chemical fumes in Burgettstown

There was a radio story this morning about workers at a health clinic in Burgettstown (west of Pittsburgh, PA) getting sick from fumes.  They're temporarily moving the clinic.

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Published: May 15, 2012

by Rob Stein

Kay Allen had just started work, and everything seemed quiet at the Cornerstone Care community health clinic in Burgettstown, Pa. But things didn't stay quiet for long. "All the girls, they were yelling at me in the back, 'You gotta come out here quick. You gotta come out here quick,'" said Allen, 59, a nurse from Weirton, W.Va. Allen rushed out front and knew right away what all the yelling was about. The whole place reeked — like someone had spilled a giant bottle of nail polisher remover. "So I told everybody to get outside and get fresh air. So we went outside. And Aggie said, 'Kay, I'm gonna be sick.' But before I get in, to get something for her to throw up in — she had to go over the railing," she said.

Nothing like this had ever happened in the 20 years that Allen has been at the clinic. After about 45 minutes, she thought the coast was clear and took everyone back inside. "It was fine. But the next thing you know, they're calling me again. There was another gust. Well, the one girl, Miranda, she was sitting at the registration place, and you could tell she'd had too much of it. And Miranda got overcome by that and she passed out," she said.

'It's The Unknown I Think That's The Scariest Thing'

This sort of thing has been happening for weeks. Mysterious gusts of fumes keep wafting through the clinic. In fact, just the day before being interviewed by NPR, Allen suddenly felt like she'd been engulfed by one of these big invisible bubbles. "And all of a sudden your tongue gets this metal taste on it. And it feels like it's enlarging, and it just feels like you're not getting enough air in, because your throat gets real 'burn-ey.' And the next I know I ... passed out," Allen said.

Half a dozen of Allen's co-workers stopped coming in. One old-timer quit. No one can figure out what's going on. For doctors and nurses used to taking care of sick people, it's unnerving to suddenly be the patients. "It's the unknown I think that's the scariest thing," she said.

Richard Rinehart, who runs the rural clinic, can't help but wonder whether the natural gas drilling going on all around the area may have something to do with what's been happening. "I lay at bed at night thinking all kinds of theories. Is something coming through the air from some process that they're using? I know they use a lot of chemicals and so forth. Certainly that could be a culprit. We're wondering, Is something coming through the ground?" Rinehart said, noting that he'd just noticed a new drill on a hill overlooking the back of the clinic.

Now, no one knows whether the gas drilling has anything to do with the problems at the clinic. It could easily turn out to be something completely unrelated. There's a smelting plant down the road and old coal mines everywhere. "Anything could be possible, and we just are trying to get to the root of it," he said.

Mysterious Symptoms, Lots Of Questions

People living near gas well drilling around the country are reporting similar problems, plus headaches, rashes, wheezing, aches and pains and other symptoms. Doctors like Julie DeRosa, who works at Cornerstone, aren't sure how to help people with these mysterious symptoms. "I don't want to ignore symptoms that may be clues to a serious condition. I also don't want to order a lot of unnecessary tests. I  don't want to feed any kind of hysteria," DeRosa said.

To try to figure out what's going on, the clinic called the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which is investigating. It also started testing the air for chemicals, monitoring wind direction around the clinic and keeping diaries of everyone's symptoms. In addition, the clinic contacted Raina Rippel, project director for the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project.

The local nonprofit was set up recently to help people in this kind of situation. Her team tested tap water from inside a men's room and from a stream out back. Rippel knows people in the area have lot of questions.

"Is my water fit to drink? Is the air fit to breathe? Am I going to suffer long-term health impacts from this?" she said.

...
Charles Werntz at West Virginia University, an occupational medicine specialist, is used to dealing with chemical exposures. Lately, he's seeing more people who live near the drilling. But for now, he says he can't really do much more than offer basic advice: Drink bottled water, air out the house, leave your shoes outside. If it's still too bad, move — if possible.

...

Back at Cornerstone, Rinehart just wants to get back to taking care of patients. "We are in the business of trying to improve and maintain the public's health here. And now we are in the throes of it. And we're trying not to point fingers," Rinehart said. The next day, people got sick again and the clinic had to be evacuated once more. So they've moved the clinic to temporary offices until someone figures out what's going on.

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[see http://m.npr.org/news/front/152268475?singlePage=true for complete article]

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on May 23, 2012 at 4:28pm

Question about 6 months ago a long thread was created by a sky is falling anti fracker that was trying to link some high school students  tics to a oil well near the school when there had been a train wreck of hazmat years before any follow up on that?

