DEP’s latest Environmental Justice newsletter features an article about the new state Department of Health's new PA Environmental Public Health Tracking Program.

The EPHT Program is newly funded at the Pennsylvania Department of Health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the 2022-2026 grant cycle.

EPHT aims to provide a centralized source for environmental exposure and health outcome data and promote a healthy Pennsylvania for all.

EPHT monitors environmental exposures and related health outcomes to identify sociodemographic groups that are disproportionately affected by adverse environmental exposures and inform health intervention and policy initiatives.

EPHT data are continually updated and available on the Enterprise Data Dissemination Informatics Exchange website.

In addition, EPHT develops educational resources to increase environmental health knowledge.

For example, the Putting Environmental Health Data into Action Resource Guide is a collection of one-page lists of actions people can take at individual, community, and structural levels to improve, advocate for, and engage in eight environmental health topics: heat-related illness, lead poisoning, outdoor air pollution, water quality, carbon monoxide, indoor air pollution, vector-borne diseases, and environmental justice.

Please contact the PA Environmental Public Health Tracking Program by sending email to: ra-dhehtracking@pa.gov  with any questions or feedback and to hear about other environmental health initiatives occurring now at DOH.

Click Here to read the entire EJ newsletter.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.

Visit DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice webpage for more information on this initiative.

Upcoming Meeting

DEP’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board is scheduled to meet on May 16 in the Delaware Room, 16th Floor Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The meeting will also be available remotely.

If you would like to provide public comments during an EJAB meeting, please contact RA-EPOEJ@pa.gov or 717-772-5633.

For more information and available handouts, visit DEP’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board webpage.

Related Articles This Week:

-- Attorney General Henry Charges 2 With Criminal Risking Catastrophe Charges Related To Work On Natural Gas Pipeline In Lawrence County; Pipelines Have Worst Environmental Compliance Record In PA [PaEN]

-- Center For Coalfield Justice: Nearly 11 Months Since An EQT Shale Gas Well Frac-Out Left Residents Near New Freeport, Greene County Without Clean Water; DEP’s Investigation Not Complete  [PaEN]

-- Earthworks Submits Video Evidence To DEP Of More Air Pollution Violations By Gas Flares At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County  [PaEN]

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Shell CEO Said Beaver County Petrochemical Plant Startup ‘Niggles’ Will Last Through 2023

-- Environmental Groups Circulate Petition Asking Dept. of Health, University Of Pittsburgh For Update On Studies Of Health Impacts Of Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities  [PaEN]

-- DEP Environmental Justice: State Dept. of Health, CDC Launch Environmental Public Health Tracking Program  [PaEN]

-- Physicians For Social Responsibility PA Host May 10 Webinar: Imagine A More Natural PA - How We Use Methane Gas, What It's Doing To Us   [PaEN] 

-- EDF: Federal Pipeline And Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Proposes Vital Standards to Enhance Safety, Cut Methane From Nation’s Pipeline Network  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Wholesale Electricity Prices Too Low To Support Coal, Natural Gas Power Plants In Market; Natural Gas Reliability Issues Will Continue  [PaEN]

[Posted: May 4, 2023]

5/8/2023