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TribLive Guest Essay: EPA Must Address Natural Gas Leaks That Are Harming Our Children

By Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network

This guest essay first appeared on TribLive.com on August 5, 2022--

A few years ago, I smelled gas from my kitchen stove. When I called the gas company, they told me to get out of the house immediately and gave me a long list of things not to do, such as turning on or off lights or dialing a phone.

Any of these tiny little actions could have been enough to cause an explosion in our house.

Most people are aware of the dangers of gas in their home, but many are not aware that gas is leaking in our region every day, putting our lives at significant risk.

In Pennsylvania, the oil and gas industry has been a major source of leaking gas and pollution. The industry releases more methane (five times more) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (nine times more) than they report.

They’ve been handed a blank check to allow gas to leak into the air we breathe in our yards and playgrounds, threatening our kids’ lives and health.

As an evangelical mom who serves with the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) and just one of over 100,000 pro-life Christians in Pennsylvania who have taken action with EEN, I understand that clean air is a God-given gift to ensure abundant life.

What fouls our air harms God’s creation, especially the health of our children.

Two prolific myths about Pennsylvania methane production allow this status quo to persist. Both are flat out untrue.

Myth 1: Low-producing [conventional] wells make up only a small fraction of leaked methane.

New research indicates that low-producing wells are, in fact, the largest source of methane and other toxins. Low-producing wells amount to just 6% of total U.S. methane and oil production, but release 50% of all methane emissions.

In our Commonwealth, low-producing [conventional] wells make up over 70,000 of the total 81,500 wells in operation (85%) — the highest in Appalachia.

This means that Pennsylvania-based [conventional] oil and gas companies are the region’s primary perpetrators of leaked methane.

On a national level, these wells waste enough methane to supply over 3.6 million homes in the U.S. annually, amounting to $1.5 billion in wasted energy.

These dangerous methane emissions do not disappear harmlessly into the wind. Rather, they drift into the air we breathe impact, settling into our children’s hearts, minds and lungs.

They also contribute to dangerous warming at a rate 86 times more powerful than CO2 in their first 20 years, resulting in at least one-quarter of the climate warming we are experiencing today.

With industry and political leaders demanding more drilling in the name of “energy security,” it would be beneficial to capture this wasted gas rather than rushing to extract even more of it.

Drilling new wells is both time consuming and expensive and would only continue to harm God’s children.

Myth 2: Methane emissions do not pose a major health threat to Pennsylvanians.

Not only does the methane emitted from these wells contribute to dangerous climate warming, it is also a major human health threat, especially for children and those who live within 0.5 miles of a methane facility.

Over 300,000 children in our state attend school within this threat radius. In fact, you can use this oil and gas threat map to learn if a child you love is at risk.

Medical studies have shown that those living near methane face a 25% increase in low-birth-weight infants; significant reductions in infant health; increased brain, spine or spinal cord birth defects; increased congenital heart defects; and up to a 25% increase in childhood asthma.

Also, rising temperatures produce smog which increases asthma and increases the chances of contracting Lyme disease, which is quickly becoming an epidemic in our commonwealth.

These leaks, however, are fixable. Combining increased quality of maintenance, upgraded equipment and regular site monitoring could capture this wasted methane.

Sadly, the oil and gas industry has created a threatening gas leak in our collective house, and it has refused to take responsibility for it, leaving our children’s health to suffer the consequences.

We urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to defend our children and get the oil and gas industry to clean up its mess.

The EPA is in the process of reviewing comments for a new standard for these gas leaks, but the first draft, unfortunately, gives these low-producing wells another chance to get away without closing the leaks.

Along with the 100,000 pro-life Christians who have submitted comments, I urge the EPA to require regular inspection and repairs at these low-producing wells. It is time for the EPA to stand up to industry and stop the leaking of these toxic gasses into the air we breathe.

Kim Anderson, of Ebensburg, is associate director for Pennsylvania and Ohio outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Evangelical Environmental Network website. ENN is based in New Freedom, York County.

The mission of ENN is to inspire, equip, educate, and mobilize evangelical Christians to love God and others by rediscovering and reclaiming the Biblical mandate to care for creation and working toward a stable climate and a healthy, pollution-free world.

[Note: Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board is finalizing regulations to limit VOC/methane emissions from unconventional and conventional oil and gas facilities in the state. Read more here. The Evangelical Environmental Network also supports those regulations. Read more here. ]

(Photo: Natural Gas Leaks At Diversified Energy Conventional Natural Gas Well in Boyce Park, Allegheny County July 16, 2022 by Earthworks. Click Here for video.)

NewsClip - Guest Essay:

-- TribLive Guest Essay: EPA Must Address Natural Gas Leaks That Are Harming Our Children - By Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network

-- Evangelical Environmental Network Opposes House Resolution Disapproving Of Final Reg. Reducing VOC/Methane Emissions From Unconventional Oil & Gas Facilities [PaEN]

NewsClips This Week - Oil & Gas:

-- Citizens Voice: Conventional Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment

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-- Gettysburg Times: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment

-- Latrobe Bulletin: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment

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-- Environmental Health News: PFAS, With Possible Link To Oil & Gas Drilling, Found In Washington County Water Supply By University Of Pittsburgh