Guest Essay: Our Leaders Need To Stop Negotiating With The Fossil-Fuel Industry Behind Closed Doors And Protect Public Health And Our Children
Photo

By Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council and Washington County Resident

This guest essay first appeared on TribLive.com November 10, 2022--

I grew up along the Monongahela River in the once thriving coal town of Fredericktown, where coal barges, orange water and mine drainage were the norm.

Eighteen years ago my husband and I moved back to Washington County to raise our four children, despite it being the most heavily fracked county in Pennsylvania.

It was a difficult decision. We all want the best for our children, and I can’t express the guilt that I feel for raising my children in an environment that’s not safe for them and has the potential to cause lifelong health consequences.

All of my children have experienced health impacts such as rashes, chronic nosebleeds and Lyme disease due to the warming of our climate from the fossil-fuel industry.

We are exposed to diesel truck traffic, hauling hazardous waste, along with compressor stations, fracking pads, pipelines, processing plants, cryogenic plants and impoundments.

Ewing sarcoma cases are the highest in the country in Washington County.

There are rare cancers in every school district in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Yale recently released a study that was compiled in Washington County stating children living close to oil and gas facilities have a three times higher rate of developing leukemia.

There is no escaping the industry.

Whether my kids attend a local or alternate school, fracking and its stream of pollution are everywhere.

All of my children attend an alternate school a few miles from the largest petrochemical hub in North America.

This is why I started the frackland tours.

I invite anyone to come and get a firsthand account of what it is like to live and grow up in the shale fields of Southwestern Pennsylvania, where my family, friends and neighbors are negatively impacted by the natural gas infrastructure that surrounds us.

We all want clean air so that our kids don’t get asthma or cancer. And all Pennsylvanians have the right to clean air and water, according to the Commonwealth’s Constitution.

But now the same oil and gas billionaires polluting our air and water are being rewarded yet again.

Right before an important election, Pennsylvania lawmakers made a last-minute closed-door deal to make the biggest fossil-fuel giveaway in the Commonwealth’s history.

The tax incentives would funnel billions of dollars in taxpayer money to perpetuate the oil and gas industry, including $50 million a year to build a hydrogen hub and miles and miles of pipelines underground that can explode.

Oil and gas companies are misleading the public and our elected officials by promising a fair exchange of massive public spending for hypothetical jobs.

The fossil-fuel industry has a history of exaggerating its potential impact on jobs and local economies, and is using the lure of jobs to manipulate us.

I’m tired of hearing about “clean hydrogen,” because it’s an oxymoron.

Here in the Marcellus Shale region, the type of hydrogen produced would come right from methane. That’s just more dirty fracking called by a different name.

Ohio River Valley Institute research shows that despite the industry’s claims, hydrogen technology isn’t even feasible.

It’s unproven, ridiculously expensive, won’t create jobs and would lock us into a future where we continue to depend on fossil fuels.

Disadvantaged coal communities like mine could desperately use this money to invest in the people who actually live here.

We need jobs that are reliable and pay enough to take care of our families.

We need better education.

We need cleaner air and water, and more health resources.

Those who have been historically left behind and suffered the brunt of environmental disaster and climate damage should be the ones who make decisions about what a worldwide energy infrastructure should look like.

In this region, the people have been clear: We want a clean energy future that powers our lives at home and work, where working families and small businesses have the opportunities and tools they need to build a good life and contribute to the economy, freed from the outdated fuels that pollute our air and water and damage our climate.

All the oil and gas industry cares about is money. Not people.

Promising jobs is not the same thing as caring about working people.

We can have both a healthy economy and a healthy climate.

We just need leaders to stop negotiating with the fossil-fuel industry behind closed doors, and start working toward truly clean energy solutions that are good for workers, good for families and good for our climate.

Lois Bower-Bjornson is the Southwestern Pennsylvania field organizer with the Clean Air Council. 

NewsClips - Don’t Subsidize Natural Gas Pollution:

-- Gov. Wolf Signs Massive, 20-Year Taxpayer Subsidies Into Law For Natural Gas, Hydrogen And Petrochemical Industries With No Public Accountability Or Environmental Safeguards   [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Stop Giving Handouts To Natural Gas Industry, Make Them Clean Up Their Own Messes And Protect Public Health - By Mitchell Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network; Jacquelyn Omotalade, Environmental Health Project; Melissa Ostroff, MPH, Earthworks  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald Editorial: State Lawmakers Should Adopt Rules That Preclude State Taxpayers From Subsidizing Pollution From Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- York Dispatch Editorial: Energy Companies Are Reporting Record Profits, PA Lawmakers Don’t Need To Give Them More Tax Breaks  [PaEN]

