Known and Anticipated Health Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing P R E - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Known and Anticipated Health Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing P R E S E N T A T I O N B Y F R A N K R . S M I T H R E T I R E D P R O F E S S O R O F C H E M I S T R Y F O R N L C A H R R E G O N T H E H E A L T H I M P A C T S O F
P R E S E N T A T I O N B Y F R A N K R . S M I T H R E T I R E D P R O F E S S O R O F C H E M I S T R Y F O R N L C A H R R E G O N T H E H E A L T H I M P A C T S O F F R A C K I N G
P R E S E N T A T I O N T O : T H E N E W F O U N D L A N D & L A B R A D O R H Y D R A U L I C F R A C T U R I N G R E V I E W P A N E L O C T O B E R 6 T H , 2 0 1 5 R E V I S E D & A M E N D E D F O R N O V E M B E R 9 T H , 2 0 1 5
T h e R E G o n t h e H e a l t h I m p a c t s o f F r a c k i n g a r e o p p o s e d t o p e r m i t t i n g h y d r a u l i c f r a c t u r i n g i n t h i s p r o v i n c e f o r t h e f o l l o w i n g r e a s o n s :
U n a v a i l a b i l i t y o f s u f f i c i e n t f r e s h w a t e r w i t h o u t d e p l e t i o n o f p o t a b l e w a t e r s o u r c e s .
C o n t a m i n a t i o n o f t h e d o m e s t i c w a t e r s u p p l y .
T h e u n p r e c e d e n t e d n a t u r e o f f r a c k i n g i n t o t h e o c e a n .
T h e h i g h p r o b a b i l i t y o f g r e a t l y i n c r e a s e d a i r p o l l u t i o n b y s m a l l p a r t i c l e s a n d o z o n e a r i s i n g f r o m v a s t l y i n c r e a s e d t r u c k t r a f f i c , p u m p i n g a n d d r i l l i n g a n d e m i s s i o n s f r o m f r a c k i n g i t s e l f . T h i s w o u l d i m p a c t t h e t o u r i s m p o t e n t i a l a n d w e a l t h o f t h e r e g i o n a s w e l l a s t h e h e a l t h o f e m p l o y e e s , r e s i d e n t s a n d v i s i t o r s .
T h e l o w p r o b a b i l i t y o f s i g n i f i c a n t e m p l o y m e n t f r o m h y d r a u l i c f r a c t u r i n g , c o u p l e d w i t h h i g h l o c a l l y b o r n e c l e a n u p c o s t s .
A h i g h p r o b a b i l i t y o f a d v e r s e h e a l t h i m p a c t s t o t h e y o u n g e r m e m b e r s o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n , i n c l u d i n g t h o s e a s y e t u n b o r n . P L U S A l l t h e r e a s o n s e n u n c i a t e d b y t h e C o n c e r n e d H e a l t h P r o f e s s i o n a l s o f N e w Y o r k i n t h e i r C o m p e n d i u m . P L U S t h e r e a s o n s e x p r e s s e d b y R e v . D r . P . W . A l l d e r d i c e i n a s e p a r a t e s u b m i s s i o n .
LINK: http:/ / concernedhealthny.org/ compendium/
Other risks from Decem ber 20 14 CHPNY Com pendium LINK: http:/ / concernedhealthny.org/ compendium/
Fracturing fluids contain several different chemical additives that, depending on the operator and reservoir, are mixed in different recipes. In response to public concern about the risks that these chemical additives pose to human health and the environment, an increasing number of jurisdictions require disclosure. British Columbia and Alberta, for example, require
fracturing fluids on a per well basis, along with their maximum concentration, within 30 days
Exceptions are permitted in both these provinces for ingredients considered trade secrets (i.e., confidential business information). For a component to be considered a trade secret, a claim of exemption must be filed with Health Canada and the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (HMIRA) registry number must be provided (B.C. Oil and Gas Commission, 2012b; AER, 2012c). Certain government officials and medical professionals are able to access information on the trade secret using the HMIRA number under specific circumstances (Minister of Justice, 2013). In Alberta, if a trade secret is considered nonhazardous, then only the chemical family name needs to be listed (in addition to the maximum concentration) (AER, 2012c). Van Stempvoort and Roy (2011)
Excerpts from article by Carrie Tait, Globe and Mail, March 10 th 2012 Trican Well Service Ltd. uses guar bean gum as its preferred
Last April, the U.S. House of Representatives energy and commerce committee reported on “Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing” in the U.S. and concluded that 2,500 fracturing products were in use. These contain 750 different chemical compounds, 650 of which are known or possible carcinogens or hazardous air pollutants
(The Fear Of Fracking – Globe & Mail Report on Business, March 10).
