Protecting Earth's climate is about protecting people, their water resources and agricultural land. Bringing tight controls to VOCs and NMVOCs is important for the quality of life of people, their climate both on a larger scale and their indoor and outdoor air quality.
April 2, 2015
An interview with Dr Chelsea Thompson, (click here) Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
Q: For anyone who has not read your paper (published November 14 2014, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene), could you give an overview of the study you carried out, and the motivations behind it.
A: The primary focus of this particular study was to assess average ambient levels of non-methane hydrocarbons (also referred to more generally as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs) that residents living near oil and natural gas (O&NG) production operations are exposed to at their homes. Several air quality studies have been conducted in recent years within the Denver-Julesburg Basin, however, these have been located at more rural sites. Our study differs from these in that the air measurements were conducted within residential neighbourhoods.
The measurements that we conducted were located in the town of Erie, Colorado, which is located about 25 km east of Boulder and 40 km north of Denver, and has approximately 28,000 residents, and also slightly north near the town of Longmont. Erie can be considered a small, suburb or bedroom-community of both Boulder and Denver, and has been attracting young families due to its location outside of major cities and more affordable housing. This study was motivated directly by concerns of residents, who worry that emissions from nearby wells could be leading to detrimental health effects for themselves and their children with repeated, long-term exposure at their homes....
