Unconventional natural gas development: economic salvation or looming public health disaster?

McCarron, Geralyn; King, David

doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12196

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As such, the results presented here suggest areas that should be explored further with more sophisticated study designs, and using higher resolution data (e.g., Emergency Department presentations, presentations to GPs) than what could be obtained for this study. Additionally, CSG development in Australia is a contentious issue [ 1 , 17 , 54 ], and much of the data that are collected are predominantly used for legislative compliance purposes rather than monitoring and research purposes [ 17 ]. Calls have been made for more environmental data, as well as health data, that are publicly available in a common repository [ 17 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The expansion of the coal seam gas (CSG) industry in Australia has raised concerns about potential human health impacts in part because of a current lack of human health impact assessment information, as well as accessible baseline studies in Australia [ 1 ]. Furthermore, information on exposures to CSG-associated environmental hazards is minimal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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All-age hospitalization rates in coal seam gas areas in Queensland, Australia, 1995–2011

et al. 2015

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BackgroundUnconventional natural gas development (UNGD) is expanding globally, with Australia expanding development in the form of coal seam gas (CSG). Residents and other interest groups have voiced concerns about the potential environmental and health impacts related to CSG. This paper compares objective health outcomes from three study areas in Queensland, Australia to examine potential environmentally-related health impacts.MethodsThree study areas were selected in an ecologic study design: a CSG area, a coal mining area, and a rural/agricultural area. Admitted patient data, as well as population data and additional factors, were obtained for each calendar year from 1995 through 2011 to calculate all-age hospitalization rates and age-standardized rates in each of these areas. The three areas were compared using negative binomial regression analyses (unadjusted and adjusted models) to examine increases over time of hospitalization rates grouped by primary diagnosis (19 ICD chapters), with rate ratios serving to compare the within-area regression slopes between the areas.ResultsThe CSG area did not have significant increases in all-cause hospitalization rates over time for all-ages compared to the coal and rural study areas in adjusted models (RR: 1.02, 95 % CI: 1.00–1.04 as compared to the coal mining area; RR: 1.01, 95 % CI: 0.99–1.04 as compared to the rural area). While the CSG area did not show significant increases in specific hospitalization rates compared to both the coal mining and rural areas for any ICD chapters in the adjusted models, the CSG area showed increases in hospitalization rates compared only to the rural area for neoplasms (RR: 1.09, 95 % CI: 1.02–1.16) and blood/immune diseases (RR: 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.02–1.27).ConclusionsThis exploratory study of all-age hospitalization rates for three study areas in Queensland suggests that certain hospital admissions rates increased more quickly in the CSG study area than in other study areas, particularly the rural area, after adjusting for key sociodemographic factors. These findings are an important first step in identifying potential health impacts of CSG in the Australian context and serve to generate hypotheses for future studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-2787-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

All-age hospitalization rates in coal seam gas areas in Queensland, Australia, 1995–2011

et al. 2015

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“…Concurrent with the rapidly expanding CSG developments, residents in Queensland's Darling Downs reported impairments to their health [23,24]. As acknowledged by the Darling Downs Public Health Unit (DDPHU) health impacts associated with Coal Seam Gas have been a major community concern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution and human health hazards: a compilation of air toxins acknowledged by the gas industry in Queensland’s Darling Downs

McCarron

2018

International Journal of Environmental Studies

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“…With the growth of the CSG industry, residents have raised concerns about potential environmental and health impacts [3,5,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. Some residents living in CSG areas in New South Wales and Queensland have reported health impacts that they have experienced [17], but this has not been investigated using epidemiologic studies [18]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Increasing Coal Seam Gas Well Development Activity Associated with Increasing Hospitalisation Rates in Queensland, Australia? An Exploratory Analysis 1995–2011

Werner

Cameron

Watt

et al. 2017

IJERPH

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The majority of Australia’s coal seam gas (CSG) reserves are in Queensland, where the industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. Despite concerns, health data have not been examined alongside CSG development. This study examined hospitalisation rates as a function of CSG development activity in Queensland, during the period 1995–2011. Admissions data were examined with CSG well numbers, which served as a proxy for CSG development activity. Time series models were used to assess changes in hospitalisation rates for periods of “low”, “medium”, “high”, and “intense” activity compared to a period of “very low” activity, adjusting for covariates. “All-cause” hospitalisation rates increased monotonically with increasing gas well development activity in females (324.0 to 390.3 per 1000 persons) and males (294.2 to 335.4 per 1000 persons). Hospitalisation rates for “Blood/immune” conditions generally increased for both sexes. Female and male hospitalisation rates for “Circulatory” conditions decreased with increasing CSG activity. Hospitalisation rates were generally low for reproductive and birth outcomes; no clear associations were observed. This study showed some outcomes were associated with increasing CSG development activity. However, as a condition of data access, the population and outcomes were aggregated to a broad geographic study area rather than using higher geographic resolution data. Higher resolution data, as well as other data sources, should be explored. Further research should be conducted with an expanded time period to determine if these trends continue as the industry grows.

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Unconventional natural gas development: economic salvation or looming public health disaster?

Cited by 6 publications

References 6 publications

All-age hospitalization rates in coal seam gas areas in Queensland, Australia, 1995–2011

All-age hospitalization rates in coal seam gas areas in Queensland, Australia, 1995–2011

Air Pollution and human health hazards: a compilation of air toxins acknowledged by the gas industry in Queensland’s Darling Downs

Is Increasing Coal Seam Gas Well Development Activity Associated with Increasing Hospitalisation Rates in Queensland, Australia? An Exploratory Analysis 1995–2011

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