Family Life

02.19.13 | Sarah Harnisch

A Pennsylvania health company says it has gotten a $1 million grant to study possible health impacts of natural gas drilling on the Marcellus shale. Geisinger Health System says that the Degenstein Foundation had awarded the money to help underwrite what it called a "large-scale, scientifically rigorous assessment" of the drilling. Most of the money will be used for data-gathering, and some will go toward developing studies of the data. The study is to look at detailed health histories of hundreds of thousands of patients who live near wells and other facilities that are producing natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation. Geisinger Health Systems of Danville, Guthrie Health of Sayre and Susquehanna Health will collaborate on planning and execution of the study, including developing a health surveillance network aimed at assessing and reporting on the patient data gathered from electronic health records. Officials said they expect other funders to come forward. The boom in drilling has generated jobs and billions of dollars in revenue for companies and individual leaseholders, but it also raised health concern.