Questions about the safety of the process are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluids. Some fracking companies are injecting fluids containing unknown chemicals, about which they have limited understanding of the potential risks to human health – these products are “proprietary” or “trade secret” and have no MSDS (material safety data sheet) information. Also, surely the very act of fracturing the rock below makes contamination of waters above more probable?
Frank R. Sm ith, Fellow of the Chem ical Institute Of Canada, St. John’s
TLV means Threshold Limit Value (not to be exceeded)
Canadian Chemical News, November- December 2014
A non-hazardous chemical stabilizer to stop clay particles in the rock
formation from swelling and plugging up the well;
A “green” friction reducer, a polymer that reduces friction of the water
against the well pipe (called “slickwater” fracking), allowing more efficient pumping;
A biocide (naturally biodegradable within 24 hours) to kill bacteria in the
formation that can cause sludge, corrosion or toxic hydrogen sulphide gas;
A “green breaker,” a non-hazardous chemical that breaks the long
molecular chains of the friction-reducing polymer after pumping stops, so the frack fluid flows back out of the well;
A surfactant which helps the sand particles disperse evenly into the
fractures.
In 2008, the EPA began sampling well water in Pavillion, Wyo., because of residents' complaints. In 2009, families in Dimock, Pa., filed a federal lawsuit against an oil and gas company for allegedly contaminating their well water with methane. In 2010 the EPA designed a water study around these elements:
fluids, fracking procedures and the health effects of fracking chemicals.
water.
reported water contamination at fracked sites.
happened.
Excerpts from article by Carrie Tait and Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, March 10th 2012
“the most obvious and pressing threat comes from poor well
construction, in which broken or ill-fitting cement well casings can allow methane gas and fluids to leak into drinking water”
Mismatched thermal expansion coefficients of steel and cement. Parallel nature of interfaces.
“Portland Class G oil well cement forms the base of almost all oil well
but at such low densities will shrink at the elevated pressures and tem peratures encountered at depth.”
Some of their Recommendations June 2012
Some of their Recommendations June 2012
By Andrew Nikiforuk, 5 Jun 2014, TheTyee.ca
Maurice B. Dusseault (University of Waterloo) | Malcolm N. Gray (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) | Pawel A. Nawrocki (CANMET) http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/64733-MS Oil and gas wells can develop gas leaks along the casing years after production has ceased and the well has been plugged and abandoned. Explanatory mechanisms include channelling, poor cake removal, shrinkage, and high cement permeability. The reason is probably cement shrinkage that leads to circumferential fractures that are propagated upward by the slow accumulation of gas under pressure behind the casing. Assuming this hypothesis is robust, it must lead to better practice and better cement formulations. Introduction, Environmental Issues: This discussion is necessarily superficial, given the complexity of the issue and attendant practical factors such as workability, density, set retardation, mud cake removal, entrainment of formation gas, shale sloughing, pumping rate, mix consistency, and so on. A conceptual model will be developed in this article to explain slow gas migration behind casing, but we deliberately leave aside for now the complex operational issues associated with cement placement and
thousands of abandoned and orphan wells, plus tens of thousands of active wells.
Wells are cased for environmental security and zonal isolation. In the Canadian heavy oil belt, it is common to use a single production casing string to surface; for deeper wells, additional casing strings may be necessary, and surface casing to isolate shallow unconsolidated sediments is required. As we will see, surface casings have little effect on gas migration, though they undoubtedly give more security against blowouts and protect shallow sediments from mud filtrate and pressurization. To form hydraulic seals for conservation and to isolate deep strata from the surface to protect the atmosphere and shallow groundwater sources, casings are cemented using water-cement
annulus, leaving a sheath of cement to set and harden. Casing and rock are prepared by careful conditioning using centralizers, mud cake scrapers, and so on. During placement, casing is rotated and moved to increase the sealing effectiveness of the cement grout. Recent techniques to enhance casing-rock-cement sealing may include vibrating the casing, partial cementation and annular filling using a small diameter tube. Additives may be incorporated to alter properties, but Portland Class G (API rating) oil well cement forms the base of almost all oil well cements. Generally, slurries are placed at densities about 2.0 Mg/m3, but at such low densities will shrink and will be influenced by the elevated pressures (10-70 MPa) and temperatures (35 to >140°C) encountered at depth.
Expert concern: Why Oilwells Leak: Cement Behavior and Long- Term
Consequences
“Portland Class G oil well cement forms the base of almost all oil well cements.
Generally, slurries are placed at densities about 2.0 Mg/ m 3 but at such low densities will shrink at the elevated pressures and tem peratures encountered at depth.”
