the SGEIS to allow drilling - and fracking - in New York. This was in response to DEC chief Joseph Martens' comment a couple days earlier that the state had no plans to issue permits for fracking. DEC is waiting for Dr. Shah to complete the health impact review.

While the delay irks some landowners, many others appreciate the extra time, as new findings continue to come in regarding water, air and health impacts related to gas drilling.

On the same day the landowners emailed and Fed-Exxed their demands to permit fracking, Colorado researchers released their findings that show that babies born near gas wells have increased rates for certain birth defects.

The new study shows that women living near gas wells in rural Colorado are more likely to have babies with neural tube and congenital heart defects. These findings add to the already growing concern about health impacts from air pollution at drilling sites, compressor stations and other infrastructure.

Lisa McKenzie and her research team from the Colorado School of Public Health analyzed birth defects among nearly 125,000 births in rural Colorado. They chose towns with fewer than 50,000 residents and examined records from 1996 - 2009, paying particular attention to how close the mothers lived to gas wells.

What they found: babies born to mothers who lived in areas with the highest density of wells (more than 125 wells/ mile) were more than twice as likely to have neural tube defects as babies born to mothers living at least 10 miles away from gas wells. Babies in the high-well density zone also had a 38 percent greater risk of congenital heart defects as children born in areas with no wells.

"Taken together, our results and current trend in natural gas development underscore the importance of conducting more comprehensive and rigorous research on the potential health effects of natural gas development," McKenzie et al wrote in their article published in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.  The researchers admit that their study was limited in that they didn't have access to the mothers' health information, socioeconomic information, or actual exposures to air pollutants. They also knew only if a gas well existed in the year of the births - not how active it was - and they assumed that the address of the mother at time of birth was the same as during her first trimester.

Given that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission estimates that 26 percent of  wells in Colorado are located within 150 to 1,000 feet of homes, these findings offer yet one more reason for DEC to overhaul - or withdraw - their proposed fracking regulations.

Oil Spill, Pipeline Break in Flood-Ravaged Colorado

Update: as of Sept 20, Colorado reports 22,000-plus gallons of oil spilled.

Oil and gas crews are out and about in Colorado after the flood, and at least 5,250 gallons of oil have spilled from tanks into the South Platte River. Nearly 1900 oil and gas wells have been shut down and hundreds of industry crews are assessing damage. In addition to the tank spill there is one pipeline rupture and other pipelines that have been compromised by the flooding. Read more from yesterday's  Denver Post article.

Meanwhile, some members of Frack Free Colorado went out with their video cams to collect footage of damage to wells and storage sites in their area in Weld County. They note that while getting the footage they developed headaches, burning skin, eyes and throat. The air smelled strongly of chemicals.

Colorado Floods Break Pipeline and Engulf Gas Wells

photo by Andy Cross/ the Denver Post

The rain pummeling Colorado this past week caused epic flooding. Photos show miles of devastation: homes lost, crops underwater, surviving livestock on flooded pastures, people in shelters.

In addition to rescuing stranded people, emergency crews have also had to contend with broken oil and gas pipelines - and those that haven't broken yet are exposed due to eroded ground.

According to reports from the Denver Post, "Oil drums, tanks and other industrial debris mixed into the swollen river flowing northeast. County officials did not give locations of where the pipeline broke and where other pipelines were compromised." 

Weld County is home to about 20,000 oil and gas wells, and companies have been drilling on the flood plains. Once the gas and oil companies were notified of the threats, they began shutting down drilling operations and transmission pipelines. Even so, that still leaves wells, tanks, gathering lines and transmission lines in the path of raging waters.

In a statement to the press Gary Wockner, of Clean Water Action, said "Fracking and operating oil and gas facilities in floodplains is extremely risky. Flood waters can topple facilities and spread oil, gas, and cancer-causing fracking chemicals across vast landscapes making contamination and clean-up efforts exponentially worse and more complicated."

What does a flooded gas well look like? Here's a video that was posted to Facebook Friday evening.

 video link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=303218053153761

No one expected this type of flooding: it's a one-in-500-year type of event, aided in part by hillsides denuded of trees resulting from wildfires over the past couple years. Even so, the results illustrate the risks of drilling in flood plains. Even when the company shuts off the drilling or shuts down a pipeline, there is little they can do to prevent flood waters from ripping tanks from their moorings or washing frack pit waste downstream.

update: check Texas Sharon's excellent blog, Blue Daze for updates on this issue.
http://www.texassharon.com/2013/09/15/is-there-a-media-blackout-on-the-fracking-flood-disaster-in-colorado/

More Photos of gas and oil infrastructure in the floodlands: (from the Boulder area):

More photos at
weldairandwater.org