"Maryland Fracking Study Cites Toxic Air Emissions as Top Concern"

"Drilling-wary Maryland is one of several East Coast states considering whether to open their lands to fracking as public health concerns mount."

"A state-commissioned report found that air emissions trump water pollution and drilling-induced earthquakes as a top public health threat posed by future fracking projects in Maryland.

For nearly a year, experts at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health examined past research into the link between oil and gas activity and health. The findings, released Monday, stand in stark contrast to public concern in heavy-drilling states such as Maryland's neighbor Pennsylvania. Those concerns have tended to focus on tainted water, not air.

And in some major fracking states, including Texas, residents have been vocal about air concerns, but their complaints have largely been ignored, as an eight-month joint investigation by InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity revealed."

Zahra Hirji reports for InsideClimate News August 21, 2014.