Fracking and indoor radon: Spurious correlation or cause for concern? |
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| Institution: | 1. Kenyon College, 311 Ascension Hall, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 43022, USA;2. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S Maryland Pkwy, Box 6005, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA;3. University of Pittsburgh, 3804 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA;1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and NBER, United States;2. Ohio University, United States;1. Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, 265 Crittenden Blvd, Rochester, NY, 14642, United States;2. School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, United States;3. Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, United States;1. The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, Claremont McKenna College, 500 E. Ninth Street, Claremont, CA 91711, USA;2. Department of Economics, College of William and Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA;1. University Paris 1, Paris School of Economics, France;2. Tilburg Sustainability Centre, Tilburg University, Netherlands;1. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA;2. Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA;3. Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA;4. Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA;5. Department of Sociology & Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA |
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| Abstract: | Unconventional gas development (fracking) is controversial in large part because of environmental and health concerns. We consider the concern that fracking leads to more carcinogenic radon gas in nearby buildings. Our empirical approach estimates treatment effects where treatment is continuous (number of wells) and varies in intensity (distance to the wells) and in duration of exposure (the time since wells were drilled). The approach allows any potential effect of fracking to vary non-linearly with the distance between the well and test site and, holding distance constant, the time between drilling and testing. Our main model gives a precisely estimated zero effect of wells on radon concentrations in nearby buildings. It also reveals that energy firms drilled wells in places with higher pre-existing radon levels, which, if ignored, makes it appear that wells within 2 km increase indoor radon but wells 3 km away do not. This explains the finding of a prior study showing a link between drilling and indoor radon. |
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| Keywords: | Fracking Health Radon Pennsylvania Q50 Q53 |
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