Are Fracking Workers Being Poisoned on the Job?

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http://www.alternet.org/are-fracking-workers-being-poisoned-job



Last week’s Republican election victories will set the stage for more stagnation in Washington, but it also might grease the skids for one of its most controversial federal energy ventures: a long-stalled proposal for construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline, the natural gas project that has become ground zero in the battle over hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But one thing that might put the brakes on the project is the mounting research evidence linking oil and gas extraction to massive health risks for workers and communities.

A new study published in Environmental Health reveals air pollution data on major, in some cases previously underestimated, health risks from toxic contamination at gas production sites related to fracking. Air samples gathered around "unconventional oil and gas" sites by community-based environmental research teams contained unsafe levels of several volatile compounds that “exceeded federal guidelines under several operational circumstances,” and that “Benzene, formaldehyde, and hydrogen sulfide were the most common compounds to exceed acute and other health-based risk levels.”

This suggests fracking may bring risk of cancer, birth defects and long-term respiratory and cellular damage to local towns and farms. Building on other studies on drilling-related water contamination, the air pollution research may stoke growing opposition from communities near drilling sites, who must weigh the industry’s promises of new investment and jobs against the potential cost to the human health.

The findings also raise questions about the safety of fracking site workers, who may have far less legal recourse over potential health damage than do local homeowners. Many work contract jobs under harsh, isolated conditions, in a volatile industry where pressure to pump profits is high and labor protections weak.