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To Feed Data Centers, Pennsylvania Faces a New Fracking Boom
Yale Environment 360 reported:
Twenty years after fracking began to boost natural gas production in western Pennsylvania, residents are bracing for another surge in output as gas-fired power plants prepare to meet a big jump in electricity demand. At least five new energy-hungry data centers are planned in the region, most of which will power themselves by producing electricity by burning natural gas on site.
The burst in activity is prompting predictions, by power companies as well as their critics, of drilling hundreds or even thousands of new gas wells to fuel the centers’ power demands.
While the gas industry welcomes new users for western Pennsylvania’s abundant natural gas, critics fear that higher production will add to the industry’s pollution of air and drinking water and heighten risks to public health. And in places where these data centers draw power from the grid, ratepayers are concerned about sharing the higher costs stemming from increased demand and upgrading transmission lines to carry additional power.
All SF Firefighters Will Soon Have Equipment Free of Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
San Francisco’s fire department is set to become the largest in the country to phase out “forever chemicals” in firefighting gear, officials said Thursday. With cancer surpassing heart disease as the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for firefighters in recent years, researchers and advocates have increasingly raised alarms about the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in their protective equipment.
These chemicals have known links to certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, birth defects and other health problems. “Firefighting is inherently dangerous, and our personnel deserve access to the most modern, protective, and safest turnout gear available,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said in a statement.
“Transitioning to PFAS-free equipment is a critical step in advancing our mission: safeguarding the public by ensuring our firefighters remain healthy and able to serve at their highest capacity.”
PFAS: Where Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ Lurking in Your Shopping?
PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” are found in almost everything in daily life, including drinking water. A growing body of evidence has linked them to health problems such as a higher risk of cancer, and yet avoiding them is notoriously difficult.
As the name suggests, these substances are highly persistent and take hundreds of years to break down, meaning the PFAS likely in your body will long outlast you. Because they repel dirt, water and grease, they are used in coatings, printing inks and even some medicines.
It helps to look for products labelled PFAS-free or fluorocarbon-free when shopping, says Janna Kuhlmann, a chemicals expert at a German environmental organization. However, products containing PFAS are generally not required to carry warnings.
Extra care is needed with coated or stain-repellent items.
PFAS are often found in non-stick pan coatings, shoe and textile proofing treatments, and in upholstered furniture or carpets, the chemicals expert explained. PFAS are also used in single-use paper packaging such as takeaway cups or pizza boxes. There are alternatives for many products.
If a product doesn’t say whether PFAS are present, you may be able to find help in product scanning apps like Yuka and Think Dirty. You just scan the barcode with the app and get information about PFAS or other toxic chemicals it might have. However, their widespread use and long-term impact mean that most consumers are simply forced to ingest some form of PFAS, even if they try to avoid them.
New Research Links Household Air Pollution to Lung Cancer and Heart Disease
After joining the GBD 2021 Household Air Pollution team, an international effort to quantify the global health burden of household air pollution from 1990 to 2021, I expected familiar work: analysing how indoor smoke harms the body. Instead, what first looked like household data revealed a far deeper picture of global inequity.
Our study examined how exposure to household air pollution changed between 1990 and 2021 across 204 countries. Although the use of solid fuels such as wood, coal and dung has declined, household air pollution exposure remains widespread and the health consequences are severe.
Household air pollution rarely dominates headlines, yet it claims millions of lives each year. Every time a meal is cooked over smoke-filled flames, families inhale toxins that can shorten lifespans, hinder child development and deepen structural inequities.
Research links childhood exposure to impaired cognitive development, respiratory vulnerability and long-term health disadvantage. These effects are often hidden, unfolding slowly over years, which makes them easy to ignore and harder to address.
Air Passengers Exposed to Extremely High Levels of Ultrafine Particle Pollution, Study Finds
A study has revealed the concentrations of ultrafine particles breathed in by airline passengers. A team of French researchers, including those from Université Paris Cité, built a pack of instruments that was flown alongside passengers from Paris Charles de Gaulle to European destinations. The machinery was placed on an empty seat in the front rows or in the galley.
Ultrafine particles are impossible to see and are often missed by conventional monitoring techniques, and therefore they are not covered by air pollution laws.
In 2021, the Dutch Health Council and the World Health Organization highlighted the growing evidence that ultrafine particles are damaging our health. This includes 75 studies, mostly relating to lung inflammation, blood pressure and heart problems, along with risks to foetal growth.
Technical differences between the studies, however, meant that the WHO was unable to set a standard. Since then a study of nearly 11 million people in the Netherlands found that exposure to ultrafine particles over several years was linked to early deaths including of lung cancer.
