Understanding oil and gas development: potential impacts in western - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Understanding oil and gas development: potential impacts in western Colorado Carol Kwiatkowski, PhD Executive Director, TEDX Photo by Kevin Dirk

Presentation Overview • Unconventional Oil and Gas Development (UOG) • Air Pollution – Sources – Research in Garfield County – BTEX Review • Endocrine Disruptors and UOG • CHC Air Quality Project – Methods Photo by Robert Donnan – Results 2

Oil and gas wells in Colorado 3

Drill rig Water aquifer Target formation 4 Animation by Kim Schultz, TEDX

Drill rig Buildings Waste pit Photo by Robert Donnan 5

Christmas trees Frack trucks Sand trucks Frack tanks 6 Photo by Robert Donnan

Worker pic 7 Photo by Robert Donnan

8 Photo by Robert Donnan

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Heater Treater 10

Produced water tanks Condensate tanks 11

Condensates are feedstock for: electronics , pesticides, plastics , shampoo, toys , cell phones, pharmaceuticals , sporting goods, clothes, cosmetics , furniture, computers , cars, detergents , food additives, mattresses , fabrics, household products, pots and pans, athletic equipment , food color, airplanes, candy, food packaging, cleaning products , toothpaste, glass, preservatives , TVs, carpet , raingear, men’s toiletries , receipts , laundry products, paint, soap, deodorants , metals, shower curtains, baby products , sunscreens 12

Flare 13

Compressor 14

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Effects of unconventional natural gas development Image from John Adgate. See Adgate et al. 2014. Potential Public Health Hazards, Exposures and Health Effects from Unconventional Natural Gas Development. Environ Sci Technol: doi:10.1024/es404621d. 17

Sources of air pollution Drilling chemicals Drilling pit evaporation Fracking chemicals Evaporation pits Condensate tanks Produced water tanks Separators/heater treaters Compressors Venting and flaring Pipelines, valves, pneumatics Generators Light and heavy trucks 18

Methane (natural gas) Carbon dioxide Nitrogen oxides (NOx) Volatile organic compounds Hydrogen sulfide Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) Particulate matter 19 Photo by Kevin Dirk

Health Effects from Volatile and Soluble Chemicals Volatile chemicals Soluble chemicals N=131 N=210 Health effects Skin, eye and sensory organ 94% 95% Respiratory 90% 89% Gastrointestinal and liver 89% 87% Brain and nervous system 81% 60% Cardiovascular and blood 71% 54% Other 67% 49% Kidney 66% 52% Ecological 60% 54% Endocrine disruptors 54% 45% Immune 48% 49% Cancer 37% 22% Mutagen 36% 29% Colborn et al., 2011 20

Reported symptoms • Headaches, nausea, upper respiratory irritation, nosebleeds (CO incident database) • Fatigue, nasal irritation, throat irritation, sinus problems, burning eyes, shortness of breath, joint pain, feeling weak and tired, severe headaches, sleep disturbance (PA survey) 21

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An Exploratory Study of Air Quality near Natural Gas Operations • Weekly sampling for VOCs, PAHs, carbonyls and methane • Independent laboratory analysis of samples • EPA approved methods: TO-12/ PAMS Protocol; TO-15; TO-11A; TO-13A; M18 Colborn T, Schultz K, Herrick L, Kwiatkowsi C. 2014. An exploratory study of air quality near natural gas operations. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 20(1):86-105. 23

Chemicals Detected in at Least 50% of Samples Chemical name % Detects methane, ethane, propane, toluene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 100% naphthalene isopentane, crotonaldehyde 90-99% n-butane, isobutane, n-pentane, MEK & 80-89% butyraldehyde, acetone n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, 70-79% methylene chloride, phenanthrene m/p-xylenes, fluorene 50-69% 24

PAHs Detected in Garfield County Air Chemical name % Detects Naphthalene 100% Phenanthrene 76% Fluorene 52% * Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene 38% * Benzo[g,h,i]perylene 33% * Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene 33% * Benzo[a]pyrene 24% * Benzo[b]fluoranthene 24% * Benzo[k]fluoranthene 24% * Benzo[a]anthracene 10% * Chrysene 10% Acenaphthylene 5% * Associated with health effects in prenatal exposure studies 25

Effects of Prenatal Exposure to PAHs • At birth: preterm, low birth weight, and smaller skull circumference (Perera et al. 2004) • At 3 years old: lower mental development scores (Perera et al. 2006) • At 5 years old: lower IQ scores (Perera et al. 2009) • At 7 years old: attention and behavioral problems, metabolic problems and obesity (Perera et al. 2012; Rundle et al. 2012) • At 8 years old: reduced white matter on the left side of the brain, correlated with slower cognitive processing, ADHD behaviors, and conduct disorder (Peterson, et al. 2015) 26

