Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)
A study performed at the request of Range Resources near some of its drill sites and a Washington County school campus reveals no air pollution impacts.
One of the false allegations made against shale drilling is that it somehow pollutes the air–of particular concern near schools. A new independent two-year study commissioned by Range Resources at one of their drilling sites, located about a mile from a local school, thoroughly debunks that allegation.
A first-of-its kind public health and long-term ambient air monitoring report (full copy below) provides analysis from nearly two years of continuous data from an unconventional Marcellus Shale well site nearby a high school and elementary school campus in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The study found no health impacts from shale drilling.
Range Resources’ Yonkers well pad
From the Pittsburgh Business Times, first to break the news (emphasis added):
A nearly two-year study of the air quality surrounding a Range Resources well near a Washington County school campus finds levels of fine particulate matter or volatile organic compounds were below health safety limits from just before drilling through hydraulic fracturing and into production of the controversial well pad.
Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) funded three site monitors and the study, which lasted between December 2016 and October 2018, near the Yonker well site in Mt. Pleasant, less than a mile from the Fort Cherry Junior/Senior High School. Range had independent, third-party environmental firm Gradient prepare the study. Range had promised the air-quality measurements during the process for permitting the well, which had sparked concern and protest from Fort Cherry parents who were concerned about health with the well so close to the school campus.
Particulate matter and VOCs from the site — and the 40 or so natural gas drilling sites within five miles of the pad — had concentrations consistently below federal health standards levels, according to the study that was provided Wednesday to the Business Times by Range Resources. It’s also now available on the Range Resources website. Fort Cherry School District Superintendent Jill Jacoby, who has also seen a copy of the study, wasn’t immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Range Resources posted the following summary on their website:
A first-of-its kind public health and long-term ambient air monitoring report provides analysis from nearly two years of continuous data from an unconventional Marcellus Shale well site nearby a high school and elementary school campus. The project, titled – Public Health Evaluation of Ambient Air Near a Shale Gas Well Site and School Campus – monitored air quality through the full development cycle of a six well pad – from pad construction, through each phase of operation, and even more than a year of production of natural gas and natural gas liquids – which had never been done before.
This first-of-its-kind report evaluates nearly two years of data as it relates to air quality and public health, concluding that regional natural gas operations “do not pose any acute or chronic health concerns” and that the data “showed no air quality impacts of potential health concern.
KEY FINDINGS
- This air quality and public health evaluation showed that measured PM2.5 and VOC concentrations were consistently below health-based air comparison values and do not pose acute or chronic health concerns.
- The data for the air monitoring sites located between the Yonker well site and the Fort Cherry School District campus showed no air quality impacts of potential health concern at the campus associated with Yonker well site.
- The measured PM2.5 and VOC concentrations do not provide evidence of elevated long-term average concentrations in comparison to other DEP regional data in Washington County that are further from natural gas development.
- The measured concentrations reflect the cumulative contributions of both air emissions from the Yonker well site as well as from other local and regional air emission sources such as dozens of other natural gas well sites, and include concentrations during all phases of well pad construction and operation.
Nationally recognized scientists and experts from Massachusetts-based Gradient Corporation, an environmental and risk sciences consulting firm, spent more than six months analyzing the robust data and developing this significant report.
Air quality effects of our operations have long been a priority, and we monitored a well site near a school campus to verify that our engineering designs and operations were conducted to minimize impacts and to be transparent and responsive to students, parents, and those in the community. This third-party expert analysis aligns with other reports conducted by regulatory agencies and the school district, all of which have definitively shown that natural gas development does not create any chronic or acute health concerns.
Comparison of Mean VOC Concentrations by Monitoring Site and Yonker Well Pad Development Phase with Chronic HBACVs: (a) benzene, (b) ethylbenzene, (c) toluene and (d) xylenes.
Researchers collected data utilizing three monitoring locations within varying proximities to Range’s Yonker well site in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania – the same township in which Range Resources pioneered the Marcellus Shale in 2004. These third-party experts continuously collected data utilizing practices recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which includes monitoring for PM2.5 and 58 Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) species.
The objective of the analysis was to obtain data that would allow the experts to evaluate any potential health impacts modern shale development could pose to the nearby Fort Cherry School District, which has also been evaluated by both the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and CardnoChemRisk on behalf of the School District. This is on top of the Pennsylvania DEP’s Long-Term Marcellus Ambient Air Monitoring report, which looked at multiple natural gas facilities in Washington County.
Due to Yonker well site’s proximity to other natural gas wells and infrastructure, and the associated wind direction (West, Southwest), the data collected also provides a cumulative look at potential air and health impacts from natural gas wells that have been hydraulically fractured and in production – some for more than a decade. The scientists also compared the findings from the air monitoring locations to the DEP’s continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations located throughout the region.
Not only did the evaluation indicate that measured PM2.5 and VOC concentrations were consistently below health-based air comparison values, the data ranged from several-hundred-fold to several-thousand-fold lower than an exposure level at which an adverse effect has been observed in people or laboratory animals.
Company Statement
For years, we have received questions about the air quality around our operations, and we monitored a well site near a school campus to be transparent and responsive to students, parents, and those in the community. This comprehensive data with third-party expert analysis aligns with other reports conducted by regulatory agencies and the school district, that all determined natural gas development does not pose any chronic or acute health concerns.
Let’s hope this finally puts to rest the false charges that shale drilling/production is causing air pollution.
For more great articles on natural gas development every single day, subscribe to Marcellus Drilling News using this convenient link.
This post appeared first on Natural Gas Now.