April 10, 2018 11:10 AM UTC

Yes Virginia, Cancer-Causing Chemicals Cause Cancer

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Greeley Tribune’s Tommy Wood reports, something you really shouldn’t have to guess about has been shown once again to be correct in a new study conducted by the School of Public Health at the University of Colorado–all those hydrocarbon compounds being spewed into the air around oil and gas drilling sites that we have known for decades can cause cancer, surprise! They really do cause cancer:

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission mandates new oil and gas wells be set back least 500 feet from a residence and 1,000 feet from high-occupancy buildings like schools and hospitals. But the study found that people who live 500 feet from an oil and gas site have a lifetime cancer risk eight times higher than the acceptable limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The study also found that risks of respiratory, neurological, hematological and developmental health issues are greater in people who live near oil and gas sites…

The study focused the emission of non-methane hydrocarbons, a group of compounds that includes harmful pollutants such as benzene, from oil and gas sites along the Colorado Front Range. Benzene has been proven to cause multiple forms of leukemia, cardiovascular disease and bone marrow disease. The study found average benzene concentrations were 41 times higher within 500 feet of a well than they were a mile away. Furthermore, according to the study, benzene concentrations are twice as high at night, when more people are likely to be home, because the emitted pollutants don’t disperse as quickly in the colder night air.

The study also corroborated existing data from Colorado that showed children living near oil and gas development have higher risks of childhood cancers and congenital heart defects, as well as data from studies in Pennsylvania and Texas that found a connection between proximity to oil and gas development and miscarried pregnancies, low birth weight, premature birth, asthma, fatigue and migraines.

What this study tells us is that, although there are most likely some circumstances in which oil and gas drilling close to homes and schools do not result in hazardous situations, it certainly is possible for harmful exposure to dangerous chemicals at a distance of 500 feet from a drilling site. There’s no guesswork about the toxicity of benzene, which has been known for decades to be carcinogenic as well as a source of numerous more immediate health effects due to exposure.

Despite this, mouthpieces for the oil and gas industry are tripping over themselves to smear this report’s author:

Lisa McKenzie, whose thoroughly debunked work is routinely cited by anti-fossil fuel activists, has published yet another study attempting to link health issues to oil and gas development in Colorado. And even though the study’s press release states plainly that “[t]he study acknowledged substantial uncertainties and the need for more research” — effectively invalidating its topline conclusion that, “Those living near oil and gas facilities may be at higher risk of disease” — this study is sure to catch like wildfire in ban fracking activists’ circles and add more misleading talking points to their collection.

If you take a step back from the reflexive vitriol unleashed on anyone who questions the safety of oil and gas drilling in this state, it’s a very simple and quantifiable point that benzene and other hydrocarbon emissions from oil and gas drilling sites are harmful to public health. Defenders of the industry assert that a setback of 500 feet is far enough away to disperse emissions to a safe level. Here we have evidence that no, 500 feet may not be enough distance to reduce the health risk to an acceptable level. And we’re not talking about a comparatively remote “health risk” like climate change, a favorite distraction of the industry to misdirect the debate–we’re talking about cancer.

We know which side the energy industry would have us err on. After all, they think their right to pull oil and gas out of the ground is just as important as the right of the people living on the surface to not get cancer.

Are you, average Colorado voter, comfortable taking this risk? With your own family’s health?

With that, we’ll return you to the oil and gas industry’s reflexive vitriol.