Pennsylvania Board Delays Decision on Expanded Setbacks for Fracking and Drilling to Protect Local Residents
Clean Air Advocates Express Disappointment but Pledge to Continue Fight to Protect Communities from Pollution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Harrisburg – A Pennsylvania government board voted today to delay a decision on whether to expand setbacks for fracking and drilling sites from local homes and schools to better protect local residents from air and water pollution.
The Environmental Quality Board, a majority of whose members serve in the administration of Governor Josh Shapiro, voted 16-3 to table a motion to consider an expansion of setbacks, even though the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection had recommended moving forward. The board reviews and approves state environmental regulations.
“We are incredibly disappointed that the Environmental Quality Board voted not to consider our petition,” said Jen Duggan, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). “We will continue to make the legal and factual case to the board about the need for protective buffers and fight for these commonsense protections for Pennsylvanians.”
She added that the board made its decision to table the petition even though the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection admitted that EIP and Clean Air Council had raised important legal arguments and provided the board with new health studies documenting harm to Pennsylvania communities from oil and gas operations.
“While our petition hangs in limbo, more gas wells will be drilled by peoples’ homes and schools, more undisclosed chemicals will sully our air and water, and more children will be sickened and hospitalized,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Executive Director. “We need protective setbacks now to stop this public health emergency and we will do everything in our power to move them forward.”
On October 22, 2024, EIP and CAC filed a petition with the Environmental Quality Board, which reviews all regulations of the Department of Environmental Protection, asking the state to update and strengthen its setback requirements for fracking wells, which currently include a waivable 500-foot setback distance from buildings.
The allied organizations suggested a setback of at least 3,281 feet from any building and from any drinking water wells, among other proposals. During a presentation to the board that that was cut short by the motion to table, the organizations also provided documented evidence, in the form of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies, showing that a person’s proximity to fracking wells is associated with severe human health risks, including increased rates of cancer, hospitalization, and respiratory and neurological symptoms.
