Study: Older adults living near fracking sites in Pa. more likely to be hospitalized for cardiovascular diseases
Monday, March 20, 2023
A University of Chicago study recently revealed older adults living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania were more likely to be hospitalized for cardiovascular diseases than those who lived in New York, where fracking is banned, according to UChicago Medicine.
Prachi Sanghavi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences at UChicago and the senior professor on the paper, first became interested in studying the health effects of fracking in the early 2010s during the fracking boom.
Sanghavi’s team collected Medicare claims data for tens of thousands of patients between 2002 and 2015 in both northern Pennsylvania and New York. They found a connection between the development of new fracking sites and increased rates of hospitalization for health conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and ischemic heart disease.
Past studies have uncovered elevated levels of airborne hydrocarbons and other pollutants near fracking sites. However, a relationship between those pollutants and negative health effects hasn’t been established yet.
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Shale FAQ
What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
Is it safe?
What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
Will my water catch on fire?
Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.