This new paper from Lachenmayer et al. at Colorado State University (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ad82b2) found that environmental concentrations of benzene were between 18% to 89% attributable to an oil and gas well pad located nearby. Concentrations only reached a maximum of 0.8 parts per billion, much less than the 100 ppb recommended 8-hour exposure limit from NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) or the 3 ppb health guideline value (HGV) from the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry).
Officially, this kind of exposure is ruled safe. However, we do not know much about the effects of combined exposures and benzene and other VOCs can contribute to ground level ozone and other potential secondary pollutants. Further, the nature of population-level exposures are such that if enough people are exposed, even at low levels, we continually increase the likelihood that some group will be negatively impacted. What mitigations have we not yet implemented and what would they cost?
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