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Fracking and radon levels
A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health"claims that rising levels of radon in Pennsylvania homes correlates with the rise in fracking operations in those areas." Investigators found that "buildings located in counties where natural gas has most actively been extracted from shale have seen significantly higher readings of radon compared with buildings in low-activity areas over the past decade." The study was published April 9 in Environmental Health Perspectives, which is published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Science, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Anyone surprised by this report?
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
Surprised? No.
It kinda makes sense.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
More from the story:
"She says it is unclear whether the excess radon in people’s homes is coming from radium getting into well water through the fracking process, being released into the air near the gas wells or whether natural gas from shale contains more radon than conventional gas and it enters homes through cooking stoves and furnaces. Another possibility, she says, is that in the past decade buildings have been more tightly sealed, potentially trapping radon that gets inside and leading to increased indoor radon levels."
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
“I don’t think we can ignore these findings,” Schwartz says. “Our study can be improved by including information that was not available for our analysis, such as whether natural gas is used for heating and cooking, whether there is any radon remediation in the building, and general condition of the building foundation."
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
The actual article it referenced if you look at the graphs show what appears to be only minor variations in radon over the years (Figure 4) if I am reading it correctly. As the article correctly points out, the Reading Prong which has no marcellus shale (and thus no fracking activity) has the highest radon in the state.
I certainly could see that fracking could release extra radon by the very nature of what it does.
Did anyone also look at the actual report and come away with the same observation ?
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
tennyson wrote:
The actual article it referenced if you look at the graphs show what appears to be only minor variations in radon over the years (Figure 4) if I am reading it correctly. As the article correctly points out, the Reading Prong which has no marcellus shale (and thus no fracking activity) has the highest radon in the state.
I certainly could see that fracking could release extra radon by the very nature of what it does.
Did anyone also look at the actual report and come away with the same observation ?
That was my understanding as well. I do not think that any evidence has been produced to suggest that Fracking produces radon.
The concern is, as you have stated, that the fracking process might release radon that may naturally be where the fracking is beeing carried out. If this turns out to be true, the affect of fracking vis a vis radon would vary with naturally occurring deposits of the radon.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Re: Fracking and radon levels
The actual article it referenced if you look at the graphs show what appears to be only minor variations in radon over the years (Figure 4) if I am reading it correctly. As the article correctly points out, the Reading Prong which has no marcellus shale (and thus no fracking activity) has the highest radon in the state.
I certainly could see that fracking could release extra radon by the very nature of what it does.
Did anyone also look at the actual report and come away with the same observation ?
That was my understanding as well. I do not think that any evidence has been produced to suggest that Fracking produces radon.
The concern is, as you have stated, that the fracking process might release radon that may naturally be where the fracking is beeing carried out. If this turns out to be true, the affect of fracking vis a vis radon would vary with naturally occurring deposits of the radon.
Did you go to the article and see the graph that showed the different areas and radon counts ? That is where I had the most trouble in relating in that the radon levels seemed to remain pretty much in a tight range where there was fracking involved. Am I missing something ? If I am not mistaken also (don't have the graphs available now), I believe the earliest years shown, the fracking was not really much in use.
I agree too that fracking does not produce radon, but rather its action can perhaps allow naturally occuring radon to escape.
Last edited by tennyson (4/16/2015 5:27 pm)
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"