This editorial first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on August 20, 2023--

The results of a long-awaited study of the effects of unconventional natural gas development — that is, hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” — on children’s health show that neither industry advocates nor environmental activists were exactly right.

Yes, fracking is associated with increased levels of asthma and rare lymphomas in children, as well as small effects on birth weight. No, some of the darkest fears about the threat were not confirmed.

But the study gives clear evidence, from right here in southwestern Pennsylvania, that some families and children have shouldered heavy costs due to the fracking boom.

This was never fair: The costs of fracking should be borne by the companies themselves.

To that end, the state should create a fund, bankrolled by shale gas companies, to compensate those who suffered while corporations profited and the rest of us got cheaper gas.

Boom times

It is popular to deny the benefits of Pennsylvania’s shale boom over the last 15 years, but that’s simply not realistic.

The Commonwealth now produces 20% of all natural gas in the United States — 7.5 trillion cubic feet last year alone — which has helped make Pennsylvania the biggest electricity exporter in the country.

While Pennsylvania energy consumers haven’t gotten a particular benefit, the shale boom did lead to a national decline in natural gas prices that has saved households thousands of dollars.

Further, over the past two decades the proportion of electricity generated by natural gas in the state has increased by 50%, corresponding to a 45% decrease in coal — from a clear majority to only 12% — leading to cleaner air and a decrease in carbon emissions.

County-administered impact fees have generated $2.5 billion to fund local projects during the boom. (Though a severance tax — a state tax on the extraction — would have been more lucrative for state coffers.)

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania natural gas has helped to make the United States one of the world’s top exporters of liquified natural gas — a geopolitical advantage against an aggressive gas-producing Russia and a hedge against international energy market shocks, such as the war in Ukraine.

Banning the extraction of Marcellus Shale gas was never realistic, or prudent, even if it was also never completely safe.

Bearing the burden

As with any resource extraction, those closest to it bear a disproportionate cost.

The $2.5 million Pennsylvania Health and Environment Study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health with the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, finally allows us to speak confidently about a few small slices of that cost.

As affected communities had suspected for some time, there is a clear correlation between proximity to unconventional natural gas production and childhood asthma, up to a full 10 miles away.

This means the asthma-exacerbating effects of a well in Cecil Township, Washington County, could be felt as far away as Mt. Washington.

The fact the effect gets stronger as distance from the wells decreases makes the cause of the effect clear.

There is also a strong correlation between childhood lymphoma and living within one mile of a well, with the usual likelihood of 0.0012% rising five- or sevenfold. This means, on average, between five and seven more cases of lymphoma per 100,000 children.

Encouragingly, the data did not support a connection with other rare childhood cancers, including the infamous Ewing sarcoma, which has afflicted an unusual number of people in the region.

The researchers caution, however, that limited data makes the strength of this conclusion weak.

While the drilling boom has abated — this year there will be one-fifth as many fracking permits issued as the peak of 3,564 in 2011 — the study gives ample evidence that current rules about setbacks from residences are insufficient.

New infrastructure should be built at least a half-mile from existing residences. The current rule of 500 feet is no longer supportable.

Who pays?

This study did not determine, nor was it designed to determine, the specific cause of the health effects it documented.

Fracking interests will hide behind this fact, and could do so for many years or even forever: Proving causation in matters of environmental health is notoriously difficult.

It will also be difficult for affected families to sue companies, unless they can prove executives knew or should have known the risks and proceeded nevertheless.

But that shouldn’t stop the state of Pennsylvania from acknowledging the clear fact that fracking has hurt people, specifically children.

And anybody with a sense of fairness can recognize that making families bear those costs alone is gravely unjust.

Gas companies, if they acknowledge the harm at all, will insist they’ve already paid off affected communities through impact fees.

But the playgrounds and other infrastructure those fees fund are general benefits, not the personal compensation this new information demands.

The state will have to step in to create and administer a compensation fund, bankrolled by gas profits, to which families can apply, at least to have their medical bills paid.

But the state should also consider compensation for reduced property values, now that the risks are clear.

From rare earth metals in China and Africa to lithium in Bolivia, the environmental and personal costs of resource extraction are always heaviest for those nearest.

For shale gas, they’re right here in Pennsylvania.

It would be inhumane for companies — and for all of us — to reap the benefits while ignoring those who shouldered the costs.

Health Study Articles:

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Studies Find Shale Gas Wells Can Make Asthma Worse; Children Have An Increased Chance Of Developing Lymphoma Cancer; Slightly Lower Birth Weights  [PaEN]

-- State Dept. Of Health Apologizes For Not Listening To Communities Suffering Health Impacts From Shale Gas Development; New Health Study Results ‘Just The Tip Of The Iceberg’  [PaEN]

NewsClips - Health Study

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Who Pays For Natural Gas Development’s Harm?  Pennsylvania Should Acknowledge The Clear Fact That Fracking Has Hurt People, Specifically Children 

-- The Center Square: Natural Gas Well Setbacks May Not Be Protective Enough After Health Impact Study Results

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Gov. Shapiro’s Anti-Marcellus Views Reflected In New DEP Regs [That May Be Coming Next Week]

-- Bloomberg Column: Cancer In Kids Is Too High A Price For Cheap Natural Gas - By Mark Gongloff

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: DEP Plans To Tighten Regulations On Natural Gas Drilling, Including Recommendations For 2020 Grand Jury Report

-- Marcellus Shale Coalition: University Of Pittsburgh Health Studies ‘Reproduces Previously Flawed Studies’ Not Actual Field Monitoring  [But Likes One Result That Favors Them]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Pitt Releases Fake Research, Claims PA Fracking Linked To Kid Cancer

-- Sen. Yaw Questions Legitimacy Of University Of Pittsburgh Shale Gas Health Studies