The consequences of cement shrinkage are non-trivial: in North America, there
are literally tens of thousands of abandoned, inactive, or active oil and gas wells, including gas storage wells, that currently leak gas to surface. Much of this enters the atmosphere directly, contributing slightly!!! to greenhouse effects.
Some of the gas enters shallow aquifers, where traces of sulfurous
water on a year- round basis for the drilling and hydraulic fracturing of 1,000 wells would require a water supply capable of providing a continuous flow of about 0.6 to 2 m3 per second, which is small compared to the average summer low flow in a large river like the Saint John River at Fredericton (about 400 m3 per second).
sources will be sought as close to the well sites as possible. The extraction of water from smaller local sources will require careful consideration of possible effects on existing water wells, stream flow, lakes and wetlands. These assessments and the associated monitoring of water withdrawals or diversion will require careful regulation.
Montney (BC) 6,700–9,700 m3 Utica (QC) 12,000-20,000 m3
Horton Bluff (NS) (2 wells only) 5,900–6,800 m3 Data Source: BAPE, 2011a; B.C. Oil and Gas Commission, 2012c; Rivard et al., 2012
which water is taken. Hydraulic fracturing uses a lot of water over a short period of time (several days). If several fracturing operations happen sequentially (as they would in a multi-well pad) or concurrently (on different pads), the demand could exceed the local unallocated supply for that period. Based on the United States average of 19,000 m3 per well, a well pad with eight wells could use some 150,000 m3 within two to three months. Chapman and Venables (2012) report that well pads in the Montney region of British Columbia generally use between 90,000 and 1,000,000 m3 of water. In 2012, the Horn River Basin of British Columbia saw nearly 4,000,000 m3 of water used for hydraulic fracturing.
temperatures and low water levels. Fish die under these conditions.
effects on people.
5 – 15% concentration.
reduced in an enclosed space to below about 16% by displacement, as most people can tolerate a reduction from 21 to 16%.
Alberta that used isotopic measurements to show that methane from a leaking oil well detected within a buried valley aquifer was oxidized to carbon dioxide whereas sulfate in the groundwater was bacterially reduced.
elements such as arsenic and iron. In addition, anaerobic bacteria that proliferate under such conditions may reduce sulfate to sulfide, creating water and air quality issues.”
from the same sources (e.g., drilling rigs, truck engines, gas compressors, holding ponds, vents, and flares) as those associated with conventional gas production and, indeed, other forms of mining and industrial activity. The main difference is that these sources may be produced more intensively in shale gas development (due to longer drilling times, more trucks being used, more powerful pumps, and bigger holding ponds) because of the added effort required to extract gas from shale.
BTEX, and other hazardous air pollutants. VOCs and other pollutants associated with natural gas and fracturing fluids can enter the air from both wells and activities associated with flowback water (separators, pits,
monoxide, VOCs can act as precursor chemicals to the creation of ground- level ozone, a known cause of respiratory disease (EPA, 2012b; McKenzie et al., 2012).
Colorado with shale gas development near a rural population detected several different air emissions in proximity to the development. Concentrations were greatest during the relatively short- term completion activity (McKenzie et al., 2012).
during production — of note there were over four times the concentration for ethylbenzene and toluene and nine times more xylene. The range of concentrations detected for several VOCs and BTEX during completion was large. For instance, the minimum detected concentration of m- xylene/ p-xylene was 2.0 micrograms per m3 air whereas the maximum was 880 micrograms per m3 of air (McKenzie et al., 2012).
believed that a person can be exposed continuously over a lifetime without deleterious effect [...] based on non-carcinogenic effects”) and the odour threshold for xylene isomers are 180 and 348 micrograms per m3, respectively (Ruth, 1986; Health Canada, 1996).
Graus, Detlev Helmig, Abigail Koss, Andrew O. Langford, Barry L. Lefer, Brian M. Lerner, Rui Li, Shao-Meng Li, Stuart A. McKeen, Shane M. Murphy, David D. Parrish, Christoph J. Senff, Jeffrey Soltis, Jochen Stutz, Colm Sweeney, Chelsea R. Thompson, Michael K. Trainer, Catalina Tsai, Patrick R. Veres, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Carsten Warneke, Robert J. Wild, Cora J. Young, Bin Yuan & Robert Zamora
Nature (2014) doi:10.1038/nature13767 Published online 01 October 2014
four decades, owing in large part to implementation of new extraction technologies such as horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing. The environmental impacts of this development, from its effect on water quality1 to the influence of increased methane leakage on climate2, have been a matter of intense debate. Air quality impacts are associated with emissions of nitrogen oxides3, 4 (NOx = NO + NO2) and volatile organic compounds5, 6, 7 (VOCs), whose photochemistry leads to production of ozone, a secondary pollutant with negative health effects8.
