Colorado study links fracking to air pollution

Colorado study links fracking to air pollution by Cathy Proctor, March 19, 2012, Denver Business Journal
The report is based on three years of air samples collected by the Garfield County Department of Public Health and Olsson Associates Inc. The county asked the school to look at the potential health impacts for residents of Battlement Mesa, a 5,000-person community on Colorado’s Western Slope, from drilling natural gas wells nearby. … Western Colorado’s natural gas industry has shown that when good science justifies changing how we do business, our technology and know-how allow us to respond. And that’s what the CSU study is all about.” The study found benzene, a known carcinogen according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene, heptane, octane and diethylbenzene in the air samples, according to the announcement. Exposure to these kind of pollutants can cause eye irritation, headaches, sore throat and difficulty breathing, the announcement said.