Philadelphia, PA (December 18, 2025) – Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and Sierra Club appeal Homer City gas plant air quality plan approval no. 32-00457A, issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“the Department”) last month.

On November 18, 2025, the Department issued an air quality plan approval for the Homer City Redevelopment project, paving the way for what would be the nation’s largest fracked gas power plant to open in Pennsylvania. Although a plant that size could produce enough electricity to power over three million homes, this plant is being built for a 3,200-acre AI data center campus. Local communities would suffer the consequences of increased air pollution, noise, odors, and compromised drinking water with minimal return benefits. Additionally, each year the plant operates, the toxic air pollution it spews could cause the premature deaths of dozens of people across the country and millions of dollars in health costs. The effect of the climate pollution it emits would likely contribute to the deaths of additional thousands of people globally by the end of the century for each year the plant operates, caused by the increased global heating. This unlawful permit was issued in spite of 571 comments submitted by the public, strongly opposing (and identifying significant errors in) the proposed plant’s draft plan approval.

Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and Sierra Club have filed a Notice of Appeal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board challenging errors in the plan approval, including violations of the Clean Air Act, the Air Pollution Control Act, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment (Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution), and the Department’s own Environmental Justice Policy. 

“We will not stand by idly while our government greenlights a devastating and illegal toxic data center power plant,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Executive Director. “The people of Indiana County are rising up to say no to job-killing data centers and their private power plants, and Clean Air Council is proud to stand arm-in-arm with them.” 

“Building the country’s largest fracked-gas power plant to generate electricity primarily for AI data center operations runs entirely counter to the goal of moving towards the clean energy economy Pennsylvanians want and deserve,” said Jessica O’Neill, PennFuture’s Managing Attorney for Litigation. “In issuing this permit, DEP has failed to fulfill its obligations under Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment, as well as its obligations to consider and work to minimize the climate change consequences of electrical power generation.” 

Local residents express support for this lawsuit:

“As members of Concerned Residents of Western PA (CROW), an area group opposed to the planned power plant in Homer City, we fully support the legal appeal by the Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and Sierra Club challenging the air permit recently granted by DEP to the Homer City Redevelopment LLC. Given that the plant will have long-lasting and devastating impacts on our region’s environment, we are grateful for the legal action by the Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and Sierra Club. This appeal will help to ensure that project developers act in the public interest to follow air quality standards intended to protect our health and the future of our community,” said Concerned Residents of Western PA (CROW).

HARRISBURG, PA (December 9, 2025) – At its Tuesday, December 9 meeting, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board voted to accept the rulemaking petition submitted by Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project to increase minimum no-drill zones from fracking sites to homes, schools, water sources, and streams. DEP will now prepare a report evaluating the petition, as well as the dozens of health studies included in it, and will make a recommendation to the EQB on whether the EQB should approve the action requested in the petition. The Protective Buffers PA coalition, composed of environmental and public health organizations, is championing the rulemaking petition to enhance the health and safety of people across the Commonwealth by reducing exposure to fracking pollution.

Minimum setbacks, also referred to as protective buffers and no-drill zones in the context of fracking, are mandatory distances between new fracking wells and homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water wells, and surface waters. Pennsylvania’s current fracking well location requirements—which include a waivable 500-foot setback from buildings and a 1,000-foot setback from water supply extraction points—are woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the dangers of fracking.

The rulemaking petition asks the DEP to consider instituting the following research-informed setbacks:

• 3,281 feet from any building and from any drinking water well;
• 5,280 feet from any building serving vulnerable populations (e.g., schools, hospitals); and
• 750 feet from any surface water of the Commonwealth.

On April 8, 2025, Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council presented on why EQB should accept the petition, and DEP recommended that EQB accept it for further study, but the EQB vote was stalled for eight months. In September 2025, Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council filed an amended version of the petition that was substantively identical to the earlier petition but also incorporated citizen petitions, legal documents, and a research report that was handed to EQB at the April meeting. Now that the EQB has voted to accept the amended petition, DEP has 60 days to prepare a report evaluating the petition, to which the groups will be able to respond. Then DEP will make its final recommendation. If DEP recommends a regulatory change, it has six months to develop a proposed rulemaking for EQB consideration, which will then go through public notice and comment.

