Pennsylvania DEP releases monitoring plan for frack sand facility
February 5, 2015
State environmental regulators announced this week how they plan to measure airborne silica sand from a proposed transfer facility near Tunkhannock.
D&I Silica LLC of Sheffield plans to build a station to transfer
silica sand used in hydraulic fracturing from train cars to trucks. The
idea led to concerns among residents who pointed to reports of health
problems that could result from inhaling high enough concentrations of
fine crystalline silica particles over time.
In late January, the Department of Environmental Protection installed a
meteorological station at a tractor dealership property on Route 29.
Next, the agency proposes placing three sets of three sampling devices
upwind and downwind and far enough away to measure background air
quality.
The equipment would measure particles of three different sizes: 10
micrometers, 4 micrometers and 2.5 micrometers in diameter. The diameter
of a human hair is about 17 micrometers at its thinnest.
The DEP plans to measure particle levels before and after the plant
begins operations and publish a report on its findings. Based on the
results and consultation with Pennsylvania Department of Health, the DEP
could conduct additional sampling later on.
The DEP will not measure particle emissions from diesel truck traffic in this study.
D&I Silica supports the department’s study as a way to establish
background information on these facilities, the company’s environmental
compliance director Jeff Johnson said. He has a background in air
permitting after working for the Department of Natural Resources in
Wisconsin, a state with an abundance of sand mines. D&I Silica hired
him in October.
A transfer operation like this will produce “very minimal” levels of
particle pollution, he said. Trucks and train cars will remain enclosed,
he said.
“In my experience, a lot of people have used the sort of test results
you get at injection sites and transpose them to any site that handles
sand,” he said. “Some people just kind of jump on the worst results and
say that they apply everywhere.”
One Tunkhannock area resident who has become an advocate for studies of
local air quality in the Endless Mountains said the DEP’s proposal
falls short of the kind of comprehensive, health-based study gas field
communities need.
“Our concern is about air quality in general because there’s people already suffering,” Audrey Gozdiskowski said.