COLUMBUS – A first-of-its-kind analysis from the Clean Air Task Force shows how air pollution from oil and gas facilities can impact the health of Ohio’s children.
An industry group dismissed the report as a “scare tactic” that relied on outdated information.
The report says nearly 30,000 summertime childhood asthma attacks, the result of more than 9 million tons of methane and other pollutants that are released yearly by wells and other petroleum facilities in the state, contributing to the formation of ozone smog pollution, said Janice Nolen, the American Lung Association’s assistant vice president for national policy.
“You’ve got pipelines and engines and equipment that have historically just sort of leaked some of these volatile organic compounds and methane, and have not been recognized as being the contributor that they are,” she said.
The report claims there are more than 90,000 oil and gas wells, compressors and processors in Ohio and that the state ranks sixth overall nationally for the worst health effects related to oil and gas production. Those effects are felt most strongly in Columbus and Ohio’s other major cities.
“This study uses out of date data and fails to recognize the numerous regulations enacted at both the federal and state level since the data was collected-including US EPA’s methane rules on new and modified oil wells finalized earlier this summer,”said Shawn Bennett, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.
“In fact, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz recently stated that oil and natural gas development has actually reduced air pollution,” he said.
National standards for new sources of methane and ozone pollution from the oil and gas industry were recently finalized by the Obama Administration.