Exploring health effects of drilling in Santa Fe County

"SANTA FE (2008-05-21) -- Will there be oil and gas drilling in Santa Fe County. That's the question that's on hold for a bit longer as the clock continues ticking on an end-of-year moratorium. In the meantime, the question is should there be drilling?

A hundred of so people turned out Tuesday night for a forum on that very topic, organized by the opposition groups Drilling Santa Fe and Common Ground United.

Wyoming has had a huge economic boom from the energy industry - perhaps the biggest of any other part of the west. But it's also gone through the biggest downturns when the industry went bust.

In addition to the legal and economic issues embedded in the question, there are the health risks. A researcher who's been studying the health effects of gas drilling in Colorado and other parts of the West says the risks appear to be huge.

Dr. Theo Kolborn is an endocrinologist who lives in Colorado. She's gotten a number of awards for her research, and she was named one of one of Time Magazine's Environmental Heroes.

She told us in an interview that oil and gas drillers have always claimed that they use absolutely no chemicals when they drill. But she's identified hundreds. © Copyright 2008, KSFR"

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