pennsylvania
Residents say Pennsylvania has failed communities after state studies linked fracking to child cancer
The studies, conducted by University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Department of Health researchers, found that residents living near fracking wells were more likely to experience childhood cancer, severe asthma attacks and low birth weights. They added to dozens of other studies linking living near fracking wells with various health problems, including cancer, poor birth outcomes and cardiovascular and respiratory issues
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered the studies, commonly referred to as “the Pitt studies,” after residents of fracking communities with high rates of rare childhood cancers demanded more research.
The researchers who conducted the study shared the results in August 2023 at a public meeting. They looked at health records and fracking data from 2010-2020 in the eight county Southwestern Pennsylvania region and found, among other things, that children who lived within one mile of one or more fracking wells were five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma compared to children who don’t live near fracking wells. It also found people with asthma living within 10 miles of fracking wells were four to five times more likely to experience a severe asthma attack during the production phase and an increased risk of having babies that are small for gestational age among Pennsylvanians living within 10 miles of fracking wells.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health pledged action in response to the findings, but residents and environmental advocates say the agency hasn’t done enough.
“Millions of dollars have been spent on this study only for it to be buried,” said Stacy Magda, a community organizer with the Mountain Watershed Association during a virtual press conference organized by five environmental and health advocacy groups on Tuesday.
The groups that held the press conference, which included the Center for Coalfield Justice, the Pennsylvania chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Mountain Watershed Association, the Environmental Health Project and FracTracker Alliance, also launched a petition asking Governor Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Health to take further action aimed at protecting residents who live near fracking wells.
Janice Blanock, a resident of Cecil Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh, held back tears as she spoke at the press conference over Zoom from a neighbor’s backyard, where a new fracking well was visible in the background. In 2016, her 19-year-old son Luke died from a rare bone cancer.
“I’ll never know exactly what caused my son's cancer,” Blanock said. “I'll never know why there are such high rates of rare cancers in my community. But I do know that harm is being done. And that pollution can make us sick … I am here to demand that Governor Shapiro address the results of the [studies].”
During the 2023 public meeting when the studies were presented, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the launch of a continuing medical education program on environmental exposures, said it would start a program to educate schools in fracking communities about air quality, said it had developed a new form for submitting environmental health complaints, and promised to continue reviewing cancer data in the region.
“Disseminating public health guidance and research are critical functions of the Department of Health,” said Talor Musil, a field manager at the Environmental Health Project during the press conference. “Neither has yet taken place in relation to these three studies, or any shale gas development topics. And this ultimately indicates a lack of leadership by Governor Shapiro to defend the health and safety of Pennsylvanians.”
Barry Ciccocioppo, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, defended the department’s actions. In an email, he told EHN “the [Pitt studies] help advance our understanding of the potential health impacts from hydraulic fracturing operations, and we are continuing to take action to improve the health and safety of Pennsylvania residents.”
He pointed to several initiatives related to educating medical professionals about fracking and health, including a recent presentation on the topic by Department of Health staff to a group of medical care providers and seeking approval for continuing education credits for nursing with a recorded version of that presentation (which will be publicly posted online “in the near future”). He also pointed to both past and planned presentations on the topic through a Penn State University program called ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes).
“Disseminating public health guidance and research are critical functions of the Department of Health. Neither has yet taken place in relation to these three studies, or any shale gas development topics." - Talor Musil, Environmental Health Project
He said the Department of Health is still working with the Department of Education to provide educational materials for schools and families, and the first of those documents is available online. He did not specify a timeline for this work.
The Department of Health also said it would begin work on an updated review of the literature on health and fracking. Ciccocioppo pointed to the agency’s 2019 literature review and said DOH is reviewing new scientific papers on health and fracking as they’re published and will post summaries on those papers on its website eventually, but he did not say that a formal literature review is underway.
Governor Shapiro’s fracking stance
Governor Josh Shapiro and CNX Resources Corporation president and CEO Nick Deiuliis in 2023.
Credit: Commonwealth Media
Several speakers at the press conference expressed frustration with Governor Shapiro’s shifting stance on fracking. As attorney general, Shapiro oversaw a grand jury investigation that concluded there was “systematic failure by government agencies in overseeing the fracking industry,” filed criminal charges against several fracking companies for environmental violations and recommended bolstered industry regulations.
But as governor, Shapiro has entered into a controversial partnership with CNX Resources, a fracking company that pleaded no contest to criminal charges for misreporting air monitoring data in violation of the state’s Air Pollution Control Act in 2021 — charges that were brought by Shapiro while he was the state’s Attorney General. The company has also received more than 2,000 violations from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection since 2004.
CNX’s “Radical Transparency” project launched in 2023, and a recent press release from the company claims that preliminary data from several months of self-reported air monitoring at selected fracking wells “expose the flawed nature of the oft-cited University of Pittsburgh Health Study and its highly suspect results,” and indicate “that natural gas development done the CNX way is safe and inherently good for the communities where we operate.”
“CNX has claimed that fracking poses no public health risks with a photo of Governor Shapiro at the top of the report to apply an endorsement from his Administration of these findings,” Environmental Health Project’s Musil said. She added that it’s not meaningful to compare results from a months-long self-monitoring air emissions report by a fracking company to a years-long study of health data by academic and regulatory agency researchers.
Jodi Borello, a community organizer with the Center for Coalfield Justice, added, “CNX Resources cannot be trusted to accurately report air data — that’s what their criminal charges were originally for. Governor, Shapiro's relationship with the criminal company CNX Resources is not a public health response.”
Westmoreland County resident Diana Steck, who says her family’s health has been impacted by a landfill that processes fracking waste, said the state agencies’ innaction “is not only unacceptable, it is immoral,” in a statement that was read during the press conference. “Governor Shapiro, it’s time for you to stop cozying up to polluters like CNX … and take action to protect our public health, especially that of our children.”
