![]() They identified 20,749 mild attacks (requiring a corticosteroid prescription), 1,870 moderate ones (requiring an emergency room visit) and 4,782 severe attacks (requiring hospitalization). “Going forward, we need to focus on the exact reasons why these things are happening, because if we know why, we can help make the industry safer.”įor the study, Rasmussen and her colleagues analyzed health records from 2005 through 2012 from the Geisinger Health System, a health care provider that covers 40 counties in north and central Pennsylvania. The study is a joint effort of the Bloomberg School and the Geisinger Health System. Hopkins researchers identified more than 35,000 asthma patients between the ages of five and 90 years. Rasmussen, MHS, a PhD candidate in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences. “Ours is the first to look at asthma but we now have several studies suggesting adverse health outcomes related to the drilling of unconventional natural gas wells,” says study leader Sara G. The fracking industry has developed more than 9,000 wells in Pennsylvania in just the past decade. Health officials have been concerned about the effect of this type of drilling on air and water quality, as well as the stress of living near a well where just developing the site of the well can require more than 1,000 truck trips on once-quiet roads. The findings, published July 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence tying the fracking industry to health concerns. People with asthma who live near bigger or larger numbers of active unconventional natural gas wells operated by the fracking industry in Pennsylvania are 1.5 to four times likelier to have asthma attacks than those who live farther away, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests. 10.Evidence growing of health problems linked to active unconventional natural gas wells The rule for fracked gas sites is set to publish in the Bulletin on Dec. If adopted by the EQB, the emergency regulation would go into effect upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. “Due to the actions of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, we have no choice but to consider this emergency certified rulemaking in order to comply with federal regulations,” said DEP Acting Secretary Ramez Ziadeh. The Environmental Quality Board, which oversees environmental regulations, scheduled a meeting Wednesday to consider the regulation as an emergency rulemaking. ![]() Then, this month, a Republican-led House committee voted to disapprove the regulation for conventional wells–which could delay the rule until next year. ![]() Pennsylvania law states the two industries must be regulated separately. The rule for existing wells was further delayed this year when DEP split rules for conventional and fracked wells over concerns of a lawsuit. As a co-benefit, the agency says, the rule could lower emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane by as much as 175,788 tons per year.Ī regulation limiting emissions at future well sites was finished in 2018. The Department of Environmental Protection estimates the regulation could reduce VOC emissions by as much as 9,204 tons per year.
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