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on May 23, 2012 at 6:00pm

Stop the bull already, it serves no good purpose.  There are people who do have legitimate concerns, have educated themselves and come to embrace fracing. This crap of vilifying Clean, Green Natural Gas without any valid information makes the Anti-Fracers look worse every time they post.

JS

Permalink Reply by time will tell on May 23, 2012 at 6:36pm

Katherine , if that's your name , you sound like a complete idiot . I have dealt with your one sided narrowed minded type long enough .

People like your self should be ashamed ,if you had your way we would all be lead around like good little people and let the higher ups provide our every need , tell us what to eat , what to wear , who we can be friends with , what to say ,how long we can live, and spy on our neighbors .

We are free people Ms. Dingle Berry and this new found energy will help us stay that way  ! 

If you and your wacko fiends want to live that way GO FOR IT !!!

You sit in front of a coal fired computer and shake your hand at us , SHAME ON YOU !

I'm going to make this easy for you Ms. Dingle Berry --- I will address you as 

MDB from now on .

I try so hard to have a reasonable conversation with you ANTI-EVERYTHING -PEOPLE 

but no , no ,NNNNOOOOOO    you want us it your way or no way . Well MDB it not looking 

good .

So while you throw BS BOMBS at people at everyone else take a long look in the mirror 

MDB and throw a few at your self .

You are a hypocrite to the 10th power .

So each time you turn on a switch or make a call on your coal fired cell phone  just think about all of that dirty coal that you are polluting our earth with .

In closing and in your defence  you suffer from what we here call -------------->

>--------- I HAVE NO LAND TO LEASE   SYNDROME -------------/p>

Permalink Reply by time will tell on May 23, 2012 at 6:49pm

PS  MDB , I am a environmentalist and a realist  , love the Earth and all of it's creations ,well except for bugs that bite or sting and am a member of the forestry and a organic medicinal farmer and I know the facts . This is our cleanest way for energy .

Permalink Reply by Schnoozie on May 24, 2012 at 2:28am

I could not agree more, the thing these people don't realize is that they have no chip in the game here. I went to an Anti meeting near Butler recently. It was filled with what I call "bored housewives" who just needed something to occupy their time. Fracking is now the IN thing to be involved in. They followed up the meeting with a planned "bike ride" to increase awareness. It was precious.  They were socialites, men and women of means, they dressed nice and were very smart people capable of putting together a thoughfull and convincing arguement, and handsome looking to boot. It was an annoying combination.

I was polite and listened carefully. The only thing I could come up with was STAY OUT OF MY BARN!!!! and GROW UP!!!

Noone truly knows their land like a landowner. It's ours, its part of our business plan and our future.

Permalink Reply by time will tell on May 24, 2012 at 4:03am

Schnoozie , I to have been to there RALLIES to see what was fact and what is not and came to the same conclusion .

I have a cure for their  syndrome but its to late to buy land that has the minerals included .

If they had land that was able to be leased this would go away and they would be on there next crusade !

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on May 24, 2012 at 4:05am

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde 3 hours agoDelete

The point which was ignored was there a follow up as to what caused the tics, after all the main point supposedly where the children.  The attempts to link the children's condition ran a muck in attempting to blame it upon the oil well located near by. It would appear as if all the accusations made against the O&G where false and the truth was something the anti frackers wanted to avoid. 

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on May 24, 2012 at 12:53am

The point which was ignored was there a follow up as to what caused the tics, after all the main point supposedly where the children. 

Permalink Reply by KJackson on May 24, 2012 at 7:16am

My husband has worked on the well sites around Burgettstown - possibly even the site near the clinic.  He works with the fracking crews (water truck sucking up water on pad). I am sure that if there had been any dangerous odors the guys on the pads would have been the one's to become ill first! This is nothing but more hype to try to scare people!

Permalink Reply by time will tell on May 24, 2012 at 9:30am

Klackson , They are upset that they have no ground to lease and there mad as h_ll , once this crusade is exhausted they will find another global saving mission .

I am all for the earth to be protected but these boobs are full of it .

Permalink Reply by time will tell on May 24, 2012 at 9:46am

OOOOHHH Katherine Hebenstreit  ( if that's your real name )  can't you come out and play ?

Deleted all of your post , HHHMMM wonder if permalink can retrieved them ?

Your 99% er's will be very upset with you  , you BIG FAKE !

It's so easy to flush out you and your zombies .

We haven't herd the end of MDB , she will reappear as some other entity , wait I am having a message sent from the planet Ork , her new name will be Tipper Gore !

Don't say you haven't been warned .

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on May 24, 2012 at 3:16pm

Ridgeman;

Now don't malign Tipper Gore.

It took Tipper a long time, but she did finally recognize what kind of fraud old Al was and dumped him.

 

JS 

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