SUMMIT TWP — A flaring natural gas well near Summit Elementary School has some parents and residents concerned, but it’s unclear whether the emissions pose a health risk to children.

Butler School District Superintendent Michael Strutt said there have been a handful of calls and e-mails to school district staff about the gas well, which flared on Tuesday and Wednesday and could continue to do so until Monday or Tuesday. Flaring releases gas from underground into the air and burns it. It is part of the process to produce natural gas.

“We are not aware of any problems or issues,” Strutt said. “We are in contact with the (state) Department of Environmental Protection.”

He said the well, which is about 900 feet from school property, meets all federal regulations. Unconventional gas wells must be at least 500 feet from a building or water well unless a property owner provides written consent that allows a well to be closer.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is looking into the matter, but DEP spokesman Gary Clark said the department has not received any reports of children being affected by the flaring event.

The Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit group that provides health information about natural gas extraction, released a statement about the event.

“From an air pollution model that we have developed, we know that under many conditions emissions from a well site would likely reach an area within 360 yards of it,” the statement read.

“This means that pollutants from the flaring site could have easily traveled to the school grounds. These pollutants could have been emitted at concentrations that are of concern.”

To be extra cautious, the environmental health project advised parents to wash clothes and bathe their children to get rid of any particulate matter from the flaring event.

“This is all very new. There’s not a lot of data out there,” said Raina Rippel, director of the SWPA Environmental Health Project. “Long-term impacts are very much unknown.”

Penni Laine Lechner, a Summit Township resident, has taken note of the gas well during the past year. While none of her children attend Summit Elementary, she lives about a mile from the school.

“There were children outside playing on the playground while it was flaring,” she said. “It’s not just the flaring, but the whole process that these children have been exposed to.”

Lechner said she also had concerns with water quality and the extracting process. As of Thursday, no one had filed complaints about the flaring with the township municipal office.

A spokesperson with XTO Energy, the company that owns the gas well, could not immediately be reached.