Scientists have shown that U.S. oil and gas drilling sites are not just leaking methane but also a host of toxic chemicals that pose an urgent threat to the health of those living nearby. A new interactive map details the impact of hundreds of major leaks.
Scientists have long focused on emissions of methane which, though not toxic, is a highly potent heat-trapping gas. But less is known about the other chemicals that may be seeping from oil and gas wells and storage tanks. To better understand the risks, scientists at the think tank PSE Healthy Energy scoured thousands of regulatory records spanning 11 gas-producing states, from Colorado to Pennsylvania, which listed the chemicals found in drilled gas.
“What we have found is surprising,” Seth Shonkoff, head of PSE Healthy Energy, recently told reporters. Leaked gas is “not just methane. It’s actually closer to a chemical soup.”
At nearly every oil and gas site, leaks also produced benzene, a known carcinogen, as well as other chemicals that have been shown to harm bone marrow, weaken the immune system, impair the nervous system, as well as cause headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and fatigue. The research was published in Environmental Research Communications.
Using their findings, as well as publicly available information on methane emissions from oil and gas sites, scientists created an interactive map showing the plumes of toxic pollution that issued from more than 1,300 major leaks. They found benzene reached unhealthy levels in 99.7 percent of cases.
Efforts are underway worldwide to tamp down on methane leaks to help curb warming, but progress has been halting. President Trump recently gave drillers a reprieve from a rule meant to stem emissions of methane. Scientists say their research on the toxic chemicals found alongside methane adds greater urgency to efforts to plug leaks.
Said Kelsey Bilsback, a scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, “If we are to roll back regulations and rules, and the amount of methane emissions goes up, more than likely, there’s going to be greater health risks.”
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