Hello fellow climate nerds of FoCo!

Christina here with our latest scoop from Safe and Healthy Colorado. Please check out our link tree to find our profiles on all our social media platforms! That way you can easily share our posts to help spread the word to phase out fracking!

Fort Collins Sustainability Group, in coalition with Safe and Healthy Colorado partners, are publishing new visual data on the health risks from oil and gas development in Colorado. Using statewide well location data, we mapped a ½-mile radius around each fracking site commissioned in the state. These zones, labeled “VOC Danger Zones”, represent areas where residents may be exposed to elevated levels of carcinogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde.

VOC exposure has been linked to short-term symptoms such as headaches, respiratory irritation, and dizziness as well as long-term risks including cancer, asthma, and adverse birth outcomes. When mapped statewide, the overlap between these danger zones and Colorado communities, including schools and childcare centers, is impossible to ignore.

Scientific research has shown that these emissions pose serious public health risks:

• Elevated VOC risks near wells: A seminal 2012 Colorado study found residents living within ½ mile of fracking wells were at greater risk of cancer and non-cancer health effects from exposure to benzene and other VOCs, attributing benzene as the major contributor to the risk.

• Cancer risk from benzene: Benzene is a known human carcinogen capable of multisystem health effects. Exposure to benzene is correlated with organ damage and immune system depression. Sensitive populations (children, pregnant women, elderly, immunocompromised) and occupational workers are at increased risk for adverse health effects from elevated atmospheric levels of benzene[s] in residential areas with nearby drilling and fracking operations.

• Benzene exposure hazards documented in Front Range communities: In spite of industry claims of reduced emissions, monitors in Broomfield, Colorado, recorded repeated benzene spikes near fracking operations at nearly twice the federal safety threshold of 5 parts per million over a 15 minute period.

• Acute lymphocytic leukemia: A recent Colorado study found that children with acute lymphocytic leukemia are more than twice as likely to live near dense oil and gas development as those without, with correlation evident as far away as 8 miles.

This is not just a technical issue. It is a matter of environmental justice and public health. Families across Colorado deserve the right to breathe clean air and live without preventable toxic exposures. We need real action to protect our communities from the relentless expansion of fracking in Front Range communities.

Please sign and share the Safe & Healthy Colorado Coalition Open Letter of Support for a phase out of new fracking permits in our state by 2030!

Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue,

Christina