mixing ratios well in excess of present air quality standards, but only during winter9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Understanding winter ozone production in these regions is scientifically challenging. It occurs during cold periods of snow cover when meteorological inversions concentrate air pollutants from oil and gas activities, but when solar irradiance and absolute humidity, which are both required to initiate conventional photochemistry essential for ozone production, are at a minimum. Here, using data from a remote location in the oil and gas basin of northeastern Utah and a box model, we provide a quantitative assessment of the photochemistry that leads to these extreme winter ozone pollution events, and identify key factors that control ozone production in this unique environment. We find that ozone production
leading to carbonyl (oxygenated VOCs with a C = O moiety) photolysis as a dominant oxidant source. Extreme VOC concentrations optimize the ozone production efficiency of NOx. There is considerable potential for global growth in oil and gas extraction from shale. This analysis could help inform strategies to monitor and mitigate air quality impacts and provide broader insight into the response of winter ozone to primary pollutants.
The Council of Canadian Academies Panel has identified the following gaps in knowledge of the effects of large-scale shale gas development on human health:
making it difficult to predict and assess risk from direct/indirect exposures.
formations and dilution with brine. These reactions may produce new chemicals of potential health concern.
individuals may be exposed, are unclear.
established and specific health impacts are therefore difficult to predict or identify.
cumulative risk from several compounds are not available.
assessments of shale gas extraction activities has not been conducted.
incremental pollution from shale gas activities.
“Bakken Business: The Price of North Dakota’s Fracking Boom”, Harper’s,
March 2013
Oil and gas have long been coaxed from fissures, gaps, and cracks in rocks; fracking, which was developed in Texas in the late 1940s is simply a way to artificially induce more cracks. Alone, this was not enough to unleash the full potential of the Bakken. All the formation’s oil was tied up in a thin pale layer, a puny target viewed down a narrow vertical well, but plenty big if approached horizontally. A 2005 breakthrough in directional drilling gave
flexible drill to bend the well, drilling two miles horizontally. But a 2009 innovation* called multistage fracking was necessary for profitable oil flow. Bit by bit, the oilmen learned that the rocks yielded best when drill operators sent rubber-coated plugs into the hole at thousand-foot increments, expanded those plugs to block the hole, fracked, moved the plugs down the line, frack again, repeated dozens of times.
Even the trivial effects seem not so trivial in multiplication. During the first year
truck trips. The beat-up two-lanes and gravel roads that thread between wells handle at least 4 million trips a year. Farmers and ranchers living on these back roads no longer open windows in summer because of the dust. Roadside litter is now dependably punctuated with “trucker bombs”-- plastic bottles filled with urine—rest stops on the prairie being few and far between. Trucks need drivers; roads need builders; fleets need mechanics; men need houses, which need carpenters; rigs need workers; the hundreds of new companies in the Bakken need accountants, flacks, lobbyists, surveyors, negotiators, paymasters; and all these need Walmarts, Holiday Inn Expresses, ATV dealerships, gun shops, strip clubs, and greasy spoons.
Ando Arike
Overall duration of activities for all operations for a six-well multi-well pad: 500 - 1500 days
Operation Materials & Equipment Activities Duration Access road, Well-pad construction Backhoes, bulldozers etc Clearing, grading, pit construction, road materials 4 weeks per well pad Vertical drilling, small rig Drilling rig, fuel tank, pipe racks, well control equipment, personnel vehicles, outbuildings, delivery trucks Drilling, running and cementing surface casing, trucks delivering equipment & cement. Delivery of equipment for horizontal drilling. 2 weeks per well; 1-2 wells at a time Preparation for horizontal drilling, larger rig Transport, assembly & setup, or repositioning
5-30 days per well Horizontal drilling Drilling rig, mud system (pumps, tanks, solids control, gas separator Drilling, running and cementing production casing, trucks delivering equipment & cement. Deliveries for hydraulic fracturing. 2 weeks per well; 1-2 wells at a time
Department of Environmental Conservation, Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling & High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs, 2011. http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/75370.html
Operation Materials & Equipment Activities Duration Preparation for hydraulic fracturing Rig down & removal or repositioning of drilling equipment. Truck trips for temporary tanks, water, sand, additives and other fracturing equipment. 30-60 days per well, or per well pad if all wells treated in one mobilization Hydraulic fracturing procedure Temporary water tanks, generators, pumps, sand trucks, additive delivery trucks & containers, blending unit, personnel vehicles, outbuildings, computerized monitors. Fluid pumping and use of wire line equipment between pumping stages to raise & lower tools used for downhole well preparation &
additives delivery. 2-5 days per well, including 40-100 hours actual pumping Fluid return (flowback) & treatment Gas/water separator, flare stack, temporary water tanks, mobile water treatment units, trucks for fluid removal, personnel vehicles. Rig down and removal or repositioning of fracturing equipment, controlled fluid flow into treatment equipment, lined pits, impoundments or pipelines; truck trips to remove fluid (if not
2-8 weeks per well; may occur concurrently for several wells Waste disposal Earth moving equipment, pump trucks, waste transport trucks. Pumping & excavation to empty/reclaim reserve pits. Truck trips for waste transfer to disposal facility. 6 weeks per well pad Well cleanup & testing Wellhead, wastewater tanks, flare stack. Earth- moving equipment. Well flaring & monitoring; truck trips to empty waste water tanks. Gathering line construction (if not
0.5-30 days per well
Truck visits over lifetime of six well pads – low estimate 4315; high estimate 6590. Those associated with fracturing process: low estimate: 3870; high estimate: 5750.
