University of Cincinnati researchers have collected data from air-monitoring devices in Carroll County that could be a first step in determining if or what kind of pollutants in Ohio might result from fracking.
The researchers started the project earlier this year and have sent the samples to collaborator Oregon State University for analysis, Erin Haynes, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Environmental Health, told me. Findings should be available before year’s end.
In total, more than 30 samples will be collected.
The researchers placed air samplers on properties in and near areas in various stages of oil and gas well development. Some of the monitors are in areas that do not have any drilling activity for comparison.
“Our goal is to find out what is in the air,” Haynes said. “What potential chemicals. If there’s nothing, that’d be great news.”
Other states where hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is ahead of Ohio’s pace have conducted air studies and found some potential issues with air quality. A joint report looking at air in the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas, for example, found hundreds of sickness complaints possibly caused by contaminated air. And in 2012, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health “found a number of potentially toxic petroleum hydrocarbons in the air near the wells including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene,” which are among the chemicals the University of Cincinnati researchers are looking for.
The researchers’ data will look at variables including the monitors’ distance from well sites, wind direction and proximity to roadways, which are crowded with heavy trucks and their related exhaust fumes.
Equipment from Oregon State gives the researchers the capability to identify more than 1,000 airborne chemicals.
“It’s great that we can bring this high-end technology to Ohio when fracking is beginning to boom,” Haynes said.
This study is small in scale but, it is hoped, will lead to a bigger follow-up study with more funding, she said. Haynes is leading the study, which is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Carroll County is one of the most-active spots for oil and gas drilling in the Utica shale play, attracting scads of new development.
Tom Knox covers Ohio State University, energy, state policy and the business of marijuana for Columbus Business First.