Credit: Commonwealth Media/flickr
A Pennsylvania fracking company with more than 2,000 environmental violations selected for federal environmental justice funding
An environmental monitoring project conducted by CNX Resources, a natural gas company headquartered in Pittsburgh, was included on a list of Justice40 efforts related to the federally funded Appalachian Hydrogen Hub in a document recently released by the Department of Energy. The hub is a network of infrastructure that will create hydrogen for energy use. It’s part of a nationwide initiative to advance hydrogen production with the goal of decreasing climate-warming carbon emissions in the U.S.
Justice40 is a Biden’s administration initiative that directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal programs to environmental justice communities, which are low-income and overburdened by pollution. The inclusion of CNX’s project – dubbed the “Radical Transparency” program by the company – suggests the company is slated to receive some of the $30 million in public funds allocated to the region’s hydrogen hub project.
Also included on that list are EQT Corporation, the nation’s largest producer of natural gas, and Enbridge, an oil and gas pipeline and energy company. While environmental advocates question any oil and gas company getting federal environmental justice funding, CNX in particular is raising concerns because of its controversial reporting on its environmental monitoring.
CNX’s “Radical Transparency” project launched in 2023 in partnership with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The project consists of air and water quality monitoring data for 14 of its fracking facilities in Pennsylvania provided by the company. It also includes publicly disclosing the chemicals CNX uses during fracking at those wells (with the exception of “trade secret” chemicals), among other initiatives.
The company says that nine months into the project, preliminary air monitoring results indicate “that natural gas development done the CNX way is safe and inherently good for the communities where we operate.”
But the company has a history of environmental violations and criminal charges for misreporting its own air emissions.
CNX has racked up more than 2,000 environmental violations by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection since 2004 at the more than 500 oil and gas wells it operates in Pennsylvania. The company also pleaded no contest to criminal charges for misreporting air pollution levels and violating the state’s Air Pollution Control Act in 2021.
A group of 40 organizations and 13 individuals, including Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth, submitted a letter to DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm in August to protest the inclusion of CNX’s air monitoring project on the list of Justice40 efforts related to the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub. The letter argues CNX shouldn’t have a place “on any list of companies eligible to receive even a penny of hydrogen hub funding.”
“As a retired physician educated in public health, I am very concerned that CNX has been mentioned as a supporter of Justice40 in [the Appalachian hydrogen hub project],” B.W. Brandom, a member of Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania who signed the letter, said in a statement. “CNX has had so many violations of environmental regulations, it should not be receiving public funds to continue work that destroys our environment.”
In southwestern Pennsylvania, environmental justice communities experience well-documented health harms linked to pollution emitted from a dense network of oil and gas wells and related infrastructure. The Appalachian hydrogen hub will primarily use natural gas to create hydrogen energy, prompting concerns that it may lead to an increase in pollution in these communities.Questions surrounding the data from CNX’s “Radical Transparency”
When CNX’s air monitoring initiative was launched with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (pictured above), it set out to “definitively confirm for all stakeholders that there are no adverse human health issues related to responsible natural gas development.”
Credit: Commonwealth Media/flickr
When CNX’s air monitoring initiative was launched, it set out to “definitively confirm for all stakeholders that there are no adverse human health issues related to responsible natural gas development” and “to confirm what we already know: that the natural gas industry is essential, responsible, and inherently good for society,” according to the company’s CEO, Nick Deiuliis.
The recent CNX report on the preliminary data it has gathered claims that the project’s findings “expose the flawed nature of the oft-cited University of Pittsburgh Health Study and its highly suspect results,” referencing a 2023 study conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh that linked living close to fracking wells to higher rates of asthma, lymphoma and low birth weights among Pennsylvania residents.
The CNX report drew criticism from environmental and health advocates, who said the project puts a carefully chosen set of brand new fracking wells under a microscope rather than monitoring the company’s many existing wells in the state, does not examine any health data and ignores decades of peer-reviewed research on the industry’s health impacts.
“No peer-reviewed study has ever been able to demonstrate that shale gas development can be done safely and without impact to human health, and any report that claims as much, especially one authored by a company that has an extensive history of fines for violating environmental rules and regulations, must be met with doubt and skepticism,” said Alison Steele, executive the Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit public health advocacy group, in a statement.
“No peer-reviewed study has ever been able to demonstrate that shale gas development can be done safely and without impact to human health." - Alison Steele, executive the Environmental Health Project
Talor Musil, a field manager at the Environmental Health Project who signed the letter, told EHN that the project not only fails to introduce any real public health protection and cherry-picks monitoring data about the health risks of fracking operations, but also “shut out impacted community members from any decisions related to the collaboration.”
Some advocates have also expressed frustration for Governor Josh Shapiro’s support of the project, since he previously initiated the criminal charges against CNX for its environmental violations while serving as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General.
“CNX is producing pseudo-science designed to deceive Pennsylvanians, including investors and distract from its worsening finances,” Tonyehn Verkitus, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Pennsylvania chapter, said in a statement that noted CNX’s report was made public right after the company’s stock price was downgraded due to falling gas prices. “But the real culprit here is Governor Shapiro, who is allowing CNX to regulate itself. And the real victims are the people of Pennsylvania.”
Musil also pointed to the fact that the project is not in line with specific policy priorities listed under the Justice40 initiative, like decreasing environmental exposure and burdens and increasing energy democracy in disadvantaged communities.
Planning and award negotiation for the seven planned hydrogen hubs across the country is still underway, and project partners have not yet received federal funding. Development, permitting and financing for the hubs is expected to happen by 2029.
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