“Introduction & Overview: the Role
Securing Our Energy Future”,
in Environmental Science & Technology
Public concerns: Air pollution comes in a variety of flavours, with
The Twentieth Century saw coal and oil burning in cities such as
The next challenge faced in the 1970s and 1980s was that of
Nitric acid has already been mentioned: one source of nitrogen oxides is that of any
hot body to which air is exposed: for example thermal electricity generating stations and all internal combustion engines. Both cause combination of oxygen with nitrogen to form NO and NO2 , which together constitute NOx . The figure shows satellite observations of NO2 correlating strongly with high traffic and industrial
small particles in air. NOx and water generate a mixture of acids.
The likely health effects of intense diesel truck traffic and machinery, e.g. pumps,
associated with fracking are serious long-term harms. Small particles, PM2.5 , and Ozone, O3 are probably the most severe hazard to health.
Diesels emit a greater mass of small particulate matter per kilometre than gasoline
engines.
Truck traffic emits the following gases: CO, SO2, NOx and non-methane volatile
diesel engines, and classified according to maximum particle size in micrometres (μm): PM10 , PM 2.5 and PM1.
Extensive scientific studies indicate that there are significant health and
environmental effects associated with particulate matter (PM) and ground- level ozone. These pollutants are linked to serious health impacts including chronic bronchitis, asthma, and premature deaths. Other effects include reduced visibility in the case of PM, and crop damage and greater vulnerability to disease in some tree species in the case of ozone. In June 2000 Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments except Quebec signed the Canada-wide Standards for Particulate Matter (PM) and
and ground-level ozone by 2010. In 2012 ministers adopted the Air Quality Management System as a new comprehensive approach to managing air
for Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone, which replace these Canada-wide standards (CWS).
Figure 2 (not shown) indicates PM2.5 levels in Corner Brook 12 μg/m 3; St.
John’s 10 μg/m3, both well below the Canada Wide Standard of 30 μg/m 3.
Figure 4 (not shown) indicates O3 levels in the same locations.
CCME
“Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter”, EPA/ 600/ P- 95/ 001F, US
Environmental Protection Agency, 1996
AMBIENT LEVELS OF FINE PARTICULATE MATTER in U.S.A. In 1991-94 PM2.5 levels in the western U.S.A. were measured as 1-3 µg/ m 3 in winter and 1-5 µg/ m 3 in summer. In 1991-94 in the eastern U.S.A PM2.5 levels ranged from 2-4 µg/ m 3 in winter and in summer from 2-6 µg/ m 3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012 EPA standards for PM2.5 12 µg/ m 3 Primary Annual avg over 3yr 15 µg/ m 3 Secondary Annual avg over 3yr 35 µg/ m 3 24 hour 98th percentile 2012 EPA standard for PM10 150 µg/ m 3 not to be exceeded more than once per yr, 3 yr avg
Non-Anthropogenic Particulate Air Pollution in the United Kingdom AND Particulate Air Pollution in Atlantic Canada & All of Canada
The non-anthropogenic PM2.5 was estimated for different parts of the UK:
from a minimum of 1.31 µg/ m3 for Scotland, 1.41 µg/ m 3 for England
Contributors were sea salt, wind-blown soil and Saharan dust as well as sulphate and methylsulphonate formed from biogenic releases of oceanic methyl sulphide.
The similar environment of Newfoundland & Labrador suggests that our
non-anthropogenic PM2.5 might be similar to that of Scotland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environment Canada estimates that Atlantic Canada had an annual average PM2.5 level of 4.8 µg/ m 3 in 2012, the lowest in Canada and 21% lower than in 2011. The annual 24h peak value was 12.9 µg/ m 3.
The annual average standard for Canada for 2015 is 10 µg/ m 3 and the 24
hour peak standard is 28 µg/ m 3. From 2000 to 2012 the annual average standard for Canada ranged from 6 to 8 µg/ m 3.
