Health

Nirav Shah — commissioner of the New York Department of Health (DOH) and a figure at the center of the debate over whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in the state — is planning to resign his post next month for a new job in California.

With the help of county-level officials, researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) continue to press ahead with an air quality study at Marcellus drilling sites across the state, finding elevated levels of benzene in the air that they claim are of concern.

Shale gas production activities in the Barnett Shale have not resulted in volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures great enough to pose a health concern for area residents, according to a new study of the region’s air quality.

Alberta natural gas royalties, a health benchmark of the Canadian supply industry, plunged to their lowest level in a generation in the government fiscal year that ended March 31.

Alberta natural gas royalties, a health benchmark of the Canadian supply industry, plunged to their lowest level in a generation in the government fiscal year that ended March 31.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have signed an interagency memorandum of understanding (MOU) to begin researching the effects of human exposure to airborne emissions from shale gas drilling sites.

Guidelines put in place last year by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to expedite the drilling permit application process have significantly reduced the agency’s backlog, DEP said Thursday.

A Canadian study published last week that raised public health concerns about oilsands solidified some opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry oilsands production from Alberta. Opponents blasted a separate report by Nebraska’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to reroute the pipeline through the state.

As a study emerged Monday in Canada raising public health concerns about oilsands, groups long opposed to TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline blasted a report released Friday evaluating a rerouting of the oilsands-linked pipeline in Nebraska by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).