We are seeing circle the world. The we are fast running out of time to secure a liveable and sustainable future. Without emergency action to stop mining and burning fossil fuels, the world faces an unthinkable 2.8℃ temperature rise.
Authors
Melissa Haswell
Professor of Health, Safety and Environment, Queensland University of Technology and Professor of Practice in Environmental Wellbeing, Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy and Services) and Honorary Professor (School of Geosciences), University of Sydney
David Shearman
Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Adelaide
Jacob Hegedus
Research Assistant, University of Sydney
Lisa Jackson Pulver
Lisa Jackson Pulver is a Friend of The Conversation.Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Sydney
It’s incomprehensible, then, that many of our politicians support “” in the Northern Territory and developing another across Australia.
“Unlocking” means starting large-scale shale gas extraction. After drilling through 3-4km of rock and aquifers, a cocktail of chemicals, sand and water is forced down the well. This process of hydraulic fracturing is commonly known as fracking. This brings to the surface, and then into the atmosphere, carbon that had been securely stored underground for .
Today we have launched a that demonstrates the many risks of oil and gas development for human health and wellbeing in Australia. Based on a review of over 300 peer-reviewed studies, our report provides the public and decision-makers with a summary of the now-extensive evidence of these risks.
What is the evidence against oil and gas?
There is a need to combat widely held misconceptions and repeated misinformation about the safety of the oil and gas industry. We undertook the review at the request of concerned paediatricians in the Northern Territory.
clearly shows that “unlocking gas” is at least as harmful to the climate as mining and burning coal. This is largely due to methane leaks at many stages of production. Methane is than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over 20 years.
Doors opened for the 49 planned projects in Australia after state reviews of potential impacts. These reviews are flawed and outdated as the volume of published studies has grown rapidly in recent years. Reviews were undertaken, for example, in in 2014, in 2017, in 2015 and in 2018.
Our report synthesises recent scientific and public health research on five areas of concern about oil and gas operations:
threats to biodiversity, water and food security arising from site preparation, drilling, fracking, wastewater handling, gas pipeline transport and processing
contributions to the climate emergency
a vast array of potentially harmful chemicals
contamination of water, soil and air
physical, social, emotional and spiritual health impacts near oil and gas fields and their sprawling infrastructure.
Each fracking event to release shale gas uses of fresh water. Fracking is often applied many times to each of hundreds to thousands of wells in a region. This puts in arid areas.
Each step of gas production creates risks of contamination of surface and ground water. With vast quantities of wastewater, it can happen through spilling, leaking, flooding and overflows. Wastewater can even be for so-called “beneficial uses”.
This wastewater contains . Some are naturally occurring. Others are added during drilling and fracking.
These chemicals can include heavy metals, phenols, barium, volatile organic compounds including benzene, toluene, ethylene and xylene, radioactive materials, fluoride, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, salt and many chemicals of unknown toxicity.
with volatile organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, radioactive materials, diesel fumes, hydrogen sulfide, acrolein and heavy metals. Formaldehyde, particulate matter and are formed and travel long distances, damaging health and agriculture.
What are the health impacts?
People exposed to oil and gas operations experience a long list of harms. These include:
more severe requiring more medical treatment, emergency department visits and hospitalisations
higher hospitalisation and death rates due to , , and
higher injury and due to increased heavy vehicle traffic
increases in depression, anxiety and social withdrawal, especially among and women
increases in associated with the industry’s mobile workforces
and of unborn babies, including higher risks of low birth weight, pre-term delivery and spontaneous abortion
higher risk of
higher risk of .
Putting Indigenous people and others in harm’s way
Many of the 49 planned projects affect Aboriginal land. Some companies have allegedly violated the rights of Traditional Owners to . The of Aboriginal Country and life puts people at great risk of physical, , and harm.
The report also issues a loud warning about sexual violence against First Nations and associated with oil and gas activities. The WA into women’s experiences of sexual harassment and sexual violence in “fly in, fly out” (FIFO) mines suggests these risks apply equally in Australia. Yet all of oil and gas development in Australia completely ignore these risks.
In the United States, the industry has grown so vast within two decades that over live within a mile (1.6km) of oil or gas wells. By 2016, the estimated was US$77 billion. This was the cost of illness, extra health care and premature deaths (7,500) from asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to air pollution alone.
Our report makes clear any further gas development will have serious impacts on the climate, the people living in or near gas fields and the overburdened health services that serve them.
Melissa Haswell has previously received funding from the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Health and Medical Research Council, the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Suicide Prevention Strategy, the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Australian Red Cross, The Healing Foundation, Queensland Health and Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council. She is affiliated with the Climate and Health Alliance, Australian Public Health Association and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.
Jacob Hegedus is member of NSW Young Labor Party
David Shearman and Lisa Jackson Pulver do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