[It is understood that standards are NOT TO BE EXCEEDED]
Annual 98 th Percentile of the 3-Year Average of Annual 98 th Percentile Daily 24-Hour PM2.5 (μg/m3) Daily 24-Hour PM2.5 (μg/m3)
13.3
10 .4 13.7
10 .3 12.5
8 .9 11.4
8 .2 10 .5
8 .1
9.8
11.2
11.5
10 .1 12.7 Canada Wide Standard: 30 30
“Health Effects of Gaseous Air Pollutants” & “The 1997 US EPA Standards for Particulate Matter and Ozone” in “Air Pollution and Health”, Issues in
Environmental Science & Technology, Vol.10, 1998
3-Year Average of 4 th Highest 8 -hour Ozone (ppb or μg/m3)
1999 41.7
20 0 0 41.5
20 0 1 51.5
20 0 2 50 .8
20 0 3 53.0
20 0 4 46.9 53.7 53.8
20 0 5 45.1 52.7 52.0
20 0 6 45.1 60 .3 53.3 54.5
20 0 7 49.4 60 .5 51.4 51.5
20 0 8 49.3 60 .5 51.2 56.6
20 0 9 48 .8 51.5 48 .9 56.6
20 10 47.9 48 .9 46.7 56.5
20 11 48 .3 48 .6 46.9 49.0
20 12 49.9 50 .0 46.9 49.1 Canada Wide Standard: 65 65 65 65
As Newfoundland and Labrador is in achievement of the CWS for PM2.5
and ozone, all actions taken to reduce ambient PM2.5 and ozone are by definition Continuous Improvement (CI) and Keeping Clean Areas Clean (KCAC).actions. Provincial, national and federal initiatives have been developed that will act in concert to improve ambient levels of PM2.5 and
initiatives, per the Air Pollution Control Regulations, 2004 are found in Table 4.
The CWS levels are only a first step to subsequent reductions towards the
lowest observable effects levels. Continuous Improvement consists of taking remedial and preventative actions to reduce emissions from anthropogenic sources towards the long-term goal of reducing overall ambient concentrations of PM2.5 and ozone below the CWS levels.
Keeping Clean Areas Clean refers to preventative measures applied either
across a jurisdiction or within a specified area that are intended to avoid or minimize degradation in overall ambient concentrations of PM2.5 and
Polluting “up to a limit” is not acceptable.
Table 4 - Regulatory Initiatives to Achieve the CWS for PM2.5 and Ozone Direct Initiative
Ambient air quality standards for PM2.5 and ozone which are more stringent than the CWS
Installation of best available control technology in new or modified works
Limitation on the opacity of visual emissions
Prohibition of the burning of specific materials in an open fire
Limitations on the burning of used oil, waste products or other materials in combustion process equipment under certain conditions
Prohibition of the manufacture and sale of residential wood compliance appliances that do not meet the CSA
Opacity standards for diesel fuelled heavy duty motorized vehicles Indirect Initiative
Ambient air quality standards for NO2, SO2 and NH3 which are precursors to PM2.5 formation
Provincial annual SO2 emission cap
NOx standards for fossil fired boilers and heaters
Hydrocarbon emission standards for light duty motorized vehicles
Adoption of CCME Environmental Code of Practice for Vapour Recovery in Gasoline Distribution Networks
Adoption of CCME Environmental Guidelines for Controlling Volatile Organic Compounds from Aboveground Storage Tanks
Sulphur limits on the combustion of fuel of grades 4, 5 and 6
Newfoundland Am bient Air Standards for Sm all Particles, Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone (1 ppb = 1µg/ m 3) Pollutant 1 hour avg. m ax 8 hour avg. m ax 24 h avg. m ax Annual avg. m ax
25 ppb
50 ppb
120 ppb
4 0 0 ppb 20 0 ppb 10 0 ppb
16 0 ppb 8 7 ppb* * CWS agreem ent: 65 ppb by 20 10 Corner Brook, Newfoundland Am bient Air Measurem ents for PM2.5 Year Maxim um 24 h 12 m onth avg. m ax. 24 h Annual avg. 24 h m ax.
17.5 ppb (June) 7.8 ppb 5.7 ppb
39 .9 ppb (July# ) 12.4 ppb 5.9 ppb # In July 20 13, PM2.5 standard was exceeded on three days Corner Brook, Newfoundland Am bient Air Measurem ents for O3 Year 1 hour avg. m ax. 8 hour avg. m ax. Annual avg. m ax.
