EOS.org discusses a study that shows how death and disaster followed the shale gas boom in Appalachia. In the past decade, fracking has contributed to the deaths of more than a thousand people and the emission of more than a thousand tons of carbon dioxide in the Appalachian Basin.
Natural gas accounts for more than a third of the energy produced and consumed in the United States. Its primary selling point? A supposed ecological advantage over coal and other fossil fuels. However, the short- and long-term effects of hydraulic fracturing (fracking, a type of natural gas extraction) on local communities have never really been explored fully by the scientific community.
Recently, however, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, and Stanford University released a comprehensive study on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of industrial fracking on the Appalachian Basin.
Particulate matter isn’t the only threat to air quality associated with the fracking industry. Greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide, as well as toxic gases like ozone and benzene, are produced regularly by fracking activities.
The study was published in Nature Sustainability in December 2019.