Two-year air quality test
A long-term air monitoring study conducted by a Massachusetts environmental and risk sciences consulting firm shows levels of fine particulate matter and volatile organic compounds at the Yonker well site near the Fort Cherry School District are within regulatory agencies’ health standards.
The two-year project, which Range Resources says is the first of its kind, monitored air quality through the development of a six-well pad – from pad construction through each phase of operation and more than a year of production of natural gas and natural gas liquids.
According to the study, which Range Resources
EHP people looked at it, came up with some thoughts and comments,
Raina In contrast to inudstry funded research, what we have observed and learned from countless peer-reviewed studies both in pa and nationwide paints a different picture. Reliable studies show a link between shale gas facilities and health-related issues, especially to vulnerable pouplatinos such as school children,the elderly and pregnant women.
Well researched carcinogens and air toxics with known acute and chronic health effects are released from practically every stage of shale gas development and the question is not whether they exist at harmvufl lecels but how and how often nearby residents are exposed. And EHP constantly strives to answer the public health question how can we break the pathway of exposure? We are in the business of protecting public health to best serve residents of SWPA in the face of significant industriatlizition of our rural communities.”
This whole data collection and analysis began as part of yonker application processs in fall 2016 in mt. pleasant township, we thought given set of questions we recived from parents and shcool district, we’d do this. we did this project and said we’d share results. This is in a wet gas area, We believe it’s the first of it’s kind, we did full monitoring at a well site, first time something that exhaustive was done.
Objeetive was to show if there were any impacts from our operations on children at school. There’s a map here, here’s wehre teh school is, here’s 3 sites, near school, we monitoried for VOCs using an EPA method, canisters run for a 24-hour period, tehy run automatically, the pull in ambient air, it’s taken back to a lab, they run analysist through the lab. That’s for VOCs, benzene, toloulene, zylene, those were at all three sites. This site has a FPM monitor. There’s a, this monitor was a little more sophisticated, for FPM, the PM2.5, we had meterologigal data at site 1 and 2 . This monitor required electrical power, 220 line. This monitor requires climate control, this was in accordance same way PA DEP and US EPA monitors their sites, PM 2.5, this was acceptable reference method. Question that came up, air quality on a daily basis, you can go on DEP and check every day. Florence is ours. For PM 2.5 we didn’t monitor for ozone. Some people asking me. Our monitor was to mirror what they have.
We also monitored wind direction and speed. If we saw anything here, Anywhere from 1,000 to 2,800 feet from the school. The school is also over 1,000 feet away from here. We use sighting criteria. We followed what agency would do.
Our results – canisters run on 6 day cycle, the BAM runs continuously all the time, data is store d and then pulled.
Our restults shows for VOCs, benzene, toloulene, this is FPM, we compared this to the Pa DEP’s monitor near burgettstown, the florecne monitor is Pa DEP, we compared our data to theris, there’s a national ambient air quality standardf for FPM and they see whether an area is meeting teh standar ornot, whetehr its attainment or nonattainment, if your’e attaingin it means you’re meeting the standard. the standard, it s a primary and secondary standard, primary is protecitve for sentisitve parts of population, elderly, children, asthmatics, teh standard is established, in this case, the annual for primary is 12, secondary is 15, primary is human health, what we’ve seen is we’ve pretty much followed the same trend as teh florecne monitor, florence is a little bit away from most of the activitiey, you’ll see most of the wind is from west/southwest, we’re checking to see teh impact teh well pad has on the shcool and surrounding community. We’re right in the middel of this, concern experssed tthat there are so many wells, cumulutaive effect, if it’s going to be an impact
We wanted to show any impact on the school. It’s provbably one of the most densely populated marcesllus. There are more than 40 wi, 160 acctive unconventional gas wells. You alsoha v othe
First marcesslu well was drilled 15 years ago, and we’re nmoinitoring the air and seeing cumuluative results and there’s no issue.
Tehre are times when florence and our monitor are off, there are some fluctualtion, its a very sensivtive thing, a farmer driving a tractor, meterological conditions, we had a couple meteorological stations measuring for us. A lot of the FPM, some’s emitted and some is formed. But even with spikes, we’re well below the standard.
It could be a transport issue in SWPA, where it’s being blown in from ohio etc. I think the data we have is fairly sound. The VOCs, we followed EPA’s methodology, we had the same amount of a number of analytes, you can see, when you look at the scale, this number in relation to this, this is the chronic health basedair comparison values (HBACV) which is set to EPA standards, If you’re below these, theres still a margin of safety. What we found here is, how does this compare to PA DEP numbers, there’s some variation, there’s one in charleroi, they have the one in slipepery rock, the numbers are basically on teh same magnitude if you will, these are parts per billion, there’s .2 vs. .1936, these canisters are very sensitive, we may have picked up exhaust from property owner’s farm equipment. If they were cutting hay, cutting grass, that might be why theres a number,
These are the averages. There are none above the HBACV, in 22 months, they never exceeded level, spikes could be something else. The important thing is the gap between this line and what we’re seeing (far below).
I think it’s important to point out, both marks have reviewed this extensively, this was done by third party, range paid, but mark wayner didn’t have anything to do with the data, and agradient did a full analysis of the data was done by the company.
This a lot of the data aligns pretty unirform with DEP and school, which commissioned a report at end of 2011, they targeted during activities, it was only for weeks and months.It was
Mark also sat with superintenent of s.d. and property owners to reveiw the data with them.
Allison park – maker space, tehre were 6 planters here, we had a parent who started a garden and moved out of district , i applied for $1,000 igrant for music block,to put pots and pans on i got $5,00 Chevron/benedum IU, used stuff here, we had a fence, sarah durzo, miss magda choose kind, wendy rosas, we used a lot of stuff here alumin designed sports, academics and arts, purchased shed and turned it into book nook, library is here today, this is a STEAM shed wher kids can make, create things, farming from k, 1-2, making planters, making lettuce and kale for lizard who lives in K class, sensory bins, my main purpose was sound station, kids can make sounds on recyclables on metals and woods, i got from thrift store. Stage, kdis come out, performance space stage, pair and share, readings, perform music, we also have PFO hs given us $, PFO has helped a lot, rainbow rocks by miss magyar, bar code only one you Girl scout troop reads book about being unique and you, each child has decorated a rock, Durzo.
Sarah Durzo – and principal. Remake grant, a combo of 2 grants, i used Chevron/Benedum and IU grant, it was innovation grant for the music space. I got to see it when i frist started, the whole place has been transormed Just the engagement they have, they’re getting outside, teh interaction with things they didn’t realize they could use, wehn they see the pots they’re like, it’s junk, they have a purpose, Stacy gave them a purpose. The recyclables were from thrift store on 51, cost less than $100, teachers would bring in things, scrapers, big cookie trays were donated, canisters were from
Head of meaintennace, maintenance dept put stage together, teachers volunteered, there’s going to be a butterfly release, planters, music, art phys ed, science, special ed all are participating. The whole concept of the stage, Stacy put the idea, once Girl Scout. Rocks, chairs to sit outside, adirondack chairs, we can relax, this tree had lights, Rameas.