Pa. needs to do more to defend public health from shale gas

Earlier this year, the University of Pittsburgh released the results from three studies focusing on the health impacts on people who live near shale gas operations — sometimes called fracking — in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The results of these studies showed that Pennsylvania must do more to defend the health of residents, not just in areas of heavy industrial activity, but all across the commonwealth.

The University of Pittsburgh studies reinforce the scientific consensus that shale gas development is unsafe, especially for vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, pregnant individuals, and those with existing health conditions. According to our team’s latest count, more than two dozen studies now show a link between shale gas and health impacts on residents living close by. Additional research reinforces that shale gas correlates with poor health outcomes for people living near this heavy industry.

Approximately 1.5 million Pennsylvanians reside within a half mile of oil and gas wells, compressors, and processors. Health impacts from living near shale gas development include a higher risk of asthma and other respiratory illnesses, heart disease and heart attacks, birth defects and preterm deliveries, mental health issues, and cancer.

Shale gas poses other serious health impacts across the globe. Methane, the primary component of shale gas, is responsible for at least 25% of the climate warming we are experiencing today. Climate change has serious health consequences through increases in destructive storms, heat waves, floods, fires, and insect-borne diseases.

To date, Pennsylvania’s governing bodies have failed to respond in a meaningful way to the health harms associated with shale gas development. Given the findings of these new studies and others, Pennsylvania leaders must take swift action to protect the health of our neighbors. Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Protection, and members of the General Assembly must publicly acknowledge the health harms associated with shale gas. They should also commit to supporting, at a minimum, the recommendations put forth by the 43rd statewide grand jury on the shale gas industry.

The Environmental Health Project recommends expanding protective buffers around shale gas facilities in Pennsylvania from the currently required 500 feet to at least 1 kilometer (about 0.6 miles) from small facilities, and 2 kilometers (about 1.25 miles) from large facilities, schools, nursing homes, and other structures accommodating vulnerable populations. The industry should not be allowed exemptions or waivers from these distances for any reason. There is no setback distance that has been established as “safe” for nearby communities.

Prior to permitting new infrastructure, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection should analyze aggregate emissions — all sources of air pollution in a given area — to accurately assess existing air quality concerns and to limit shale gas development in areas that are already burdened with pollution.

Additionally, the legislature must fully fund agencies like the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Protection so that they can do their job of preserving Pennsylvania’s resources and protecting the health of residents.

Further, shale gas operators must be held accountable for leaking toxic pollution that harms residents and hastens climate change. Operators must be compelled to publicly disclose all chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before they are used on-site, as recommended in the grand jury report. Pennsylvania must also close hazardous waste loopholes and require safer transport of the contaminated waste created from fracking sites.

Finally, we must focus our full attention on a “just” transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energies. A just transition means a world where workers are trained in the growing and well-paying renewable energy sector while pollution is minimized in existing industry. By doing so, all Pennsylvanians will breathe healthier air, drink purer water, and eat food grown in cleaner soil. Hospital visits and outpatient procedures related to impacts from shale gas development will decline, saving health-care costs in the long run.

These actions must begin today if we are to have any hope of saving lives and reducing health impacts from shale gas development across Pennsylvania.

Alison L. Steele is executive director of the Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit organization that has worked to defend public health in the face of oil and gas development for more than 10 years.