-- AP: Pennsylvania Study Suggests Links Between Shale Gas Wells And Asthma; Lymphoma In Children

-- The Allegheny Front: Pitt Researchers Find Higher Risks For Lymphoma And Asthma For Those Living Near Shale Gas Development, But ‘No Association’ To Ewing Sarcoma Cancer

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak/Hanna Webster: ‘Is It Safe To Live Here?’: Questions Loom At Presentation Of Reports On Shale Gas Development And Health In Southwestern PA

-- Observer-Reporter - Karen Mansfield: Pitt Study Shows Link Between Fracking, Increased Lymphoma, Asthma Reactions

-- KDKA: PA Study Suggests Links Between Shale Gas Development And Asthma, Lymphoma In Children

-- NextPittsburgh: Natural Gas Development Raises Risks Of Asthma; Lymphoma In Children, Pitt Study Reveals

-- Pittsburgh Business Journal: Pitt, State Release Findings Of Health Studies Into Natural Gas Drilling

-- Inside Climate News - Jon Hurdle: Shale Gas Development Linked To Increases Cases Of Lymphoma In PA Children, Study Finds

-- The Hill: PA Research Suggests Link Between Natural Gas Development And Asthma, Childhood Lymphoma

-- The Grist: In Pennsylvania, State Data Links Natural Gas Development To Childhood Cancer

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- The Derrick: DEP Issues Order To Petro Erie, Inc. To Restore Village Of Reno Water System, Cleanup Contamination Caused By Its Conventional Well Wastewater Release; 1 Month Without Clean Water  [PaEN]

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - August 12 to 18; DEP Orders Restoration Of Water Supply; Conventional Wells Abandoned; Leaking Methane, Fluids  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - August 19  [PaEN]

-- DEP, SRBC Invite Comments On New Permits For PA General Energy Shawnee Shale Gas Drilling Water Withdrawal On The Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming County After Failure To Comply With Its First Permit  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 68 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In August 19 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

NewsClips This Week:

-- The Center Square: Natural Gas Well Setbacks May Not Be Protective Enough After Health Impact Study Results

-- Post-Gazette: Processing Research On Southwestern PA Natural Gas Development And Health, Residents Seek Answers Together: ‘We Deserve Better’

-- WTAE: To The Frustration Of The Village Of Reno Residents, ‘Do Not Consume’ Water Advisory Approaches One Month Mark In Venango County, After Contamination By Conventional Oil Well Wastewater Spill

-- Bloomberg Column: Cancer In Kids Is Too High A Price For Cheap Natural Gas - By Mark Gongloff

-- TribLive: 6th Victim Dies From Plum Borough House Explosion

-- TribLive: Gov. Shapiro Orders DEP Probe Of Plum House Explosion

-- Post-Gazette - Ford Turner: Gov. Shapiro Directs DEP To Investigation Plum Boro House Explosion

-- DEP Working With PUC, Local And Allegheny County Agencies On Plum Boro House Explosion Investigation

-- AP: Underground Coal Mines Unlikely To Blame For Deadly House Explosion In Plum Boro, DEP Says

-- TribLive: DEP Inspectors Capture Gas Samples At Plum Boro Explosion Site, Await Test Results

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Is There Something Rotten [With Gas] In Plum?  PUC, DEP Must Investigate 

-- Observer-Reporter: Fayette County Commissioners Take Step To Prevent Oil/Gas Wastewater Injection Wells

-- Halt The Harm Network, FracTracker Alliance: Aug. 30 Webinar: Wasted Water - The Impacts Of Fracking's Water Use From PA To Colorado, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

-- NBC News: Millions In US Live Near Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Linked To Explosions And Toxins [Pennsylvania Profiled]

-- NBC News: EQT Natural Gas, Abandoned Well Frack-Out, In New Freedom, Greene County Stirs Suspicion And A Year Of Frustration In Tiny PA Town

-- The Allegheny Front: New Investigation Shows State Regulators Have Struggled To Keep Up With Pollution Events At Shell’s Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County

-- Environmental Health News: Beaver County Community Will Get $5 Million Due To Shell Petrochemical Plant Pollution - Just Don’t Call It Charity

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Better Oversight Of US Natural Gas Pipelines Needed - By Pittsburgh City Council Member & former Colorado County Commissioner

-- Scranton Times Editorial: Control Leaks From Natural Gas Pipelines

-- AG Henry Approves Settlement Of Anti-Competitive Energy Deal Between EQT Natural Gas, Quantum Energy Partners

Related Articles This Week:

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Studies Find Shale Gas Wells Can Make Asthma Worse; Children Have An Increased Chance Of Developing Lymphoma Cancer; Slightly Lower Birth Weights  [PaEN]

-- State Dept. Of Health Apologizes For Not Listening To Communities Suffering Health Impacts From Shale Gas Development; New Health Study Results ‘Just The Tip Of The Iceberg’  [PaEN]

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Who Pays For Natural Gas Development’s Harm?  Pennsylvania Should Acknowledge The Clear Fact That Fracking Has Hurt People, Specifically Children  [PaEN]

-- DEP Investigating Other Possible Sources Of Methane As Part Of Response To Plum Borough Home Explosion, Including Nearby Conventional, Shale Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- Public Utility Commission Safety Investigation Ongoing Following Deadly House Explosion In Plum Borough, Allegheny County  [PaEN]

-- New DEP Interim Final Environmental Justice Policy, Definition Of Environmental Justice Areas Effective Sept. 16; Public Comments Accepted Thru Oct. 29  [PaEN]

-- DEP Grants Variance From Containment Standard For 10 Aboveground Storage Tanks At American Refining Refinery In Bradford, McKean County  [PaEN] 

[Posted: August 20, 2023]

8/21/2023