Oil and gas community investigations

The Oil and Gas Health Information and Response Program follows up on all reports of health concerns from community members living near oil and gas operations. People may report health concerns directly to our program, or other agencies may forward them. In phase one of our investigation, we collect detailed information from the person reporting the health concern. We assess each concern individually; the level of additional response varies.

Some concerns result in community investigations, during which we sample the air near an oil and gas site. These investigations range in complexity and number of samples collected based on several factors, including the severity of the health concerns and the number of reports. The goal of our investigations is to understand the potential risk to public health by measuring levels of potentially hazardous chemicals in communities near oil and gas operations. After collecting samples, we compare the values we measured to appropriate state and federal health guideline values.

Our community investigations help us understand potential health risks. Currently, there are no rules that limit the level of these chemicals in the air in a community, so these investigations do not result in violations and fines.