An assessment of the air around a Greeley school campus found no adverse health effects, apart from a onetime elevation in benzene levels in November.

The Bella Romero Academy 4-8 lies approximately 1,400 feet from a well site. Air monitoring systems measured 25 different volatile organic compounds by the hour over 101 days. The assessment did find that during one measurement, benzene was above the levels established by public health guidance, but “below the levels associated with harmful health impacts.”

Benzene, which is colorless and odorless, can decrease red blood cell count, cause anemia and affect a person’s immune system.

“Based on our review of the sampling data available…we conclude that exposure to the volatile organic compounds measured in the air near the Bella Romero Academy 4-8 Campus are not expected to harm the health of nearby residents and schoolchildren,” the report concluded.

Cancer risk was deemed to be low, but the assessment did not evaluate the risk of less serious health effects, such as headaches or dizziness, because sensitivity to those conditions varies from person to person. The report was based on models, and did not use people’s actual health data.

“While the health consultation can offer the community some general reassurances, we aren’t dismissing any of the community feedback we’ve received. We continue to seek out ways to monitor and improve air quality in the area,” said John Putnam, director of environmental programs at CDPHE.

The state recommended continued monitoring of the air near the school, as well as monitoring health trends in the school’s population, which is 89% students of color. CDPHE also suggested that Extraction Oil and Gas, which operates the well, develop a plan for communicating with the school should there be sudden change to air quality from the extraction site.

350 Colorado, an advocacy group aiming to address climate change, said that it would seek an “objective scientific analysis” of the air quality in light of CDPHE’s findings.

“Permitting fracking just a few hundred feet from the playground of Bella Romero Academy, which is predominantly Latinx and African American children, is a clear and shameful case of environmental racism,” said Micah Parkin, the group’s executive director. “It is time for Gov. Polis to call for a permanent shut in of Extraction’s wells at Bella Romero Academy and direct the CDPHE to adopt the most protective standards and protocols for toxic emissions at fracking sites, especially by schools.”

She provided a report that 350 Colorado commissioned from Barrett Engineering PLLC of Evergreen that found gaps in the hourly collection of data, and noted several prolonged periods of elevated benzene at the school.