by Carmi Orenstein, Networker editor and program director,
Concerned Health Professionals of New York

We live in a state that prioritizes the profits of polluters, over protecting its residents and the ecology that nurtures them, in its laws and regulatory bodies. The asymmetry of power and resources between a small grassroots organization like ours and the nexus of industry and their powerful political allies is immense. Losing is not an option however, because our children’s health and future hang in the balance.

These are words of Ranjana Bhandari, founder and executive director of the grassroots environmental advocacy group Liveable Arlington [Texas], in our Networker interview with her published in April 2023. Our work with Liveable preceded that piece and continues today. Last month, SEHN’s program Concerned Health Professionals of New York (CHPNY) participated in Liveable’s release of an extraordinary data set and mapping project, further bringing to light Arlington’s reckless and continued catering to the oil and gas industry that places the city’s children in harm’s way.

The project reveals that every one of Arlington Independent School District’s 76 schools is within a two-mile radius of at least three active drilling sites. The majority of those schools are within that distance of five drilling sites, and 18 of the schools are surrounded by 10 or more drill sites. A drill site may have up to 30 gas wells, each well emitting pollutants throughout its lifecycle. Looking at closer distances, tens of thousands of children are going to school within one mile and even a half-mile or less, of multiple sites.

It is impossible to determine a truly safe distance from these operations. Multiple studies have shown, for example, increased odds of childhood cancers and asthma from miles away and these data typically show a dose-response relationship: The closer the residence, the greater the odds of these harms. (See CHPNY Statement below for scientific references.) Researchers are increasingly stating unequivocally in their study conclusions: No distance is safe, but we know that increased proximity increases the harmful impacts. So does the intensity of the oil and gas activity. Increased distance reduces risk.

CHPNY provided our “Statement Concerning New Data on Proximity of Arlington, Texas School Children to Oil and Gas Operations,” focused on health impacts, to complement the information and resources that Liveable released. All accessible from a new webpage, these resources include a summary of findings; a narrative review of surrounding drilling sites and gas wells for each of the 76 schools in the District; the user-friendly, open-access mapping tool created by FracTracker Alliance for research and visualization of these data; and our Statement based on the peer-reviewed scientific literature, which includes our position on what needs to happen next in this watershed moment for Arlington decision makers. The Statement is reprinted in full below.

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New Resources for Understanding the Risks and Harms of Fracking to Arlington, Texas Schoolchildren