Below are the meeting notes from symposium held on Thursday, November 3, 2016 from 7:00-9:00pm at the Renaissance Boulder Flatiron Hotel.

Slides:

·      Wells and Well-Being: What to Expect When You Live in Colorado’s Oil and Gas Fields

·      Oil and Gas Development: Evaluating the Health Implications 

·      Like Oil and Water: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development, Water Use, and Water Quality

Objectives of Conference:

Provide an overview of potential health effects of larger scale oil and gas production in close proximity to suburban neighborhoods 

Speakers:

·      Mayor of Broomfield, Randy Ahrens

·      Stephanie Malin, PhD, Department of Sociology, Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University

·      Lisa M. McKenzie, PhD, MPH, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado

·      Joe Ryan, PhD, Colorado Water and Energy Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder

·      Ann Byers: Chair of Wildgrass Oil and Gas Committee

·      Linda McKibben, Master of Ceremonies, Wildgrass Homeowner

Summary of Presentations:

Randy Ahrens, Mayor of Broomfield

Mayor of Broomfield Randy Ahrens opened by stating that he started his career in the oil and gas industry as an engineer working in western states on oil production. He also described some of the history of oil and gas development in the Broomfield and events leading up to the Colorado Supreme Court decision against the Broomfield city vote for a fracking moratorium. Mayor Ahrens expressed concern with size of recently proposed oil and gas projects in close proximity of neighborhoods. He also expressed concerns that use of forced pooling may not always be appropriate. Mayor Ahrens says he applies his efforts to ensure a high quality of life in Broomfield with a proper balance of oil and gas development with community life.

Ann Byers, Chair of Wildgrass Oil and Gas Committee

Ann Byers provided an overview of how Wildgrass homeowners came together to understand their rights as mineral owners, and to seek advice on their rights may be better protected and represented in the COGCC oil and gas development approval process. Impacts to the community, such as health concerns, need to be understood. Some argue that oil and gas has no impact to the health of a neighborhood. Others point to certain harm. What is the truth on what are the most likely impacts? With the wide variety of information available, Wildgrass and Anthem need time to look the impacts to their neighborhood before the COGCC approves the proposed oil and gas development.

Stephanie Malin, PhD, Department of Sociology, Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University

“Wells and Well-Being: What to Expect When You Live in Colorado’s Oil and Gas Fields”

·      Dr. Malin presented on the Environmental Sociology impacts of living near oil and gas production, specific topics included:

      o   Natural Resource Extraction & Poverty

      o    Environmental Justice & Health

      o    Boom & Bust Cycles

      o    Impacts to Daily Life/Community

·       Dr Malin first started studying environmental sociology in Utah when some of the first fracking activity began to take place.

·      She noted that Weld county may now have the most unconventional oil wells of any county in the nation, which explains why these topics are relevant to Colorado.

·      Contested governance is a primary issue with O&G development. Benefits and costs are unevenly distributed. Land use conflicts result. Who decides zoning and access? Is there procedural justice in the system?

·      Environmental risks and health concerns can produce long term stress

·      The 2005 Energy Policy Act pushed regulation to the states, which resulted in a deregulated Colorado. O&G is exempt from several federal regulations including the Clean Water Act.

·      Colorado’s COGCC is the sole state regulator. It is under funded and has a problematic record (Opsal and Shelley 2014)

·       Based upon a Colorado Supreme Court decision, state control trumps local jurisdictions. This disempowerment in communities with health and environmental concerns leads to community tensions and a decrease in the quality of community life

·      Question from the audience: Are there any communities that are against drilling? Answer from Dr Malin: Ft Collings and Longmont had voted in restrictions on O&G development within city limits, but the COGCC sued these communities and these were then overturned by the State Supreme Court. NY State has banned fracking as has specific areas in Texas

Lisa M. McKenzie, PhD, MPH, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado

“Oil and Gas Development: Evaluating the Health Implications”

·      Dr. McKenzie introduced the Colorado School of Public Health, which is a cooperative effort among CU Boulder, CSU and the Colorado Department of Public Health

·      Dr, McKenize noted that aspects of potential environmental stressors of oil and gas production include air quality, water quality, traffic, noise, light, vibrations, economic conditions, social conditions, health infrastructure and accidents/malfunction.

·      The scale of exposure is an important factor, but we don’t yet conclusively know how close is too close. How many wells in a given area present problems? These are important questions as 378K people in Colorado live within 1 mile of a well.

