Community Airborne Particulate Matter from Mining for Sand used as Hydraulic Fracturing Proppant

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Sci Total Environ
• Personal Author:
  Peters, Thomas M. ; O’Shaughnessy, Patrick T. ; Grant, Ryan ; Altmaier, Ralph ; Swanton, Elizabeth ; Falk, Jeffrey ; Osterberg, David ; Parker, Edith ; Wyland, Nancy G. ; Sousan, Sinan ; Stark, Aimee Liz ; Thorne, Peter S.
• Description:
  Field and laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the impact of proppant sand mining and processing activities on community particulate matter (PM) concentrations. In field studies outside 17 homes within 800m of sand mining activities (mining, processing, and transport), respirable (PM|) crystalline silica concentrations were low (<0.4μg/m|) with crystalline silica detected on 7 samples (2% to 4% of mass). In long-term monitoring at 6 homes within 800m of sand mining activities, the highest daily mean PM concentrations observed were 14.5μg/m| for PM| and 37.3μg/m| for PM|, although infrequent (<3% of time), short-term elevated PM concentrations occurred when wind blew over the facility. In laboratory studies, aerosolized sand was shown to produce respirable-sized particles, containing 6% to 19% crystalline silica. Dispersion modeling of a mine and processing facility indicated that PM| can exceed standards short distances (<40m) beyond property lines. Lastly, fence-line PM and crystalline silica concentrations reported to state agencies were substantially below regulatory or guideline values, although several excursions were observed for PM| when winds blew over the facility. Taken together, community exposures to airborne particulate matter from proppant sand mining activities at sites similar to these appear to be unlikely to cause chronic adverse health conditions.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Article Crystalline Silica Hydraulic Fracturing Particulate Matter Proppant Sand Sand Mining
• Source:
  Sci Total Environ. 609:1475-1482
• Pubmed ID:
  28800690
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5600868
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P30 ES005605/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; T42 OH008491/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  609
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:fdcacf20257d87166d82670b206eb35854663c4d8f25f30e3009cf0083ab67c6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/51927/cdc_51927_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.15 MB ]