“Clean Air Council is thrilled to see the EQB do the right thing and allow DEP to study our petition,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council. “We are confident that the research supports these stronger protections and will convince DEP of the need to protect Pennsylvanians across the state from the serious dangers of fracking.”

“EQB took an important step today to protect the people of this Commonwealth from fracking pollution,” said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “We hope DEP and EQB move quickly to require the minimum setbacks the petition seeks so that no more families have to suffer the health effects that have been documented in dozens of studies as a result of the woefully inadequate current setback distances.”

“Today was an important milestone for residents who have waited far too long for basic public health protections from fracking’s harms, ” said Melissa Ostroff, Pennsylvania Policy and Field Advocate with Earthworks. “EQB did the right thing in following DEP’s recommendation to move this petition to the next step in the regulatory process. Impacted residents deserve to see a report from DEP about increasing setback distances without delay.”

“Today’s vote represents an important step toward closing the large gap between science and policy in Pennsylvania,” said Alison L. Steele, Executive Director, Environmental Health Project. “What we know from dozens of peer-reviewed health studies is clear: while there is no established ‘safe’ distance from fracking operations, increasing the distance from those who live, work, and play nearby lowers the risk of negative health impacts. We look forward to the DEP’s review of relevant, unbiased research and a timely recommendation for setback requirements informed by scientific evidence.”

“Advancing this commonsense rulemaking petition to study the implications of stronger protective buffers is the first step towards protecting the health of 3.6 million Pennsylvanians who share their communities with fracked wells,” said Katie Jones, Ohio River Valley Coordinator at FracTracker Alliance. “Research shows that larger buffers are necessary to safeguard public health, and reviewing these protections enhances state oversight without prohibiting unconventional drilling.”

“Protect PT applauds the EQB’s sound decision to vote this petition forward for review by the DEP,” said Gillian Graber, Executive Director, Protect PT. “For the first time, the DEP will take health impacts into account when considering the statewide minimum drilling setback for unconventional wells, using the research that our coalition has compiled. We know the findings are impossible to ignore. It’s been a long time coming, but today marks a significant step closer to essential health protections for frontline communities like ours in Southwestern PA.”

“My family is not alone in knowing that fracking happens too close to our homes,” said Jodi Borello, Community Organizer, Center for Coalfield Justice. “Those of us who testified to the grand jury gave all we had to have the truth heard and still had to wait half a decade for action. As communities have suffered impacts to our health and homes and more children have gotten sick, we have been calling on anyone in power to finally stand up to this industry and bring meaningful, sensible solutions. The EQB’s ruling is a long overdue step towards relief for impacted communities and working families like mine. I am proud to be part of a coalition that never stopped fighting for the people most impacted by this industry.”

Fracking contaminates groundwater (used for public and private drinking water supplies) and also pollutes surface water, damaging headwater streams and other ecosystems. Furthermore, spills often occur in watersheds linked to drinking water sources and the air pollution from fracking causes illness. 

Dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that a person’s proximity to fracking wells is associated with severe human health risks and a wide range of ailments, including increased cancer rates, increased hospitalization rates, and higher rates of respiratory, neurological, dermatological, and muscular symptoms. Vulnerable populations are particularly susceptible—numerous studies have shown that proximity to fracking wells harms health for infants and children. In addition to these studies, first-hand accounts of residents living near Pennsylvania fracking wells demonstrate the profound harms of living close to fracking.

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Clean Air Council is a member-supported environmental organization serving Pennsylvania and the surrounding regions. The Council is dedicated to protecting everyone’s right to a healthy environment. The Council works through a broad array of sustainability and public health initiatives, including public education, community action, government oversight, and enforcement of environmental laws. For more information, please visit www.cleanair.org.

The Environmental Integrity Project is America’s environmental watchdog. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and our natural world by holding polluters and government agencies accountable under the law. We advocate for tough but fair environmental standards and empower communities fighting for clean air and clean water.

Earthworks protects communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development while promoting sustainable solutions. Since 1988, Earthworks has helped communities secure protections of their health, land, water, and air from extractive industries. We are the only national organization in the U.S. to focus exclusively on preventing the destructive impacts of the extraction of oil, gas, and minerals.

The Environmental Health Project (EHP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public health organization that defends public health in the face of shale gas development. EHP provides frontline communities with timely monitoring, interpretation, and guidance while engaging diverse stakeholders: health professionals, researchers, community organizers, policy makers, and others.  

