Natural gas extraction from shale formations, which includes hydraulic fracturing, is increasingly in the news as the use of extraction technologies has expanded, rural communities have been transformed seemingly overnight, public awareness has increased, and regulations have been developed. The governmental public health system, which retains primary responsibility for health, was not an early participant in discussions about shale gas extraction; thus public health is lacking critical information about environmental health impacts of these technologies and is limited in its ability to address concerns raised by regulators at the federal and state levels, communities, and workers employed in the shale gas extraction industry.

Health Impact Assessment of Shale Gas Extraction is the summary of a workshop convened in 2012 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine to discuss the human health impact of shale gas extraction through the lens of a health impact assessment. Eminent scientists, physicians, public health experts, and representatives from government agencies at federal and state levels, from nongovernment organizations, from the business sector, and from interest groups representing the interests of the citizens met to exchange ideas and to inform on hydraulic fracturing as a means of extraction of natural gas. This report examines the state of the science regarding shale gas extraction, the direct and indirect environmental health impacts of shale gas extraction, and the use of health impact assessment as a tool that can help decision makers identify the public health consequences of shale gas extraction.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR THE WORKSHOP ON THE HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF NEW ENERGY SOURCES: SHALE GAS EXTRACTION
• ROUNDTABLE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES, RESEARCH, AND MEDICINE
• Reviewers
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Opening Session
  • OPENING REMARKS
  • INTRODUCING THE WORKSHOP THEME
  • FRAMING THE WORKSHOP
  • HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR SHALE GAS EXTRACTION
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 3. Geographic Footprint of Shale Gas Extraction
  • FRACTURING: ACCESSING SHALE AND TIGHT GAS
  • GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT
  • REFERENCES
• 4. Occupational Health and Community Impacts
  • NIOSH FIELD EFFORT TO ASSESS CHEMICAL EXPOSURES IN OIL AND GAS WORKERS: HEALTH HAZARDS IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
  • COMMUNITY IMPACTS OF NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH
  • ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY IMPACTS OF GAS SHALE IN PENNSYLVANIA
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 5. Air Quality
  • AIR POLLUTION EMISSIONS FROM SHALE GAS DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION
  • AIR QUALITY IMPACTS OF NATURAL GAS OPERATIONS IN TEXAS
  • AIR POLLUTION EXPOSURE AND RISK NEAR UNCONVENTIONAL NATURAL GAS DRILL SITES: AN EXAMPLE FROM GARFIELD COUNTY, COLORADO
  • AIR QUALITY RESPONDENT
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 6. Water Quality
  • POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING ON WATER RESOURCES
  • HYDRAULIC FRACTURING, WATER RESOURCES, AND HUMAN HEALTH
  • EPA STUDY PLAN ON THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING ON DRINKING WATER RESOURCES: APPROACH TO STUDY POTENTIAL HEALTH IMPACTS
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 7. Sustainable Energy
  • SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR ALL
  • SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR ALL: ENSURING HEALTH THROUGHOUT THE ENERGY PRODUCTION AND USE LIFE CYCLE
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 8. Research Opportunities: Research Community
  • SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCE
• 9. Research Opportunities: Federal Representatives
  • ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
  • PERSPECTIVES ON AGENCY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • A Agenda
  • B Speaker Biosketches
  • C Acronyms

Rapporteurs: Christine Coussens and Rose Marie Martinez.

This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, The Kresge Foundation, American Chemistry Council, Colgate-Palmolive Company, ExxonMobil Foundation, and Royal Dutch Shell. The views presented in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the activity.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2014. Health impact assessment of shale gas extraction: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NOTICE: The workshop that is the subject of this workshop summary was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

This summary is based on the proceedings of a workshop that was sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. It is prepared in the form of a workshop summary by and in the name of the rapporteurs as an individually authored document.