Physical Negative Health Effects
Along with having negative impacts on the environment, studies are showing fracking to have detrimental effects on the surrounding communities of extraction sites. Some of the health impacts include birth defects, damage to the central nervous system, birth defects, and cancer. Anyone living in proximity to the fracking site along with the workers, and residents of any region with high volumes of oil and gas activity are vulnerable to these health impacts.
In regional areas, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, commonly known as VOCs, develop a ground-level ozone layer. In communities where there is a lot of fracking, this layer can cause respiratory and cardiovascular effects across the region, even if the residents do not live in proximity to the wells. The common side effects of these respiratory and cardiovascular issues are coughing, shortness of breath, airway and lung inflammation, increased intensity of asthma and other respiratory diseases, decreased lung function, risk of heart disease and heart attacks, higher probability of having a stroke, increased hospital admissions, and lastly, premature mortality. Residents who live in proximity to the well are considered locals in fracking areas and have the highest risk of and exposure to these health impacts.
Social Justice and Fracking
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Fracking sites are often located in areas that are near ethnic minority communities and low income communities. A study done in South Texas, after the Southwest Workers Union expressed concern over the waste resulting from Fracking and the associated health ramifications, they found the sites were disproportionately affecting certain communities:
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"Researchers estimated more than 1,000 new wastewater wells have been permitted in the area since 2007. They found that — after controlling for population density — people in areas that were more than 80 percent minority were twice as likely to live near permitted wastewater wells than areas less than 20 percent minority. Of the more than 217,000 minorities living less than three miles from a disposal well, 83 percent were Hispanic, according to the study published last month in the American Journal of Public Health".
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This is just an example of fracking sites in once city. There are innumerable studies on Fracking sites, their locations and how these negatively affect ethnic minority groups and low income communities. Another study states the following:
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"Where these dangers of fracking meet the issue of potential racial inequity is the set of statistics that finds fracking is more likely to impact low-income communities and minority communities. Many studies are available on the topic, reaching conclusions such as the following:
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Socially vulnerable areas (such as those that have high percentage of : individuals living in poverty, single-parent households, minority groups, and non-English speakers) tend to have the most fracking wells near schools;
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In Pennsylvania, data have shown that fracking wells are located disproportionately in poor communities; and
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With regard to storing the chemical-heavy wastewater after the fracking process, a 2016 study of one Texas region found that the rate of non-white Americans living within five kilometers of the disposal wells were 1.3 times higher than the proportion of white Americans, with these wells being twice as common in areas with 80% minority population compared with majority white areas".
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poor-communities-bear-greatest-burden-from-fracking/