FracTracker Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides technical expertise and services—including useful, real-world data, scientific analyses, interactive maps, and other visual tools—to help activists, researchers, and the public better understand the environmental, economic, and social problems driven by extractive industries. To learn more about FracTracker Alliance, visit fractracker.org.

Protect PT (Penn-Trafford) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring residents’ safety, security, and quality of life by engaging in education and advocacy to protect the economic, environmental, and legal rights of the people in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. Protect PT was established in 2014 as a grassroots community-based organization designed to protect our community from the harmful environmental impacts of fossil fuel activity.

CCJ’s mission is to improve policy and regulations for the oversight of fossil fuel extraction and use; to educate, empower and organize coalfield residents; and to protect public and environmental health. We provide community members with detailed information about proposed projects and potential impacts so they can make informed decisions about individual or collective actions. We connect people in similar struggles together to build power and to invest in the leadership of people living in Washington and Greene Counties. We blend organizing, communications, legal, and policy strategies to build power with and for residents across Washington and Greene Counties, and to create an expanded set of options for achieving justice. Through this approach, and by investing in people’s skills and leadership, our communities will be able to advocate effectively for a healthy environment and thriving economy. www.centerforcoalfieldjustice.org 

PHILADELPHIA, PA (November 18, 2025) – On November 18, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued an air pollution permit for the Homer City Redevelopment project, paving the way for what would be the nation’s largest fracked gas power plant to open in Pennsylvania. Although the plant would produce enough electricity to power over three million homes, that power would mostly feed its massive AI data center. Local residents would suffer the consequences of increased air pollution, noise, odors, and compromised drinking water with minimal return benefits, and the toxic air pollution from the plant could lead to the deaths of dozens of people across the country for every year of its operation. This permit was issued in spite of the many speakers at September’s DEP hearing on the project, as well as the 571 comments submitted by the public, strongly opposing (and identifying significant errors in) the proposed plant’s draft air quality permit.

Harrisburg has fallen in line across the aisle to support rapid buildout of AI infrastructure, even though the new power plants being proposed to run data centers in Pennsylvania are almost universally plants that would burn methane from local fracking wells. Science and experience tells us that this new fracking, and these new power plants, would pollute, sicken, and kill people in our region, exacerbate the climate crisis, and drive up the cost of electricity.

Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Executive Director, issued the following statement:

“This illegal permit is a death sentence for many of those who will breathe its toxic fumes in Indiana County and across the nation. Rushed-through, riddled with errors, and for what? It’s not to keep our lights on. It’s for New York hedge fund investors and for tech billionaires to get rich off of technology designed to lay people off. Indiana County and Pennsylvania will rise up and defend our health and our lives from this dangerous, pointless plant.”

Harrisburg, PA (Tuesday, November 18) –  Clean Air Council, Representative Rabb, Environmental Health Project, and impacted residents gathered at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg Tuesday to demand that Pennsylvania’s leaders end their plans to use fossil fuel power plants to power AI data centers across the Commonwealth. 

 In July, Pennsylvania political leadership, including Senator Dave McCormick and Governor Josh Shapiro, joined President Donald Trump and executives from ExxonMobil, Google, and BlackRock to announce a $20 billion data center project as part of the Commonwealth’s headfirst jump into the AI race. Harrisburg has fallen in line across the aisle to support rapid buildout of AI infrastructure, even though the new power plants being proposed to run data centers in Pennsylvania are almost universally plants that would burn methane from local fracking wells. Science and experience tells us that this new fracking, and these new power plants, would pollute and sicken our region.

Shapiro, Senator McCormick, President Trump, allied legislators, and powerful executives are attempting to make the AI boom seem inevitable and unstoppable. In rejection of this vision of Pennsylvania’s future and in solidarity with the majority of Americans who are concerned about the increased use of AI, Clean Air Council, Representative Rabb, Environmental Health Project, and impacted residents hosted a rally where speakers made it clear that this fossil fuel-backed industry is not welcome. 

“The unchecked proliferation of data centers across Pennsylvania threatens our grid, our environment, and the well-being of communities already overburdened by pollution and corporate extraction,” said Representative Christopher Rabb. “When private profit drives public risk, the legislature must draw a hard line to protect our residents, our land, and our energy future.”

