Oil and gas field workers face health hazards from silica sand used in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process, an arm of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported on Friday.
After testing air samples from 11 fracking sites in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas, CDC’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found silica levels above defined exposure limits, it said in a hazard alert posted on the Department of Labor’s OSHA website.
Exposure to silica can lead to silicosis, a disease that causes inflammation and scarring of lung tissues and can impair breathing, according to the study.
It is hard to accept the data as work is done outdoors where air is constantly refreshed by a breeze.
From http://www.dangersoffracking.com
“The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create fracking fluid”
The danger of silicosis is dust from sand getting into a persons lungs.
If water is mixed with sand before the fracking process there can be no dust. As I understand the process, fracking takes place over 1000 feet underground. Where’s the danger of silicosis? If workers manually mix sand and water wear a respirator..
Who ever dreamed up this warning is really reaching for straws, what a joke!
Silica is a terrible problem at beaches. Beaches are full of it. So are deserts! Oh, the horror of it all. It is to cringe. Merde! Sacrebleu and other combustible words!
And silica sand is used in the filters at water treatment plants as required by EPA’s surface water treatment rules.
Ever heard of sand blasting???? How about particle masks?? How about sanding wood?? How about stopping a stupid run amok agency concentrate on real diseases??
The anti fracking crowd and its allies are “ginning up” the issue again. Another reach to stop something for no technical reason.
Is the Obama Administration the most ignorant administration of any government in the history of the world? Who could have been more ignorant?
The CDC article is a bit vague and doesn’t contain much in the way of data but lists sand transport point sources as the culprits. They do not list extent of the potential overexposure, so they could have sampled a plume from a thief area as the exceedence. They also state the PPE is not sufficent and engineering/work practice controls are required. This is simply stating the regulations for PEL/TWA exposure exceedences. No comparison with other silica sources is given for reference (quarrying, diatomaceous earth, cement/concrete manufacture, playground sand, etc). The only thing of note is that this is a “new” study for fracking operations and the only thing new is “fracking.”