Study: Possible link between fracking and increased radon

Buildings near natural gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing have higher levels of radon gas, new research has found.

The Johns Hopkins University research focused on Pennsylvania and found the carcinogenic gas in concentrations 39 percent higher near unconventional gas drilling than in other buildings. Researchers looked at about 860,000 buildings, mostly homes.

{mosads}If a building used well water, it had a 21 percent higher radon concentration on average than others.

The study released Thursday did not conclude whether there is a causative link between fracking and radon levels, but it did find that radon levels rose significantly when gas drilling took off in Pennsylvania.

“One plausible explanation for elevated radon levels in people’s homes is the development of thousands of unconventional natural gas wells in Pennsylvania over the past 10 years,” study leader Brian Schwartz said in a statement. “These findings worry us.”

While the research used data from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, it contradicts research that agency released in January.

That study found that there was little to no potential harm to workers and residents from radiation from drilling waste.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry-backed group, took issue with the research and said it had many flaws, like Schwartz’s undisclosed connection to the anti-fracking Post Carbon Institute.

The group said the study uses “questionable, incomplete methodology,” does not definitively link fracking to radon and does not mention that high radon levels are a longstanding issue in Pennsylvania, even before fracking.

“It’s unfortunate, yet not unexpected, that some anti-shale activists continue to make claims based purely on hypothetic and perhaps pre-determined narrative-driven ‘cause and effect’ conclusions,” the group said. “Thankfully, however, unbiased data and independent scientific findings are readily available,” it continued, pointing to the state regulator’s study.