·      Conclusions from predictive and descriptive health studies indicate:

      o   People living nearest to the well pads may be at increased risk for neurologic, developmental, endocrine system, and respiratory health effects, as well as cancer and stress.

      o    Risk for exposures and health effects is greatest during the period of short-term, high air emissions that may occur during events such as during well-completions and well unloadings and may be higher at night.

·       Conclusions from ecological studies include:

      o   Cases of childhood central nervous system cancers higher than expected in Pennsylvania shortly after hydraulic fracturing introduced

      o    Cases of childhood leukemia not higher than expected in Pennsylvania shortly after hydraulic fracturing introduced

      o    More cases of bladder and thyroid cancer than expected in Pennsylvania counties with shale gas activity

      o    Cardiology and neurology hospitalizations increase with increasing density of wells in zip code

·      But ecological studies are limited, they do not include cause and effect results. Therefore, they are helpful for constructing hypotheses, but do not provide conclusions in themselves

·      Analytical studies are able to provide more conclusive results. For example, analytical proximity studies account for the distance of a sample from a given well source. Results from analytical studies indicate proximity to UNGD wells/activity associated with increased risk of:

      o    Congenital heart defects and possibly neural tube defects

      o    Low birth weight

      o    Preterm birth and high risk pregnancy

      o    Asthma exacerbations

      o    Nasal and sinus, migraine headache, and fatigue symptoms

·       But analytical studies do not always include baseline data, or definitively indicate what people are exposed to at a given time and location

      o   However, the distance O&G development should be to minimize potential for health effects. There is likely no one “right” answer for this question for a specific scenario

·       Additional studies are underway

·      Please see Dr. McKenzie’s presentation for further details and associated references.

·      Question: How does your age affect your sensitivity? Answer: the very young and very old are most sensitive. The very young were studied since their response times can be faster

·      Question: Do O&G companies disclose chemicals? Answer: Companies disclose main ingredients to fracking fluid, but keep some secret since they are proprietary.

·      Question: can we measure pollutants in the air? Answer: yes, with sensitive and expensive equipment.

·      Question: Do we have baseline data? Answer: we need to do more on baseline data

Joe Ryan, PhD, Colorado Water and Energy Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder

“Like Oil and Water: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development, Water Use, and Water Quality”

·      Dr Ryan explained that the Air Water Gas Sustainability Research Project is a large study funded in part by NSF. A number of agencies in addition to CSU and UC Boulder are involved.

·      The project is making use of data collected by the state of Colorado and other sources. This is relevant as Weld county has about as many unconventional wells any other county in the country.

·      The study addresses potential pathways for water pollution.

      o   How do we best get rid of Oil and Gas production waste, given that between 2-5 million gallons of water are used per well?

      o   The study found 596+ chemicals are used in Colorado. 1000+ are listed by the EPA

·      When studying the potential of water pollution, the study focuses on three aspects of each chemical:  (1) Hazardousness, (2) Persistence and (3) Mobility

      o   41 chemicals are of most concern. Of these 9 of them are used in 20% of the wells. Therefore, addressing these 9 is a good place to start on minimizing the impact of O&G on water pollution

·      A wide spread analysis of water samples from 2000 locations were included in the study

      o   It is determined that 42 samples contained methane from O&G production. The pollution was linked to 32 wells.

      o   There was little evidence of new wells causing water contamination

·      450 spills per year were recorded in 2014, with .17% of these reaching the water supply. Spill frequency has increased significantly in the last few years along with production

·      There is currently little evidence of contamination to municipal water systems.

·      It should be noted that data from COGCC is not consistent with data from FrackFocus.org. Therefore, data collection methods may need improvement.

·      Question: Do micro-organisms come to the surface with waste water? Answer: this may be possible, but it is not well documented

·      Question: What about the density of wells proposed? Answer: The disposal of waste water should be of concern

·      Question: what about seismic activity? Answer: Waster water injection has been known to cause seismic activity. There have been instances of this in Greeley and Trinidad.

·      Question: how do we know where the wells are located? Answer: see the COGCC website

·      Question: does the activity comprise hazardous materials handling? Yes, but O&G enjoys many exemptions to federal and state law. The fracking fluid composition along enjoys exemptions.

·      Question: Do they use evaporation in Colorado for waster water? Answer: no, not in Colorado.