PA Department of Health Visits Communities and Families Impacted by Shale Gas Development,
Hears First-hand Accounts of Health Harms
On July 27, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) visited communities and people impacted by shale gas development (fracking) in southwestern Pennsylvania, learning first-hand how the industry has harmed health and changed the lives of families forever. Alison Beam (Acting Secretary of Health for the DOH) took the tour, as did Raphael (Ray) Barishansky (Deputy Secretary of Health Preparedness and Community Protection), Peter Blank (Director of Policy), and Barry Ciccocioppo (Director of Communications).
Lois Bower-Bjornson, Southwestern Pennsylvania Field Organizer for the Clean Air Council and host of Frackland Tours, guided the tour. Accompanying the DOH were public health and community advocacy groups Center for Coalfield Justice, Earthworks, Environmental Health Project, Mountain Watershed Association, and Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. The tour was conducted by school bus, and during travel time the advocacy groups shared information and research data with DOH officials. Said Bower-Bjornson, “It has been a journey and a duty to bring voices to those who don’t have one, so that their stories can be heard by those that need to hear them.”
Part of the tour included visits and discussions with impacted residents, including Janice Blanock, a Cecil, PA, resident who lost her son, Luke, to Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, when he was just 19. “I would like to thank the PA DOH for taking the time to attend our tour,” said Blanock. “It would be difficult to imagine, after seeing what they saw and hearing the pleas for help from so many residents whose lives have been so negatively impacted by the oil and gas industry, that they could not take action of some kind.”
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After Physicians for Social Responsibility released Fracking with Forever Chemicals and hosted the informative webinar Exposé on Use in Fracking of Previously Unknown, Highly Dangerous Chemicals, PSR PA Medical Advocacy Director, Tammy Murphy had an opportunity to ask the report’s author, Dusty Horwitt some pointed follow up questions. Here is the result of this exclusive and enlightening exchange:
Tammy Murphy: With PFAS so common in everyday products, will you please clarify and summarize how and why, how, and for whom its presence in the unconventional gas development industry is especially dangerous?
Dusty Horwitt: Evidence indicating the use of PFAS and/or PFAS precursors in oil and gas extraction was first publicized in PSR’s report released in July 2021. Therefore, it is likely that little is known about the extent or severity of exposure to PFAS related to this use because many scientists and regulators have not known that this use was occurring and could not have studied it. (It is possible that internal drilling or chemical industry studies exist similar to those that Dupont and 3M conducted on PFOA and PFOS decades before these studies became public. But PSR is not aware of such studies.)
Due to PFAS’ high toxicity, its persistence, and the fact that it bioaccumulates inside people, PSR is concerned that exposure to PFAS through pathways related to oil and gas extraction could pose a health risk. Health effects linked to PFAS include low-birth weight babies, effects on the immune system, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease (over- or under-production of hormones by the thyroid gland), high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia (a potentially dangerous complication during pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, most often the liver and kidneys), and ulcerative colitis (a disease causing inflammation and ulcers in the large intestine or colon). In addition, PSR is concerned that exposure to PFAS through oil and gas extraction could add to the total exposure to PFAS from other pathways including through stain- and water-resistant fabric, fast-food wrappers, and fire-fighting foam. Such exposure to PFAS could also add to people’s total exposure to toxic chemicals associated with oil and gas extraction including exposure to carcinogens benzene and radium. The combination of these exposures could intensify negative health impacts.
Because the apparent use of PFAS and PFAS precursors in oil and gas extraction has just been publicized and is largely unknown, it is especially important that regulators and scientists identify where PFAS has been used in both conventional and unconventional oil and gas operations, so that the public can be informed and protected. The use of PFAS may not be limited to unconventional oil and gas extraction or to fracking. Scientific publications suggest that PFAS have been used for decades in a variety of drilling industry applications including drilling that precedes fracking, in waterflooding, and as tracers.
Tammy Murphy: Is PFAS used in horizontal directional drilling for pipelines such as Line 3 or Mariner East pipelines?
Dusty Horwitt: It is unclear. A paper published in 2020, and referenced in PSR’s recent report on PFAS use in oil and gas operations, states that PFAS have at least been proposed for use in drilling fluids. See https://www.rsc.org/suppdata/d0/em/d0em00291g/d0em00291g1.pdf (p. 50 and subsequent pages). But the section implies that the use is for drilling oil and gas production wells rather then for pipelines because there is no reference to ‘pipelines’ in the section and ‘drilling’ in oil and gas terminology is usually associated with production. In addition, on page 254 it says that PFAS have at least been proposed for use in ‘detection of leaks in cables, pipelines, landfill waste and underground storage tanks.’
If you have further questions about the topic of the use PFAS in the unconventional gas development industry, please share your questions with Tammy Murphy at tammy@psrpa.org.
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PSR PA conference coming this fall! |
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We would love to hear from you as we prepare for a conference that will feature Dusty Horwitt, and others, in November 2021. Registration is expected to begin on September 1st. Please check our event page for updates on this and other PSR PA offerings. To support PSR PA as we develop the conference and continue all of our ongoing work, please donate here and consider becoming a monthly donor.
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August is Building Electrification Month |
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For the entire month of August PSR PA will highlight content on the health benefits of building electrification on its social media platforms. Why? Because building electrification allows for cleaner air, healthier homes and is a climate friendly source of energy. It also expands access to affordable clean energy and energy efficiency to reduce monthly energy bills for pollution-burdened communities. |
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Some content of interest includes:
Outside in and inside out…what’s in the air we breathe? with Peter DeCarlo, PhD
Heat Pumps and Health with Dr. Walter Tsou
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A Century of Housing Discrimination and its Legacy of Health Impacts Today by Richard Tolin |
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When: Tuesday, August 17th at 6:00 PM EST
Join us as we review the history of housing discrimination going back to the New Deal. Federally mandated segregation and racist lending requirements, as well as discriminatory zoning, taxation, and land development will be discussed. We will then explain the impact of consequent housing patterns on the health of the victims and their descendants. Finally we will then offer strategies of mitigation and redress.
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To encourage more community engagement in all of our virtual worlds, PSR PA hosts a monthly webinar! Join us each month as we explore topics related to environmental health, violence prevention, and climate solutions, with a special focus on PA.
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Fractured: The body burden of living near fracking with Kristina Marusic
September 14th at 6 PM
Clean Air and Asthma by Dr. Steph Lee
October 18th at 6 PM
PAST EVENT: Outside in and inside out…what’s in the air we breathe?
with Peter DeCarlo, PhD
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