Impacts of Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Drilling

Organizations Petition EPA to Protect Public Health from Oil and Gas Emissions Contributing to Harmful Ozone Pollution

Ground-level ozone or "smog" contributes to serious adverse health impacts, including decreased lung function and premature mortality, and it damages foliage.  Children, the elderly, Americans with existing lung and heart disease, and those active outside are especially vulnerable.

On December 19, 2012, a broad coalition of environmental, conservation and children’s health groups petitioned the EPA to take two actions that will provide important public health protections for communities impacted by oil and gas emissions that contribute to harmful ozone pollution:

• First, we respectfully urge EPA to require broad deployment of ozone air quality monitors in oil and natural gas development areas. Requiring the necessary air monitors will ensure that Americans have clear, transparent information about whether the air in their communities meets the nation's health-based air quality standards for ground-level ozone or "smog" pollution as oil and natural gas operations in their communities expands briskly.

• Second, we respectfully ask that EPA provide communities with tools to help reduce smog-forming pollution from oil and gas development by issuing control technology guidelines (“CTGs”) for oil and gas equipment. These clean air measures can be some of the single most cost-effective methods for reducing smog-forming pollution in areas that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone as well as those areas seeking to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards under the Ozone Advance Program.

RED, Active Rigs (Sept. 2012); BLUE, Ozone Monitors; SHADED, Population Density.

The Press Release is here.  The Petition is here [PDF, 34 pages].



Energy experts say drilling can be made cleaner
Scientists are concerned about effects of emissions on climate change and health impacts of breathing smog, soot and other pollutants.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In the Colorado mountains, a spike in air pollution has been linked to a boom in oil and gas drilling. About 800 miles away on the plains of north Texas, there's a drilling boom, too, but some air pollution levels have declined. Opponents of drilling point to Colorado and say it's dangerous. Companies point to Texas and say drilling is safe.

The answer appears to be that drilling can be safe or it can be dangerous. Industry practices, enforcement, geography and even snow cover can minimize or magnify air pollution problems.

Some environmentalists say if leaks and pollution can be minimized, the boom has benefits, since gas burns much cleaner than coal, emitting half the carbon dioxide.

Al Gore told The Associated Press that it's "not irresponsible" to look at gas as a short-term substitute for coal-fired electricity. But Gore added that the main component of gas, methane, is a more potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas than CO2. That means that if large quantities leak, the advantage over coal disappears, the former vice president said.

Prasad Kasibhatla, a professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University, said that controlling gas drilling pollution is "technically solvable" but requires close attention by regulators.

"One has to demonstrate that it is solved, and monitored," he said.

Link to the full report is here.

Feds Raid Carcinogen-Emitting Coke Plant

On Thursday, more than 50 federal and state agents pulled a surprise raid on the Tonawanda Coke plant, with a search warrant to collect evidence for an on-going investigation, according to the Niagara Gazette.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been investigating the facility following air quality tests by the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation showing levels cancer-causing benzene in the air near the plant 75 times greater than EPA guidelines.

Local residents attribute the toxic air, which also contains hazardous soot particulates, as a cause of respiratory problems and cancers in the area. Several years ago they formed the Clean Air Coaltion of Western NY to draw attention to their plight and to attempt to create a dialogue with plant owner J.D. Crane, who has ignored them. The persistent health problems of residents and a recent protest against the high-level toxic emissions from the Coke Plant drew strong citizen support and attention from the media as well as from the U.S. Senators Schumer and Gilibrand and Representative Slaughter. Those congress members contacted EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to develop a plan to reduce benzene emissions at the coke plant.

According to The Buffalo News, company officials ignored an EPA demand to submit testing protocols for hazardous emissions. The raid included EPA officials from its criminal investigation division, the DEC, the U.S. Coast Guard and state attorney general’s office. “We took records and samples,” U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter said after the raid, declining further comment. The EPA filed suit against Erie Coke on September 22, alleging continuing pollution, poor maintenance of coke ovens and lack of required annual inspections of smoke stacks and boilers. The federal suit stated that Erie Coke could be liable for damages of more than $32,500 a day for violations.

