NPR's Fresh Air Discusses Fracking Today

Fresh Air host Dave Davies will be speaking to ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten this afternoon about an article he co-authored recently on the health impacts of gas drilling. The piece focuses on the illnesses of a Texan named Susan Wallace-Babbs, and takes a look at some of the health problems suffered by residents of Colorado and Wyoming, where gas drilling began in earnest several years before Pennsylvania.

ProPublica examined government environmental reports and private lawsuits and interviewed scores of residents, physicians and toxicologists in four states—Colorado, Texas, Wyoming and Pennsylvania—that are drilling hot spots. Our review showed that cases like Wallace-Babb’s go back a decade in parts of Colorado and Wyoming, where drilling has taken place for years. They are just beginning to emerge in Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus Shale drilling boom began in earnest in 2008.

Fresh Air runs on most public radio stations across the state. You can find out when it airs live in your area here.

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