“The data center boom is already straining Pennsylvania resources and raising utility bills for people across the state. Even worse, global data center emissions are projected to be 2.5bn metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 – which is like adding an extra 116 million gasoline cars to the road,” said Clean Air Council Executive Director Alex Bomstein. “Pennsylvania should not push aside its own people in order to lead an industry that does incalculable harm to the environment and the economy.”

“We already know that there are myriad health and climate risks associated with fossil gas development—including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, birth impacts, cancers, heat-related illnesses, and insect-borne diseases,” said Environmental Health Project Executive Director Alison L. Steele. “A hyperscale data center boom that demands more fossil fuel consumption will make those health risks worse, not better.”

Because of what my family has lived through, I know we deserve better,” said Shakira Johnson, Washington County Resident. “By choosing cleaner energy over fossil fuels, we can create a healthier, stronger future for everyone in southwestern Pennsylvania and Washington County.”

HARRISBURG, PA (October 29, 2025) – Representatives from Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Environmental Health Project, Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), and Protect PT rallied at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Wednesday to demand that Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) live up to its mandate and protect state residents. From the main rotunda at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex, speakers representing this coalition urged EQB to act and delivered over 400 postcards and written comments from Pennsylvanians who support increased protective buffers distances to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). 

It has been over a year since the Council and EIP submitted a rulemaking petition to EQB to increase minimum protective buffer distances between new fracking sites and homes, schools, water sources, and streams. Since this submission, there have been at least 382 unconventional wells drilled in Pennsylvania. These new wells could have been subject to protective buffers rule that would keep people across the Commonwealth safer by minimizing exposure to fracking pollution. Instead, the EQB has failed to act on our petition, refusing to vote to allow the DEP to review our petition at the April EQB meeting and instead tabling the petition.

“When he was Attorney General, Josh Shapiro’s own grand jury once recommended strengthening setback requirements across the state. Now that he is Governor, he has adopted the motto of ‘get s— done.’ It’s been more than a year now since Pennsylvanians have demanded those safer setbacks,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council. “Gov. Shapiro, it’s time to get stuff done!” 

“I stood with impacted residents a year ago requesting Governor Shapiro make good on his Grand Jury report recommendation to protect families from fracking by increasing the distance between Pennsylvanians and polluters,” said Melissa Ostroff, Pennsylvania Policy & Field Advocate at Earthworks. “Not a day goes by without more evidence showing the harm of fracking on communities – and the time to act has long since passed. I urge EQB to move this petition forward to the next step in the regulatory process without delay.”

“We were in Harrisburg last fall, when we first submitted our petition to the EQB for protective buffers from fracking. Now, a year later, our petition has still not received full and proper consideration from our government,” said Gillian Graber, Executive Director of Protect PT. “So, we’ll be back in the Capital continuing to uplift testimony from frontline residents and share the scientific evidence that shows that current drilling setbacks are not doing enough to keep us safe. The EQB has a duty to all Pennsylvanians to allow the DEP to thoroughly study this important information.”

“Every day that Pennsylvania fails to adopt protective buffers from fracking sites the dangers to health and the environment mount,” said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “After a year watching our petition for health-based common-sense minimum setbacks languish, we are here demanding that EQB act with urgency to move our petition forward.”

“The research has been clear for years: the closer one lives to fracking operations, the greater the risk of developing negative short- and long-term health issues,” said Alison L. Steele, Executive Director, Environmental Health Project. “As scientific evidence of the public health impacts of fracking continues to mount, the gap between research and policy widens in Pennsylvania. Any further delay to increase setback distances continues to disregard the negative health impacts that community members living near operations have been dealing with for years.”

The Environmental Quality Board has had ample time—an entire year—to decide whether to advance our commonsense rulemaking petition and study the implications of stronger protective buffers around sensitive sites and communities,” said Katie Jones, Ohio River Valley Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance. “Immediate action is now warranted, as this regulation change will better safeguard the health and safety of the 3.6 million Pennsylvanians living in areas where fracking is feasible without imposing a de facto ban on fracking.”

