Personal tools
You are here: Home More Impacts Air

Air

VOC Emissions

 

Air pollution from hydrofracking come in many varieties. There is dust from truck traffic, dust from construction, and diesel fumes which are easily appreciated by our eyes and our noses. But one of the most toxic types of air pollution is insidiously invisible to our eyes. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, such as benzene and formaldehyde (yes, the same stinky stuff that that frog in biology class was preserved in), are released both intentionally and unintentionally from gas collection and treatment equipment. These chemicals contribute to asthma- inducing smog, are toxic to our organs and significantly raise the risk of cancer to those who inhale them. While our eyes cannot detect these emissions, infrared photography has recorded dramatic clouds of black VOCs issuing from gas facilities.  Infrared also reveals escaping methane.


methane-gas-leaks

Photographs by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

To the naked eye, no emissions from an oil storage tank are visible, but viewed with an infrared lens, escaping methane is evident.

In the west where hydrofracking has been used to extract gas from the Barnett  and Haynesville shale formations, elevated levels of  benzene were documented by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Dish, Texas due to leaky compressor stations.  A Health Impact Study conducted by the  Public Health Department in Garfield County, Colorado also documented unhealthy spikes of VOCs.

An air quality permit issued b the WV Air Quality Board allowing Chesapeake Energy to operate 18 compressors within a 3-mile area is being challenged by a group of Wetzel County landowners.  These concerned citizens have organized a the Wetzel County Action Group (www.wcag-wv.org).  The issue is that currently each compressor station is evaluated individually rather than collectively.  The argument of the Wetzel group is that, collectively, the emissions exceed air quality standards of safety.

This generates an immediate problem for residents who live locally as well as contributing to smog in more distant places downwind.


 

Document Actions
3 Ring Binder Project
Submit a survey form
to report incidents and problems

Contact Governor

  • Call the Governor toll free at 888-438-2731.

Contact Legislators

  • Call your state legislators at the Capitol via this toll free number 877-565-3447.

Contact DEP

  • Share your concerns with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) at 304-926-0499.

Report accidents and spills

  • WV DEP Spill Hotline 1-800-642-3074
  • National Response Center 1-800-424-8802
  • EPA Eyes on Drilling Tipline 1-877-919-4372 or email eyesondrilling@epa.gov

AND

Our sites public reporting tool.

Write your newspaper!!

Join the Sierra Club HydroFracking Team

Click on this link.