“The community is excited that decisive action is being taken against Tonawanda Coke,” said Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition. “We’re closer than ever to seeing justice delivered for the residents of Tonawanda.”

The EPA has provided information to the local Tonawanda community on their air quality study and their evaluation of the Tonawanda Coke facility. The EPA communication is here. [PDF]

The recent raid by federal and state officials has also been reported on local TV news from stations WKBW, WGRZ and WIVB.

The plight of the local residents and Tonawanda Coke’s reluctance to talk to them has been highlighted in an Editorial in The Buffalo News.

Toxic Air at Tonawanda Coke

Recently the Clean Air Coalition of WNY organized a protest against the high-level toxic emissions from the J.D. Crane Coke Plant on River Road in Tonawanda, NY, drawing strong support from local residents and others, as well as considerable attention from the media. The protest was followed up by a phone call-in to the ECIDA in opposition to public subsidies they awarded to Tonawanda Coke whose air pollution is harming the health and well-being of local residents.

The awareness of the toxic air at Tonawanda Coke raised by the Clean Air Coalition on behalf of local residents has gotten the attention of the federal government.

Senator Schumer challenged the owner of Tonawanda Coke to meet with community groups and listen to their concerns about harmful benzene and other chemicals coming from the coke plant, as reported in The Buffalo News. The plant owner, J.D. Crane, has ignored repeated requests from local residents to meet and discuss the air pollution problems and possible solutions.

Lisa Jackson, head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave assurance to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that concern about dangerously high emissions of the carcinogen benzene “is not an issue that will slip through the cracks.” “If the DEC [NY state Department of Environmental Conservation] does have findings, they have the full capability to do a significant enforcement action that would include significant fines,” Sen. Gillibrand said EPA head Jackson told her.

"The DEC has announced no action plan, which is frustrating to the residents of this community," said Erin Heaney of the Clean Air Coalition. Resident Jeani Thomson, who suffers from cancer, lupus, and constant headaches, says studies and remedies have been slow in coming. "If they keep going years and years and years, I'll be dead before that," said Thomson, as reported by WIVB TV News.

The DEC already has findings of emissions monitoring which took place between July 2007 and July 2008. Thomas Gentile, head of the DEC’s Air Toxics Section, indicated that the Tonawanda Coke plant on River Road has been the likely source of the irritations to the eyes, ears, noses and throats of nearby residents at a meeting with them on June 12, 2009. Benzene, a carcinogen, was found in concentrations that greatly exceed the State average, particularly at the Grand Island monitoring station, according to the June 13, 2009 report in The Buffalo News.

I obtained the map and data from the DEC website and learned that the elevated benzene concentrations were not monitored at Grand Island, as stated in the News article above, but rather at Grand Island Boulevard in Tonawanda, as seen in the DEC map of pollution monitoring sites, below, and as indicated in the benzene emission data below the map. Grand Island Boulevard (GIBl on the map) is immediately North East of J.D. Crane's Tonawanda Coke plant, the soot-blackened area in the center of the map.

[click image to enlarge]

Benzene emissions at Grand Island Boulevard were on average 75 times higher than than the NY DEC guidelines (blue-green horizontal line near 0.00 concentration; AGC =0.13). Chronic inhalation of benzene causes disorders in the blood, affecting bone marrow, damaging the immune system, causing anemia and increasing incidence of leukemia. In addition to being a carcinogen, benzene may irritate the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract according to the EPA. Benzene can also induce changes in the structure and function of chromosomes, and adverse effects on the fetus, including low birth weight, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage, have been observed where pregnant animals were exposed to benzene by inhalation.

Soot particulate emissions from the Tonawanda Coke plant are yet another problem for local residents. Particle emissions are a leading cause of respiratory illness and premature death. EPA is concerned about small particles because those generally pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs. Once inhaled, these particles can affect the heart and lungs and cause serious health effects.