-- Citizens Voice Editorial: Subsidizing Pollution - Taxpayers Pay $1.7 Billion To Subsidize Shell Ethane Plant In Beaver County

-- TribLive Editorial: State Fines Should Be Higher Than Tax Cuts To Penalize Environmental Leaks [PaEN]

-- Scranton Times/Republican Herald Editorial: Legislators Like Plastics, Expect More  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald Editorial: Dangerous Course For Oil & Gas Well Emissions, Obstructionists Should Get Out Of The Way  [PaEN]

-- Citizens Voice Editorial: State Insists On Paying Polluters  [PaEN]

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Tax Credit Bill Gifts Natural Gas, Dirty Hydrogen With $4 Billion In Taxpayer Subsidies - By Patrick McDonnell, PennFuture

Related Articles This Week:

-- What Can We Expect From Gov. Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Davis On Environmental, Energy Issues?  [PaEN]

-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: Environmentalists Breathe Sigh Of Relief In PA With Midterm Election Results, But Shapiro’s, Fetterman’s Policies On Key Issues Remain Uncertain

-- Washington Examiner: Natural Gas-Friendly Message Helped Fuel Democrat Shapiro’s PA Win

-- Observer-Reporter: Ongoing Water Donation Drive Helping Dozens Of Greene County Families Who Haven’t Had Clean Drinking Water Since June Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site  [PaEN]

-- Bob Donnan Blog/WTAE: Washington County Family Files Landmark Lawsuit Over Hazardous Chemicals And Chevron/EQT Shale Gas Drilling

-- WTAE: Lawsuit By Washington County Homeowner Says Fracking Caused PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ To Contaminate His Drinking Water 

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Washington County Family Sues Chevron, EQT Over Shale Gas Well Pads Near House

-- Observer-Reporter: Range Resources Part Of DEP Investigation Into High Methane Levels In 2 Homes In South Strabane Twp., Washington County 

-- E&E News - Heather Richards: Biden Orphan Well Plan Faces Trouble In PA: ‘All For Naught’ If DEP Can’t Stop New Oil & Gas Well Abandonments

-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: In Fracking’s ‘Ground Zero’ - Dimock, Susquehanna County - PA Residents Feel Left Behind - Part I

-- Public Source: DEP Promises To Monitor Shell Ethane Plant, Look Into All Citizen Complaints

-- Public Source: Citizen Scientists Prepare To Monitor Shell Ethane Plant In Beaver County

-- Guest Essay: Stop Giving Handouts To Natural Gas Industry, Make Them Clean Up Their Own Messes And Protect Public Health - By Mitchell Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network; Jacquelyn Omotalade, Environmental Health Project; Melissa Ostroff, MPH, Earthworks  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Our Leaders Need To Stop Negotiating With The Fossil-Fuel Industry Behind Closed Doors And Protect Public Health And Our Children - By Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council and Washington County Resident  [PaEN]

-- Tribune-Democrat Guest Editorial: State Insists On Paying Natural Gas Polluters In $2 Billion Tax Credit Package

-- FracTracker Alliance, Clean Air Council, Other Groups Hosting Nov. 14 Webinar On Protected Zones: Setbacks From Oil & Gas Facilities In California, Colorado, PA  [PaEN]

-- NEW FEATURE: Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Nov. 5 To 11  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment  [PaEN]  

-- DEP Issues Revised Chapter 102 Permit For Mariner East II Pipeline Post Construction Stormwater Management BMPs In Delaware County [PaEN]

-- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Accepting Comments On Draft EIS For Ohio Valley Connector Natural Gas Pipeline In Greene County Until Nov. 21  [PaEN]

-- Reuters: Williams Urges FERC To Approve Regional Energy Access Natural Gas Pipeline Expansion Affecting 6 Counties In PA  [PaEN]

-- EPA Unveils Proposed Methane Pollution Reduction Standards Covering Oil & Gas Facilities, Including Conventional Oil & Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- NextPittsburgh: Franklin, Venango County, Poised To Become The Next Great ‘Outdoor Town’  [Except for the dumping and negative environmental impacts of the conventional oil & gas industry]

Related Articles - Major Oil & Gas Criminal/Monetary Penalties Last 2 Years:

-- House Committee Fails To Address $70 Million In Penalties On Natural Gas Pipelines Or Real Concerns Of People Living Near Gas Production & Distribution Facilities

-- AG Shapiro: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Convicted Of Criminal Charges Related To Construction Of Mariner East 2 & Revolution Natural Gas/Liquids Pipelines In PA

