The University of Pittsburgh and and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have released the results of a project that studied three health concerns and natural gas development. Of the results, the studies found that children living within 1 mile of at least one natural gas well were five to seven times more likely to develop […]
Pennsylvania children who grew up near oil and gas fracking sites are at higher risk for leukemia, a study published Wednesday in Environmental Health Perspectives finds. The study’s findings are consistent with a plethora of research on health risks associated with fracking. Yale researchers using Pennsylvania cancer registry data, found children between the ages of 2–7 years-old who […]
When the UK government imposed a moratorium on fracking in 2019, climate campaigners breathed a sigh of relief. Now, however, there are concerns that the practice might be resurrected in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The government said on Thursday that fracking-company Cuadrilla did not yet have to seal and shutter two wells at […]
A new study shows that older adults who live near or downwind of unconventional oil and gas developments (UOGD), such as fracking sites and directional drilling, experience higher risks of early deaths. The study, published in the journal Nature Energy by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is the first time researchers have been […]
A new study correlates poorer surface water quality with nearby hydraulic fracturing but finds that the impacts aren’t major enough to be considered harmful by federal regulators. However, the researchers noted they weren’t able to study “potentially more dangerous” substances related to fracking because of a lack of data. While some published studies have already […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved dangerous chemicals that break down into PFAS for use in fracking in 2011, according to records obtained by Physicians for Social Responsibility and reported by The New York Times. Despite EPA scientists having identified preliminary evidence the carcinogenic, and birth-defect-linked substances could degrade into those “forever chemicals” and […]
A fracking boom in the Gulf of Mexico poses a major risk to human health and wildlife, a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has found. The report, published Wednesday, calculated that oil and gas companies had dumped at least 66.3 million gallons of fracking fluids into the vulnerable waters of the […]
By Kristina Marusic Living among fracking wells is linked to higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths due to heart attacks, according to a new study. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Research, compared heart attack rates in Pennsylvania counties with fracking to demographically similar counties in New York where fracking is banned. “There’s […]
What is fracking? Fracking is a process of blasting water, chemicals and frac sand deep into the earth to break up sedimentary rock and access natural gas and crude oil deposits. The fracking industry, which has sought to promote the practice as safe and controlled, has preferred the term “hydraulic fracturing.” Fracking emerged as an […]