Shale gas extraction in North Carolina: Public health implications and prevention

The North Carolina legislature recently took steps towards legalizing hydraulic fracturing and sits in a unique position amongst oil and gas producing states. In creating an oil and gas regulatory framework, North Carolina legislators have the opportunity to build from scratch. This framework can incorporate experiences from other states and accommodate current technology better than regulations made when fracking was not yet widespread. Water quality data could be collected for North Carolina aquifers potentially affected by fracking. The opportunity to gather such background data, collected before any type of oil or gas drilling takes place, is no longer available in many other places where fracking occurs.

In October 2012, the Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative assembled 125 experts for a Shale Gas Extraction Summit on Public Health Implications and Prevention to consider the potential future of fracking. Attendees represented academia, industry, local, state and federal government and public interest groups and met for two days to develop a list of recommendations to benefit North Carolina and other states.

The summit aimed to create a neutral space in which experts could share ideas and experiences as they worked to identify gaps in the current knowledge of, and preparations for, fracking and its potential impacts specifically on North Carolina. The desired outcome of this summit was a set of recommended actions and policies to preserve the health of North Carolina's citizens and environment if fracking occurs in the state.

The summit included three working groups focused on three different topics related to fracking: exposure pathways, health impacts, and social impacts. For example, a recommendation that emerged from all three groups is the importance of collecting background water quality data before any oil or gas drilling occurs. The final work product of recommendations should be complete in March/April 2013.