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.
HARRISBURG, PA (October 30, 2023)– Today, a number of speakers from environmental and public health organizations, as well as academia and industry gave testimony about House Bill 170 to members of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and the public. In HB 170, a setback or buffer refers to the minimum required distance between various oil and gas industry infrastructure, like fracking wells, a specific use (shale gas well pad) and an existing structure, boundary, natural resource, or any other area that needs protection in the interest of health, safety, and the general welfare of the public. Five speakers called for increased protective buffers, or setbacks, from oil and gas infrastructure. The two industry-related speakers were not supportive of the current bill, but were open to further discussions about increased setback distances. Right now, oil and gas infrastructure is allowed within an easily waived 500 feet of homes, schools, and buildings, but testifiers supported House Bill 170 and recommended that operations be moved back to at least 2,500 feet between unconventional wells and buildings, as well as greater distances for schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and places that serve people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Twenty Pennsylvania environmental and health organizations submitted a written comment supporting the bill. The Protective Buffers Coalition, comprised of some of those same organizations, have long called for even greater distances and setbacks and from additional gas-related infrastructure.
“There is broad support for increased setback distances between gas infrastructure and Pennsylvania residents,” said Lois Bower-Bjornson, Washington County Resident, Clean Air Council. “A 2021 poll conducted by Data for Progress showed that Pennsylvanians support increased setback distances between gas infrastructure and homes, schools, hospitals, childcare centers, and other residential buildings by a 60% margin. Since 2021, Clean Air Council and partners have assisted 4,392 Pennsylvania residents in expressing their support for increased setbacks to their local elected officials.”
Recent health studies found that people living in close proximity to oil and gas infrastructure are at risk for a host of health issues including cancer, respiratory disease, low birth weight, and cardiovascular disease. By creating larger setbacks, or buffers, Pennsylvanians will be protected from harmful pollutants like benzene, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon disulfide.
“It’s clear that a 500 foot buffer from homes, childcare centers, schools, businesses, hospitals, and nursing homes is way too small, said Ned Ketyer, MD, President of Pennsylvania Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Increasing the distance between the activity and where people (especially children) live, work, learn, and play is only one step, but an important one, to protect the health of Pennsylvanians from dangerous fracking emissions consisting of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), volatile organic compounds (VOCs like benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde), ozone-forming nitrogen oxides, heat-trapping methane, radon gas, and many other toxics.”
“We observed elevated odds of cancer associated with UOG (unconventional oil and gas) activity within 2 km (more than 6,560 ft), which far exceeds any existing setback distance,” said Cassandra Clark, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale School of Public Health. “Further, although effect sizes diminished with increasing buffer size, the odds of developing ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) were still elevated for children living within 5 and 10 km of UOGD. Our results in the context of the broader environmental and epidemiologic literature suggest that existing setback distances are insufficiently public health protective, particularly for vulnerable populations like children, and should be revisited and informed by more recent data.”
“The optical gas imaging footage Earthworks has captured shows air pollution from unconventional oil and gas development regularly goes beyond facility fencelines,” said Melissa Ostroff, MPH, Earthworks Pennsylvania Policy and Field Advocate. “While this pollution is not visible to the naked eye, our camera provides visual evidence that communities living in close proximity to well pads and other fracking infrastructure are breathing in pollution from the industry. Policymakers must take this reality into account by increasing setback distances for oil and gas facilities.”
