Tag Archives: health risks

A new study in Pennsylvania shows that expectant mothers who live near active natural gas wells are at an increased risk of giving birth prematurely and of having high-risk pregnancies.

This study is one of the first results of a remarkable new partnership that we told you about last November. This partnership promises to cut through the secrecy and legal protections that the oil and gas industry enjoys by employing technology, science, and the collaboration of creative scientists and citizen activists all over the world.

Brian Schwartz, lead research in the study, says, “The growth in the fracking industry has gotten way out ahead of our ability to assess what the environmental and, just as importantly, public health impacts are,…The first few studies have all shown health impacts. Policymakers need to consider findings like these in thinking about how they allow this industry to go forward.”

These findings directly relate to local regulation proposed by landowners in Stillwater and Carbon counties along the Beartooth Front. The regulations address the issues raised by the study as possible causes of adverse health outcomes. Those regulations are just common sense, and should be supported. Continue reading →