Setbacks, also referred to as protective buffers and no-drill zones in the context of fracking, are mandatory minimum distances that fracking wells must be placed away from homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water wells, and surface waters. Pennsylvania’s current fracking well location requirements—which include a waivable 500-foot setback from buildings and a 1,000-foot setback from water supply extraction points—are woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the dangers of fracking. In fact, the current distances were not determined based on public health evidence. By failing to move this popular rulemaking petition forward, the EQB has done significant harm to Pennsylvanians while helping the oil and gas industries, protecting polluters instead of people. 

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.

HARRISBURG, PA (November 25, 2024) – On November 21, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) completed an initial review of a rulemaking petition submitted by Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project to increase minimum no-drill zones around homes, schools, and streams. The Protective Buffers PA coalition, comprised of environmental and public health organizations, is championing the rulemaking petition. The rulemaking petition will now move to the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) for consideration. 

Setbacks, also referred to as protective buffers and no-drill zones in the context of fracking, are mandatory distances that fracking wells must abide by to keep them separated from homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water wells, and surface water. Pennsylvania’s current fracking well location requirements—which include a waivable 500-foot setback from buildings and a 1,000-foot setback from water supply extraction points—are woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the dangers of fracking.

The rulemaking asks the EQB to consider instituting the following research-informed setbacks:

• 3,281 feet from any building and from any drinking water well;
• 5,280 feet from any building serving vulnerable populations (e.g., schools, hospitals); and
• 750 feet from any surface water of the Commonwealth.

The EQB regulations provide that the next step in the process is that the petition will be announced at the next EQB meeting, and Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project will have the chance to give a 5-minute presentation on why EQB should accept it. The DEP will make a recommendation as to whether EQB should accept it. If EQB accepts it, DEP then has 60 days to prepare a report evaluating the petition, to which the groups will be able to respond, and then DEP will make its final recommendation. If DEP recommends a regulatory change, it has 6 months to develop a proposed rulemaking for EQB consideration.

“This is an important first step in the right direction to protect the millions of Pennsylvanians who live near fracking,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council. “No one deserves to live with the harms and perils of fracking in their backyard.”

“Study after study shows that fracking too close to buildings and waterways has caused grave and undeniable harm to Pennsylvanians, so we’re glad our petition is moving forward.” said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “DEP’s job is to protect people and the environment from pollution, and increasing minimum setback distances from fracking sites should be an obvious next step to protect everyone in the Commonwealth regardless of one’s politics.”

“There is no evidence that shale gas development can be done without harm to human health,” said Alison L. Steele, executive director of the Environmental Health Project. “However, greater setback distances are ultimately better for reducing health harms. The EQB’s consideration of a petition to increase setbacks can begin the critical work of correcting what was unquestionably an egregious public health error made when fracking was in its infancy. Today, we know better.”

“Those of us living on the front lines of fracking activity have known for decades that this activity is way too close to thousands of families across Pennsylvania, which was affirmed in the 43rd Grand Jury report”, said Gillian Graber Executive Director of Protect PT, a member of the coalition. “We would encourage the EQB to take swift action to support families impacted by fracking by instituting these changes,” said Graber.

“The EQB’s acceptance of this petition marks a significant step toward adopting long-overdue protections for Pennsylvania communities,” said Katie Jones, Ohio River Valley Coordinator with FracTracker Alliance. “As Attorney General, Governor Shapiro strongly advocated for commonsense measures to protect public health, including expanded no-drill zones to shield Pennsylvanians from the harmful impacts of fracking. At FracTracker, our data consistently highlights the disproportionate risks faced by frontline communities, and we urge swift action to transform this proposal into enforceable safeguards that deliver meaningful relief to those most affected.”

“Earthworks has spent the last decade proving that oil and gas operations pollute nearby homes and entire communities,” said Melissa Ostroff of Earthworks. “Requiring polluters to operate at a distance less harmful to the health of people, and especially children, is common sense and the right thing to do. We appreciate the DEP’s decision to move the petition forward, and Governor Shapiro and his administration should act quickly to set safe setback distances to protect all Pennsylvanians.”

Fracking contaminates groundwater (used for public and private drinking water supplies) and also pollutes surface water, damaging headwater streams and other ecosystems. Furthermore, spills often occur in watersheds linked to drinking water sources. 

Dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that a person’s proximity to fracking wells is associated with severe human health risks and a wide range of ailments, including increased cancer rates, increased hospitalization rates, and higher rates of respiratory, neurological, dermatological, and muscular symptoms. Vulnerable populations are particularly susceptible—numerous studies have shown that proximity to fracking wells harms health for infants and children. In addition to these studies, first-hand accounts of residents living near Pennsylvania fracking wells demonstrate the profound harms of living close to fracking.

HARRISBURG, PA (October 22, 2024) – Today, Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project filed a rulemaking petition with the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) asking it to increase minimum setback distances from fracking wells. Setbacks, also referred to as protective buffers and no-drill zones in the context of fracking, are mandatory distances that fracking wells must abide by to keep them separated from homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water wells, and surface water. Pennsylvania’s current fracking well location requirements—which include a waivable 500-foot setback distance from buildings and a 1,000-foot setback distance from water supply extraction points—are woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the numerous dangers of fracking.

Clean Air Council, Environmental Integrity Project, and a coalition of environmental and public health organizations – called Protective Buffers PA – are calling for the following research-informed setbacks:

• 3,281 feet from any building and from any drinking water well;
• 5,280 feet from any building serving vulnerable populations (e.g., schools, hospitals); and
• 750 feet from any surface water of the Commonwealth.

“The gas industry has dangerously encroached on our daily lives over the last twenty years.” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Executive Director. “Now, nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians live within a half mile of fracking. The harm that fracking inflicts on communities is unacceptable and no one deserves to live with fracking in their backyard.”

“The research is clear that too many Pennsylvanians have suffered a decline in their health, quality of life, and property values as a result of oil and gas companies fracking too close to buildings, wells, and waters,”  said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “Pennsylvania agencies have a constitutional duty to heed the overwhelming evidence and require minimum setbacks to protect the Commonwealth’s residents and natural resources from further peril.” 

“20 years of fracking in Pennsylvania has spawned 20 years of research showing convincingly that living and working near fracking increases the risk of developing health problems,” said Ned Ketyer, MD, President of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. “And the closer you are to fracking the higher the risk. Increasing buffers from the present to at least 2500 feet from homes and 5000 feet from schools, hospitals, and other public buildings is a small but necessary step to protect the health of Pennsylvanians living near fracking.”

“Living a little over 500 feet from Range Resources Augustine well pad has, for the past 4 years, caused many issues for my family of five,” said Michele Stonewark, Cecil Township, PA. “We’ve suffered health issues including headaches, nausea, and bloody noses, sleepless nights due to noise and vibrations and increased stress and anxiety that compounds all of the other issues. There are days we can not go outside due to awful diesel and chemical smells and my children are forced to stay indoors. All the while, the landowners of the pad, are the furthest away from the threat we live with every day. The importance of setbacks is an issue that I will fight with all of my being, not just for my family’s health but for the health of all families in this commonwealth.”

“We have 12 well pads and one compressor station planned for our residential community and thousands of residents have already been harmed,” said Gillian Graber, impacted resident and Executive Director of Protect PT, Westmoreland County, PA. “After a decade of working to protect my community, I am tired of waiting for our government agencies, Governor Shapiro, and our legislators to act in the best interest for Pennsylvanians. That is why we need to force the issue with this rulemaking petition to protect us from a toxic industry whose sole motivation is to make money as quickly and cheaply as possible.”

When Governor Shapiro was Attorney General, the primary recommendation of the 43rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury’s report on fracking was to enact a 2,500 foot no-drill zone between fracking and homes, as well as a 5,000 foot no-drill zone for schools and hospitals. In the fall of 2023, Governor Shapiro instructed the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to implement some of the Grand Jury recommendations for better protecting Pennsylvania residents from oil and gas operations, but this notably did not include setbacks. Instead of asking the DEP to develop greater setbacks for the oil and gas industry, he announced a partnership with CNX – a gas company with a history of environmental violations – that included a promise to adhere to voluntary, unenforceable setbacks from homes and schools at distances well below those recommended by the Grand Jury. 

Fracking contaminates groundwater (used for public and private drinking water supplies) and also pollutes surface water, impacting headwater streams and other ecosystems. Furthermore, spills often occur in watersheds linked to drinking water sources. 

Dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that a person’s proximity to fracking wells is associated with severe human health risks and a wide range of ailments, including increased cancer rates, increased hospitalization rates, and higher rates of respiratory, neurological, dermatological, and muscular symptoms. Vulnerable populations are particularly susceptible—numerous studies have shown that proximity to fracking wells harms health for infants and children. In addition to these studies, first-hand accounts of residents living near Pennsylvania fracking wells demonstrate the profound harms of living in close proximity to fracking.

PITTSBURGH, PA (August 14, 2024) –  Today, fracking company CNX released a report on the results of its efforts to monitor six air pollutants for a few months at locations near its rural fracking sites. The report, based on self-reported data, makes the sweeping conclusion that “CNX Natural Gas Development Poses No Public Health Risks.” 

Of the thousands of chemicals released in fracking, CNX hand-selected six to monitor for in the air. The report did not acknowledge the significant increases in those pollutants its monitors identified downwind of its facilities. The report also did not attempt to address the science demonstrating that there is likely no safe level of cancer-causing pollutants such as benzene, which CNX’s data showed that its sites sent into the atmosphere.

CNX’s “no public health risks” conclusion is contradicted by more than 100 studies identifying the toxic air pollution from fracking and public health studies such as that done last year by the University of Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which showed strong evidence of increased illnesses in patients living near fracking wells. CNX’s report stems from a 2023 partnership with Governor Shapiro’s administration.

“CNX’s radically dishonest and irresponsible fracking report fails the fundamental tests of scientific integrity,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council. “The Shapiro administration should immediately disavow the report and distance itself from this propaganda.”

“There are mountains of evidence showing that from cradle to grave, fracking poses a significant risk to the public’s health,” noted David Masur, Executive Director for PennEnvironment. “Some of the glaring errors and misinformation announced today are just the tip of the toxic iceberg when it comes to harmful discharges into our air and water from fracking.”

“People in the Commonwealth are suffering and this blatant disregard for the real world hurt done for over a decade is unconscionable,” said Gillian Graber, Executive Director of Protect PT. “Governor Shapiro should know that we are not buying the snake oil, the people of Pennsylvania are too smart for that.”

“CNX has a lot of nerve to suggest that their self-collected and self-reported data can disprove a series of studies that looked at the very real, very heartbreaking impacts that children across nine counties experience living near fracking,” said Sarah Martik, Executive Director of Center for Coalfield Justice. “Governor Shapiro needs to wake up to the damage he is perpetuating by continuing in this partnership and by failing to acknowledge Pitt’s state-sponsored, peer-reviewed research.” 

“CNX’s August 14th press release appears to be an attempt to dupe investors, operators, and decision makers into adopting the faulty Radical Transparency methodology across the Commonwealth in order to shape Pennsylvania’s energy policy. This is an extremely misguided idea, given ample evidence showing the health risks associated with fracking,” said Shannon Smith, Executive Director of FracTracker Alliance. “Furthermore, their data is opaque. For example, CNX does not disclose all of the chemicals used in its operations, because the disclosures contain trade secrets.”

PENNSYLVANIA (June 21,2024) –  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today, June 21, the availability of $850 million in funding for projects led by agencies, tribes, states, communities, and industry that will monitor and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Potentially-funded projects can help small operators monitor methane emissions so that leaks can be better quantified and repaired in a timely manner. The funding will also aim to create collaborative monitoring efforts between frontline communities and equipment providers, so that impacted residents will have better access to empirical data and a role to play in the air monitoring process. Overall, this funding will help states and tribes reduce methane emissions to comply with the waste emissions charge and the U.S. EPA methane rule published this past spring. 

This announcement is part of EPA’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), which was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. MERP provides financial and technical assistance as well as new regulations that will reduce pollution – including greenhouse gases such as methane, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants – from the oil and gas sector. The funding made available today will build on the $350 million awarded to states last December, of which Pennsylvania received nearly $44.5 million for the plugging and monitoring low-producing conventional wells. 

Matt Walker, Clean Air Council Advocacy Director issued the following statement:

“President Biden has already taken serious policy actions that will guide Pennsylvania and other states to significantly cut methane pollution from the oil and gas industry to help meet our climate goals. Today’s funding announcement builds on those solid policies with major investments for cutting edge methane-reducing technologies, and air monitoring that will provide accurate data to frontline communities. These efforts will better protect the health of Pennsylvania residents and help curb climate change.”