-- Sunoco/Mariner East Pipeline To Pay $4 Million In Damages And Restore Lake At Marsh Creek State Park Polluted By A Spill In Chester County

-- Federal Court Approves DEP, EPA, DOJ Settlement With Chesapeake Appalachia For Failure To Identify, Protect Wetlands At 76 Gas Well Drilling Sites, $1.9 Million Penalty

-- PUC Imposes $1 Million Penalty On Energy Transfer Company For 2018 Revolution Pipeline Explosion In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $497,000, Fish & Boat Commission Collects $25,855 In Penalties For Latest Violations Involving Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction In Lebanon County

-- DEP: Range Resources Pays $294,000 Penalty For Delaying The Plugging Of 42 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In 8 Counties

-- DEP: Olympus Energy Natural Gas Driller Fined $175,000 For Water Quality Violations In Allegheny County

-- DEP Collects $147,250 Penalty From Rice Drilling B LLC For Erosion & Sedimentation Violations In Greene County; DEP Found Rice Had Hundreds Of Other Violations, Including Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them

-- DEP Collects $140,000 Penalty From ETC Northeast Field Services For Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Order Requires Payment Of $125,000 Penalty For Latest Revolution Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $85,000 Penalty For Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction Violations In Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, Lebanon Counties

-- AP: PUC Judge: Sunoco/Energy Transfer Failed To Protect Delaware County Community During Construction Of Mariner East Pipeline, $51,000 Penalty Proposed

-- AG Shapiro: Southeast Directional Drilling Pleads Guilty To Contaminating Water Supply In Washington County, To Pay $15,000 Fine

Related Articles - Health & Environmental Impacts:

-- DEP Issued NOVs To Conventional Oil & Gas Companies For Abandoning 55 Wells Without Plugging Them During September Alone, A Dramatic Increase In New Well Abandonments  [PaEN]

-- Creating New Brownfields: Oil & Gas Well Drillers Notified DEP They Are Cleaning Up Soil & Water Contaminated With Chemicals Harmful To Human Health, Aquatic Life At 272 Locations In PA [PaEN]

-- Gov. Wolf, Senate, House Republicans Again Fail To Hold Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Accountable For Protecting The Environment, Taxpayers On Hook For Billions [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Reported Spreading 977,671 Gallons Of Untreated Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads In 2021  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Study: Potential Pollution Caused By Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Makes It Unsuitable For A Dust Suppressant, Washes Right Off The Road Into The Ditch  [PaEN]

-- DEP Lists 84 Townships As ‘Waste Facilities’ Where Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Has Been Disposed Of By Road Spreading; Municipalities Need To Do Their Due Diligence [PaEN]

-- On-Site Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Waste Disposal Plans Making Hundreds Of Drilling Sites Waste Dumps [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Dispose Of Drill Cuttings By ‘Dusting’ - Blowing Them On The Ground, And In The Air Around Drill Sites  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]

-- NO SPECIAL PROTECTION: The Exceptional Value Loyalsock Creek In Lycoming County Is Dammed And Damned - Video Dispatch From The Loyalsock - By Barb Jarmoska, Keep It Wild PA [PaEN]

-- Rare Eastern Hellbender Habitat In Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming County Harmed By Sediment Plumes From Pipeline Crossings, Shale Gas Drilling Water Withdrawal Construction Projects  [PaEN]

-- DEP: PA Fracking Operations Sent Nearly 236,000 Cubic Feet Of Radioactive TENORM Waste To Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facilities For Disposal In 2021 - 811,070 since 2016  [PaEN]

-- Study: Industry Data Shows Hazardous Air Pollutants Are ‘Ubiquitous’ In The Natural Gas Transmission System; More Justification For Robust Leak Prevention Programs  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: Setback Distances And The Regulations We Need To Protect Public Health From Oil & Gas Facilities [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [PaEN]

-- House Committee Fails To Address $70 Million In Penalties On Natural Gas Pipelines Or Real Concerns Of People Living Near Gas Production & Distribution Facilities [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell, Pipeline Contractor Assessed $670,000 Penalty For Falcon Ethane Pipeline Construction Violations In Allegheny, Beaver, Washington Counties [PaEN]

-- DEP Collects $147,250 Penalty From Rice Drilling B LLC For Erosion & Sedimentation Violations In Greene County; DEP Found Rice Had Hundreds Of Other Violations, Including Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them  [PaEN]

-- Republican Chair Of House Environmental Committee Believes Opponents Of Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects ‘Just Need To Be Ignored And Politically Ran Over’ [PaEN]

[Posted: November 11, 2022]


11/14/2022

Go To Preceding Article     Go To Next Article

Return to This PA Environment Digest's Main Page