Outdoor Air Quality Impacts at Hydraulic Fracturing (“Fracking”) Sites in Fort Worth

Natural gas production has been increasing in recent years across the United States, in part due to advances in drilling and extraction technology. One such technology, hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking”—is being extensively used in the Barnett Shale region in north central Texas, and more than 400 active natural gas production sites are located within the City of Fort Worth. To address concerns about air quality impacts, the City sponsored the Fort Worth Natural Gas Air Quality Study to characterize how natural gas production activities affect outdoor air quality and to evaluate whether the minimum setback provisions for these sites are adequately protective to nearby residents.



This presentation will review the main findings from this study, in which two approaches were taken to characterize air quality impacts. First, ambient air monitoring occurred at eight locations throughout the City over a 2-month period in late 2010, with one-in-three day sampling for nearly 140 pollutants. Second, emissions were measured at, or estimated for, nearly 400 different natural gas production and processing sites between 2010 and 2011. The emission rates were then entered into a dispersion model to estimate air quality impacts at locations where, and times when, ambient air monitoring did not occur.

The study identified three pollutants—benzene, formaldehyde, and acrolein—as being most important from a risk perspective, but did not find any significant health threats associated with air quality beyond the City’s setback distances. Several recommendations were provided for further study of outdoor air quality impacts and to reduce emissions from the gas production sites found throughout the City.

Legionnaire’s Disease Outbreak at a Long Term Care Facility: Environmental Health Considerations

In summer of 2011, Columbus Public Health (CPH) began investigating an outbreak of legionnaire’s disease that was linked to a long-term care facility. This lecture will describe the environmental assessment performed by Columbus Public Health at the facility and the obstacles that were encountered during the investigation.

Legionnella spp. has been typically associated with stagnant water from point sources such as cooling towers, but can also be cultured from potable water systems. As part of the environmental assessment, all water systems in the facility were evaluated for possibility of contamination. The potable water distribution system consisted of two boilers, mixing valves at each boiler, and essentially two distinct and independent loops. The potable water system was assessed for chlorine, pH, and temperature, and sampling was performed at the distill ends, boiler, mixing valve and selected rooms based on exposure by affected individuals. One hundred (100) mL samples were taken based on guidance from the Environmental Legionella Isolation Techniques Evaluation (ELITE) approved lab that was closest in proximity to the site. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was contacted for assistance with epidemiologic case studies and a follow up assessment.

Lab samples of the potable water system were shown to culture legionella at several points in the potable water system, thus implicating the water supply as the outbreak vehicle. Remediation efforts that took place included heating of the water system (according to ASHRAE guidelines), soaking of shower heads in bleach solution and follow up testing of the water system.

In closing, the management of legionnaire’s outbreaks in these types of settings are can stretch the resources of local public health and the long-term care facilities and this presentation is designed to educate attendees as to a local health department’s perspective and lessons learned.

Effective Strategies to Reduce Motor Vehicle Injuries in Native American Communities

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of deaths in American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities. Research shows that the AI/AN motor vehicle (mv) fatality rates are one of the highest among other groups in the United States. In September 2004, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provided direct funding to AI/AN Tribes/Tribal Organizations for prevention of motor vehicle crash (mvc) injuries using evidence-based effective strategies. This presentation describes the efforts to increase the use of seat belts, child passenger safety seats and reducing drinking and driving.

“Why Don’t People Walk?!” – A Case Study of Active Travel at a Sustainable University

More and more people in the western world have a sedentary lifestyle that is likely to be damaging their health and active travel is a potential solution to this problem. This is because active travel involves activities like walking, running, or cycling for at least some of a person’s journey to work, school or play. It could also involve other modes of transport, however there still needs to be substantial part of the journey that requires physical activity.

This presentation is based on a case study in Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in the United Kingdom (UK); NTU is the #1 University in the UK’s University Green League. The work identifies the importance of understanding current behaviors, specifically those issues that act as barriers and those that can be harnessed as facilitators to change personal habits with the goal of achieving positive health, well-being and sustainability-focused outcomes.

The research is innovative as, in order to achieve the above outcomes, it combines the ‘Stages of Change’ model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1986) with another respected theoretical models within the psychology of behavior change, namely the ‘Theory of Planned Behavior’ (Ajzen, 1991).  The key premise of the paper is that, having identified barriers and facilitators to lifestyle changes and embedded behavior that have significant health implications associated with them. Lessons learned can then be drawn upon to increase the effectiveness of specific well-being and sustainability initiatives for healthy communities.

This talk could be of interest to practitioners involved in initiatives that seek to change behavior through environmental health interventions in communities or in a wider sustainability context.

Cell Phone Usage: More, More, More or Less, Less, Less? [LEARNING LAB]

Recently, several studies evaluating the impact of cell phone usage on brain tumor and other health impacts have appeared in the literature. Some studies conclude long-term cell phone usage is a health risk and some conclude the opposite. Some studies evolve from large-scale international efforts to understand the health impact of cell-phone usage. Other studies are more independent, while additional studies review a combination of these studies. The purpose of this roundtable session is to look at each type of published study and assess health risk within the context of the experimental approach and risk factors. Given that different types of studies reach different conclusions regarding the risk of cell phones, what is the appropriate action to take? Who is at most risk from cell-phone usage? Are cordless phones more or less of a risk than cell phones? What action makes the most sense to reduce risk of brain tumors and brain cancer from cell phone usage? Are there any other potential health impacts posed by cell phones? This roundtable not only looks at the current epidemiological studies and reviews of cell phone usage but offers strategies to critically assess the evolving body of literature on the immediate and future risks posed by cell phone usage.