PA Environment Digest

Share this:

Concerned Health Professionals Of PA Ask Health Professionals To Sign Letter Urging Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Protect Public Health, Environment From Impacts Of Oil & Gas Industry

The Concerned Health Professionals of PA are asking health professionals to sign a letter urging the in-coming Shapiro-Davis Administration to protect public health and the environment from the negative impacts of the oil and gas industry.

The text of the letter follows--

As Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania, we and our supporters write to you today with grave concerns regarding the negative health impacts to communities across the Commonwealth from the unconventional gas industry.

According to the Environmental Rights Amendment, every resident of Pennsylvania has a right to clean air, pure water and to the preservation of natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.

Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry denies many Pennsylvanians that right.

Currently, around 1.5 million Pennsylvanians live or work within a half mile of an active oil or gas well. These individuals and their communities are exposed to harmful emissions everyday, which has a significant impact on their health.

In 2020, the 43rd Statewide Grand Jury reported failures of the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health to the citizens of Pennsylvania. [Read more here.]

The health outcomes associated with living near oil and gas drilling sites include increased prevalence of multiple different youth cancers, birth defects, infertility, asthma, heart disease, and lung disease.

As a result of the excessive environmental pollution caused by oil and gas drilling in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, many communities are suffering.

The grand jury you convened in 2020 has issued eight recommendations to reduce fracking's harmful impacts to Pennsylvanians’ health and safety. As our governor, it is imperative to do everything in your power to implement them--

-- No-Drill Zones: Expanding no-drill zones in Pennsylvania from the required 500 feet to 2,500 feet;

-- Disclosure of Chemicals: Requiring fracking companies to publicly disclose all chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before they are used on-site;

-- Regulate Gathering Pipelines: Requiring the regulation of gathering lines, used to transport unconventional gas hundreds of miles;

-- Tighten Air Pollution Regulation: Adding up all sources of air pollution in a given area to accurately assess air quality;

-- Safer Transport Of Waste: Requiring safer transport of the contaminated waste created from fracking sites;

-- Comprehensive Health Response: Conducting a comprehensive health response to the effects of living near unconventional drilling sites;

-- Limiting Revolving Door: Limiting the ability of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection employees to be employed in the private sector immediately after leaving the Department;

-- Original Jurisdiction For Attorney General: Allowing the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General original criminal jurisdiction over unconventional oil and gas companies.

The harmful effects fracking has on the environment is detrimental to public health.

On behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania and Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania, we urge you PA Governor Josh Shapiro and your team to implement the grand jury’s eight recommendations to protect public health and safety in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Click Here to sign on to the letter.

Visit the Concerned Health Professionals of PA website to learn more about health issues related to oil and gas development in Pennsylvania.

Related Article - Shapiro-Davis:

-- What Can We Expect From Gov. Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Davis On Environmental, Energy Issues? [PaEN]

Related Articles - Oil & Gas Industry Impacts:

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Navy Veterans Patrick & Helen Robinson Relate Their 7-Year Struggle Dealing With Impacts Of Mariner East Pipeline Construction In Indiana County, And They Continue [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Cambria County Family Sues Sunoco After 3 Years Of Dealing With Damage To Home, Well, Septic System, Property From Mariner East Pipeline Construction [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Families Affected By Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ In Greene County Have A Little Happier Holiday Thanks To Water Donated By Center For Coalfield Justice [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [8.3.22]

-- Better Path Coalition: 65 Organizations, Businesses, 2,700+ Individuals Petition Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Ban Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater [12.12.22]

-- Citizen Complaints Result In DEP Issuing PA General Energy More Violations At Loyalsock Creek Gas Pipeline/Water Withdrawal Construction Site In Lycoming County [PaEN]