Meeting On Fracking To Discuss Health Concerns

"Our aim as members of the board of health is to protect the public from these known public health concerns," Epstein said.

The Lubbock Board of Health will meet Friday at 12:30 p.m. to discuss the findings of a new study on fracking.

Dr. Anne Epstein is a member of the Board of Health.

She said the group is just trying to be cautious.

"Since Lubbock has not previously had a lot of fracking operations," Epstein said. "We don't want to begin a potentially dangerous procedure without the proper safe guards in place."

Under former mayor Tom Martin, the city signed a contract to allow fracking operations on city land.

Experts are now trying to uncover whether or not the procedure could pose serious health threats.

"It's never been clearly proven that fracking operations were the cause of the problem with the water supplies," Epstein said. "Never the less they have been linked in serious ways."

The meeting will open with a presentation by Texas Tech professor Dr. Robert Forbis.  

"Some of the conditions that they can recommend to the council to mitigate those risks to the greatest degree possible," Forbis said.

He said the industry is coming to Lubbock so he is giving his best recommendation on how to work with it.

"You're not going to stop it and there is no reason to really stop it," Forbis said. "If it's done properly, if it's done safely, if its using the most up to date technology and fluids, it mitigates to a tremendous degree the risk to the health of the population."

Epstein said one of the group's concerns is with chemicals leaking into the water systems, but especially what problems the chemicals can cause.  

"Those are known carcinogens," Epstein said. "That means that they cause cancer.
Epstein said research is still on going, but they have some real concerns.

"To my knowledge cancer has not been linked to fracking operations," Epstein said. "However, that is our concern."