137.7 ppb 119.3 ppb 57.7 ppb
10 9 .4 ppb 10 3.8 ppb 58 .9 ppb Standards for m axim um perm issible O3 avg. over 8 hr (8 7 ppb) were exceeded on 31 days in 20 12 and on 67 days in 20 13, but the excesses in 20 13 were lower than those in 20 12.
Wide Standard. Measurem ents of am bient levels of SO2 and CO were also well below Canada Wide Standards set for those pollutants.
In Canada, the annual average concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in outdoor air for 20 12 was 9.4 parts per billion (ppb), or 5% lower than in 20 11. A declining trend was detected from 1998 to 20 12, representing a decrease of 41% over that period. The decrease for the NO2 indicator is consistent with the reduction in NO2 em issions from cars and trucks as a result of the introduction of m ore stringent em issions standards by the federal governm ent.
either about 25% or a lower percentage of the Canada Wide Standard. Measurem ents of am bient levels of SO2 and CO were also well below Canada Wide Standards set for those pollutants. Data are not yet available in NL for volatile
In both 20 12 and 20 13, 1 hour NO2 m easurem ents in St. John’s, NL were m uch
higher, in som e m onths com ing close to but not exceeding the Canada Wide Standard for 1 hour exposure: 40 0 ppb.
Nevertheless, ozone and PM2.5 levels exceed the standards set in both locations,
suggesting either that the perm issible NO2 levels are TOO HIGH or that EXCESSIVE VOC (e.g. hydrocarbon) levels are also TOO HIGH. PERHAPS BOTH ARE TRUE.
In Canada, the annual average concentration of volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) in outdoor air for 2012 was 53.9 parts per billion carbon (ppb C), or 11% lower than in 2011. A declining trend was detected from 1998 to 2012, representing a decrease of 54% (or an average decrease of 3.9% per year) over that period.
In Atlantic Canada, the annual average concentration of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) in outdoor air for 2012 was 52.1 parts per billion carbon (ppb C), 31% higher than in 2011. A declining trend was detected from 1998 to 2012, representing a decrease of 31% (or an average decrease of 2.2% per year)
emissions from cars and trucks, as a result of more stringent emissions standards. NOTE: Although natural sources of VOC emissions are larger overall, anthropogenic sources are the main contributors of VOCs in urban areas. Many VOCs are toxic air pollutants that can cause cancer and other serious health
abundant ones are measured by the Canadian National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) program.
K.B. Gregory, R.D. Vidic & D.A. Dzom bak, ELEMENTS 2 0 1 1 , 7 , 1 8 1 - 1 8 6 .
The two following diagrams show how radium, Ra, and radon gas, Rn, may originate from uranium, U, or from thorium, Th, present in the original rocks being fracked. The radioactive decay may be fast or slow, indicated by a short or long half-life of the isotope in question. The produced water may or may not contain radioactive material extracted by fracking. The later slides indicate how storing produced water in sealed containers can result in the development of more intense radioactivity, i.e. more disintegrations per second. Newfoundland has had unfortunate experiences for the workers at a fluorspar mine in St. Lawrence that was not adequately ventilated to remove buildup of radon gas.
NORM is the acronym used for naturally occurring radioactive materials that are present in many, if not all, liquid wastes from hydraulic fracturing, referred to as “produced water”. These liquid wastes are commonly stored before reprocessing or in some cases left in open
A summary appears in http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/123-A186 The main source paper is by A.W. Nelson et al, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 123, No.7, July 2015: http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408855 These authors carried out a careful analysis of the growth of radioactivity in closed containers of produced water from Marcellus Shale. This included contributions from uranium, thorium, actinium, radium, lead, bismuth and polonium isotopes, measured quantitatively using high-purity germanium gamma spectrometry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_spectroscopy and isotope dilution alpha spectrometry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_dilution The results were compared with theoretical calculations of the radioactivity to be anticipated from the stepwise decay of the parent Uranium 238 or Thorium 232, the most abundant long-lived naturally occurring radioactive isotopes.
For example, decay of 238U, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years, occurs through short half-lived
234Th (24.1 day) and 234Pa (1.17 min) to 234U, which has a half-life of 245.5 thousand years, and
1602 years. Next in this series is 222Rn, radon, a gas with a half-life of only 3.82 days. If this material is retained and not allowed to escape, products from its decay are 218Po (3.1 min),
214Pb (26.8 min), 214Bi (19.9 min), 214Po (1.64 X10-4 s), 210Tl (1.3 min), 210Pb (23.2 yr.), 210Bi (5.01
day) and 210Po (138 day), finally reaching stable 206Pb. Decay of 232Th is even slower, with a half-life of 14.05 billion years, producing first 228Ra, with 5.75 year half-life, next 228Ac (6.25 h), then 228Th of half-life 1.9 years, 224Ra (3.63 days), 220Rn (55.6 sec). This is another isotope of radon, a gas that might escape if not confined. Daughter products of 220Rn are all short lived, consisting of 216Po (0.145 s), 212Pb (10.6 h), 212Bi (60.5 min), 212Po (299 ns) and 208Tl (3.05 min) leading to stable 208Pb. In produced water from the Marcellus Shale, previously only radioactivity attributable to radium has been reported, the naturally occurring isotopes 226Ra and 228Ra being present at more than 670 Bq/L and 95 Bq/L, respectively. {1 Bq is 1 disintegration per second} These were the same as the gross alpha activity in the new Nelson et al paper; evidently radioactive daughters of radium were not extracted into the fluid but left behind in the solid phase.
