Some Coloradans have complained of being made sick by oil and gas well emissions. But we can’t be sure of the number or extent of illnesses because no one has ever kept track.
And even if they did, no agency of government or industry has attempted to determine if there is a connection between illnesses and emissions from the state’s 31,522 wells.
The Denver Post recently made an attempt to chronicle the problem and quickly found that useful data was unavailable. With the recent increase in drilling and the prospect of more, it is essential for state regulators to examine the situation.
People living near wells have become ill and many have reported their illnesses, only to be told, essentially, “It’s all in your head,” according to Dr. Kendall Gerdes, a Denver physician who specializes in environmental medicine. Gerdes believes there is a connection between chemicals used in production and illnesses.
There is as yet no scientific proof that long-term exposure to low levels of toxins like benzene, which are derived from and used in the drilling process, are harmful. Energy companies are not even required to disclose the chemicals they use.
The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t regulate individual oil and gas well emissions, because wells are considered to be small sources of pollution, unlike power plants. The state health department is in charge of regulating emissions, but it has never come up with a comprehensive system for sampling air around individual wells and around the ponds holding tainted liquids that are a byproduct of oil and gas extraction.
It will be a challenging task, but we urge state officials to take a harder look at the issue. The legislature passed a bill backed by Gov. Bill Ritter to change the makeup and mission of the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, to make it more responsive to citizen complaints. The industry-friendly commission had long emphasized production over protection of health and the environment. We look forward to that changing, and it’s also time to do the research that will show whether there are health risks in the areas of Colorado that are in the forefront of the state’s energy boom.
