Statement from Pennsylvania citizens and organizations
February 3, 2016
Matt Walker, mwalker@cleanair.org, 215-567-4004 x121
(Harrisburg, Pa. – February 3, 2016) Pennsylvania citizens, including many suffering from the harmful impacts of natural gas drilling, today again thanked Gov. Tom Wolf on his recent proposal for standards that will cut methane pollution from oil and gas operations. They stood alongside representatives of public health, parent, labor, and environmental organizations as they delivered petitions to Gov. Tom Wolf calling for the administration to move with all deliberate speed in enacting the standards. The many thousands of signatures spoke to the desire of Pennsylvanians across the state to have enforceable rules in place that will protect air quality for their children and communities. Petition deliveries were made in Harrisburg and to Wolf administration offices in Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, Erie, and Philadelphia.
“Today’s petition delivery underscores the fact that Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly support strong protections from oil and gas drilling that will improve their health and their environment,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., executive director and chief counsel of the Clean Air Council. “When we let industry drill without adequate oversight, we condemn the next generation of Pennsylvanians to a future of chronic health problems and high health care costs. Pennsylvania has waited long enough – we need these methane standards to be finalized as quickly as possible.”
“Pennsylvania’s children are suffering under the burden of increased air pollution due to the continued expansion, and lack of regulation, of the oil and gas industry,” said Patrice Tomcik, Western Pennsylvania field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. “As a mother, I am concerned for the health and safety of my children, who attend school half a mile from a gas well pad. Moms Clean Air Force applauds Gov. Wolf’s proposed methane standards, which will offer much-needed protections for our children, and encourages the Wolf administration to consider providing increased protections from this industrial activity via more sensible setbacks for schools from oil and gas operations.”
“Fossil fuel extraction can never be made safe, but until we can transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy, we must do everything possible to reduce the effects of dangerous pollutants like methane,” said Cheryl Johncox, methane organizer with Sierra Club. “The safeguards Governor Wolf recently proposed are a great start, and we hope that the U.S. EPA will follow his lead to enact national standards to curb all sources of methane.”
“A host of toxic chemicals, including the known carcinogens benzene, arsenic, and formaldehyde, have been discovered by experts who test the air near natural gas extraction, compression, and transmission facilities,” said Jill Kriesky, Ph.D., associate director of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. “Nearby residents understand that these contaminants mixed in with methane aren’t healthy to breathe, and EHP’s health care professionals have seen firsthand the impact of these chemicals on patients.”
“Cutting air pollution from oil and gas operations is essential to protecting public health, but there is so much more we will have to do before we can say we’ve lived up to our obligation to protect the health of those already harmed,” said Alfonso Rodriguez, MD, FASN, a physician affiliated with Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition. “Gas wells and compressor stations already in existence, often near schools, homes, and farms, expose us to toxic emissions. Pennsylvania has not done a complete health study, the health registry is inadequate, and we as physicians cannot obtain a nearly adequate list of the chemicals involved in gas production.”
“As a mother of four young children, I commend Gov. Wolf’s recently-announced proposal to regulate methane pollution from the oil and gas industry,” said Lois Bower-Bjornson, who lives amid the shale fields of Washington County, Pa. “This will protect our children and communities from harmful pollutants that are released into our air. This will also allow the industry to capture these emissions and sell them, returning revenues to our impacted communities. There is no reason to allow this industry to let its profits drift away in plumes of emissions that are hurting our families.”
“As a citizen and parent surrounded by fracking activity in Butler County, Pa., I understand firsthand the urgent need to enact regulations to protect Pennsylvanians from dangerous drilling pollution including methane emissions and leaks from oil and gas operations,” said Amanda Lapina, vice president of SEIU Healthcare PA. “My union supports Gov. Wolf’s recent proposal that will help protect Pennsylvanians from the methane pollution that is hurting our families. The drilling industry is not protecting Pennsylvanians, so we are looking to the governor and DEP for leadership and follow-through.”