The new work looked also at environmentally persistent alpha- and beta-emitting
water stored sealed for periods up to nearly a year that the activity of 210Po increased 27-fold, comparing 21 days of storage to 278 days, the activity at the end being 4 Bq/L; the activity of 228Th rose from 5.75 Bq/L after 66 days to 22 Bq/L at 278 days. Initially, the radioactive concentrations of both these and other Ra decay products: 214Pb, 214Bi, 212Pb, 210Pb, 208Tl had been near methodological detection limits, while the natural U (238U, 235U, 234U) and Th isotopes (234Th, 232Th,
230Th) were found to be of very low activity (< 5 mBq/L), much less than that of 226Ra.
The take away message from this work is that disregarding the gradual growth in activity of radium daughter products for produced water in a sealed environment would lead to gross underestimates of the dangers of radioactive emissions presented by the fluid. Sealing the container of the produced water prevents escape of radon gas. The consequence is that after 15 days the radioactivity would be >5 greater than that based on Ra measurements alone; a continuous increase is predicted to a maximum of >8 fold about 100 years after extraction. It is especially important to consider the role of long-lived, environmentally persistent Ra decay products (228Th, 210Pb, 210Po).
Excerpts from article by Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail March 10 th 2012
Stanford University geologist Mark Zoback said the risks of
Excerpts from article by Justin Giovanetti, Globe and Mail July 17th 2015
Excerpts from article by Betsy Trumpener, CBC News, August 21st 2015
“Bakken Business: The Price of North Dakota’s Fracking Boom”, Harper’s,
March 2013
Th e r e p o r t f r o m t h e M u l t i - S t a t e R e s e a r c h Co l l a b o r a t i v e i n N o v e m b e r 2 0 13 i n d i c a t e s t h a t f r o m 2 0 0 5 t o 2 0 12 i n s i x s t a t e s i n t h e M a r c e l l u s / U t i c a r e g i o n w h e r e h y d r a u l i c f r a c t u r i n g i s o c c u r r i n g , o n l y f o u r n e w d i r e c t s h a l e - r e l a t e d jo b s w e r e c r e a t e d f o r e a c h n e w w e l l d r i l l e d , m a n y f e w e r t h a n t h e n u m b e r s u g g e s t e d b y i n d u s t r y - f i n a n c e d s t u d i e s .
Jobs from hydraulic fracturing?
Localities are left to deal with most of the problems associated with fracking, while states and the federal government rake in all the revenue, says Frank Shafroth in the September 2014 issue of
fracking problems: noise from blasting, storage of toxic chemicals, degraded water sources and heavy truck traffic, as well as the rising costs of cleaning up the detritus fracking leaves behind. North Dakota counties affected by hydraulic fracturing have reported to the state Department of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division that traffic, air pollution, jobsite and highway accidents, sexual assaults, bar fights, prostitution and drunk driving have all increased.
New research suggests that hydraulic fracking is not safe for some of the most vulnerable humans: newborn infants. In a study presented Jan 4th 2014 at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Philadelphia, the researchers -- Janet Currie, Katherine Meckel, John Deutch and Michael Greenstone -- looked at Pennsylvania birth records from 2004 to 2011 containing the latitude and longitude of the mothers’ residences, matching them to the locations of fracking sites, to assess the health of infants born within a 2.5-kilometer radius of natural-gas fracking sites. Proximity to fracking increased the likelihood of low birth weight by more than half, from about 5.6 percent to more than 9 percent. The chances of a low Apgar score, a summary measure of the health of newborn children, roughly doubled, to more than 5 percent. This builds on the work of Elaine Hill who sparked controversy in 20 12 with a study showing that infants born near fracked gas wells had m ore health problem s than infants born near sites that had m erely been perm itted for fracking. The new research follows a constant group of m others who had children both before and after the onset of fracking, and by controlling for geographical differences in m others’ initial health characteristics, the m others were effectively selected at random to be exposed to fracking. Baby health and fracking in Pennsylvania