Other chemicals of concern • BENZENE (in 44% of samples) – Preterm birth, decreased prenatal growth, spina bifida – Sperm abnormalities – Increased asthma, wheeze, respiratory dysfunction, bronchitis – Immune dysfunction • TOLUENE (in 100% of samples) – Asthma and other respiratory functions – Immune effects, allergic responses – Cardiovascular disease Bolden et al. 2015 “New look at BTEX: are ambient levels a problem?” 27

What are endocrine disruptors? Hormones are involved in: Chemicals that development, reproduction, thyroid and immune affect hormone function, intelligence and signaling. behavior, metabolism, and more. • Prenatal development is a critical exposure period • Adverse effects occur at extremely low concentrations 28

Hormone Activity in Surface and Ground Water Hormone activity was higher in test sites than control sites, where it was nearly absent. Chemicals used in natural gas operations, some of which were identified at the test sites by another team of researchers, were also hormonally active. Kassotis CD, Tillitt DE, Davis JW, Hormann AM, Nagel SC. 2013. Estrogen and androgen receptor activities of hydraulic fracturing chemicals and surface and ground water in a drilling-dense region. Endocrinology: doi:10.1210/en.2013-1697. 29

Effects of Prenatal Exposure 124,842 births in 57 rural Colorado counties 1,823 children born with a congenital heart defect The likelihood of having a child with a congenital heart defect increased linearly with the increasing density and proximity of natural gas wells to the mother’s residence while pregnant . Low Density/ Medium High proximity of gas No wells density/ density/ density/ wells: within 10 miles proximity proximity proximity % Heart Defects 1.3% 1.5% 1.6% 1.8% McKenzie LM, Guo R, Witter RZ, Savitz DA, Newman LS, Adgate JL. 2014. Birth outcomes and maternal residential proximity to natural gas development in rural Colorado. Environ Health Perspect: doi: 10.1289/ehp.1306722 30

Shale Gas Development and Infant Health: Evidence from Pennsylvania • Living within 1.6 miles of a well led to – 25% increase in babies with ‘low birth weight’ – 18% increase in babies born ‘small for gestational age’ – 26% increase in APGAR scores below 8 • Some effects were detected up to 2.2 miles from the wellhead Hill E. 2013. Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Infant Health: Evidence from Pennsylvania. Cornell University: Working Paper, Charles Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. www.dyson.cornell.edu/research/researchpdf/wp/.../Cornell-Dyson-wp1212.pdf. 31

Baseline Air Quality Sampling in the Delta County Region of Colorado Carol Kwiatkowski, Kim Schultz, James Ramey, Theo Colborn 32

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Study methods • Three locations on each of two dates in fall, winter, spring and summer • Volunteers wore backpacks to measure air in the breathing zone • 74 chemicals analyzed by an independent laboratory 34

Chemicals Detected in at Least 50% of Samples Chemical name % Detects methane 100% ethane 100% propane 100% toluene 100% isopentane 86% n-butane 82% isobutane 77% ethylene 64% naphthalene (PAH) 62% 35

Comparison Areas Denver Weld County Garfield County Delta County Region Population 600,158 252,825 56,389 30,952 (Delta County) (2010) 15,324 (Gunnison County) Active wells 52 22,108 10,949 18 (Delta County) (2015) 48 (Gunnison County) Weld County  Each red dot is a well Denver area  36

Results: Methane Methane 3000 2500 Methane drainage 2000 wells near Somerset ppbV 1500 1000 500 0 Denver Weld Garfield DCR 37

Results: Alkanes Alkanes C2-C5 350 300 250 200 ppbV 150 100 50 0 Denver Weld Garfield DCR Alkanes included: ethane, propane, butane, pentane 38

Results: Alkenes Alkenes 15 10 ppbV 5 0 Denver Weld Garfield DCR Alkenes included: ethylene, acetylene, propylene 39

Results: Aromatics Aromatics (BTEX) 5 4 3 ppbV 2 1 0 Denver Weld Garfield DCR Aromatics included: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes Photo by LynetteRadio 40

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 25 Garfield county Delta county 20 15 ng/m3 10 5 0 Naphthalene Other PAHs found in Garfield County (Colborn, 2014): Acenaphthylene, Benzo(a)anthracene, Benzo(a)pyrene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Benzo(g,h,i)perylene, Benzo(k)fluoranthene, Chrysene, Dibenz(a,h)anthracene, Fluorene, Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, Phenanthrene 41