Natural Gas, Fracking and Health

The document outlines the environmental and health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and methane gas, highlighting the disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities in British Columbia and the role of methane in global warming.

• Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Due to fugitive emissions throughout the supply chain, natural gas may be as significant as coal in driving atmospheric warming, with scientific consensus attributing one third of all global warming to methane.
• Fracking operations in British Columbia, particularly in the Northeast (Peace River) region, consume tens of millions of litres of clean water per well, leading to permanent contamination. Severe drought conditions in Northeast BC since November 2022 have led the BC Oil and Gas Commission to suspend water permits for several companies.
• Fracking is linked to various adverse health outcomes, including increased asthma inhaler prescriptions and hospital admissions for asthmatics living near operations. Other reported harms include impaired fetal growth, birth defects, childhood leukemia, heart disease, and all-cause mortality.
• Indigenous communities in British Columbia are disproportionately affected by fracking. In Northeastern BC, pregnant women have shown high levels of fracking-implicated chemicals in their air, water, and urine. In the Northwest, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has opposed a fracked gas pipeline across their traditional territory to protect the Wedzin Kwa River.
• The document characterizes 'renewable' natural gas (RNG) as greenwashing, stating it is chemically identical to fracked methane with the same warming effects. Gas companies admit the renewable portion of RNG typically does not exceed 11% of the total composition.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2024). Natural Gas, Fracking and Health. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CAPE-Fracking-print-2c.pdf#new_tab

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Natural Gas, Fracking and Health. 2024. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CAPE-Fracking-print-2c.pdf#new_tab.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Natural Gas, Fracking and Health |date=January 2024 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CAPE-Fracking-print-2c.pdf#new_tab |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2024natural, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Natural Gas, Fracking and Health}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CAPE-Fracking-print-2c.pdf#new_tab}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }