The Senate Democratic Policy Committee Wednesday held a hearing in Wilkes-Bare on ways state government can improve how it tracks, monitors and responds to public health complaints related to gas drilling.
The discussion was held at Kings College at the request of Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. It featured senate lawmakers and a panel of officials representing government, academic and environmental/health advocates.
The hearing was prompted by complaints this summer that the Department of Health ignored calls about possible health problems connected to gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
“Without getting into the merits of gas drilling, it is imperative that state agencies have the resources and responsibility to vigilantly monitor, investigate and act on any and all public health concerns,” said Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton), who chairs the committee.
Sen. Yudichak added, “While the department is taking steps to improve its internal process for handling health complaints, improving outreach to the medical community, keeping a record of written responses and improving coordinative action with other agencies are critical steps that need to be taken.”
“We also need legislative action on Senate Bill 790 (Greenleaf-R-Montgomery) to build comprehensive health database on Marcellus Shale drilling to ensure citizens are fully informed about the public safety impact of this growing industry.”
Sen. Yudichak said the legislation would set aside $3 million from current gas drilling impact fee revenue to study government health services, help healthcare providers get training on occupational and environmental medicine, and conduct a comprehensive study on the impact of fracking on air quality, health and diseases.
The bill remains under consideration in the Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy.
Testifying before the committee, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale discussed some of the findings of his audit of the Department of Environmental Protection. He said the audit report contained 29 recommendations, many aimed at improving the agency’s response to public complaints and overall transparency.
“We found that DEP employees are hampered in doing their jobs by a lack of resources – both human and technical,” DePasquale said. “On the human side, DEP does not have enough inspectors to meet the ever-growing demands placed upon it. On the technical side, DEP’s IT resources are antiquated and woefully inefficient to serve the needs of today’s connected consumers.”
Dr. Trevor Penning, director of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia, urged that any compilation of data on health effects be coupled with exposure histories.
Sen. Yudichak said the Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission in 2011 recommended a registry to collect health data from people living near fracking operations. Three years later, the registry still doesn’t exist. Even more disturbing, Department of Health employees were allegedly instructed to ignore and refrain from discussing public complaints about the health effects of fracking.
In discussing the boom of drilling in Pennsylvania, he noted that the state has gone from producing 25 percent of the state’s natural gas -- to 20 percent of the nation’s.
Sen. Boscola credited Sen. Yudichak for having a strong record on environmental and health causes. She praised the Luzerne County lawmaker for fighting to hold state government agencies and the drilling industry accountable.
Those also offering comments to the Committee were: Ruth McDermott-Levy, PhD, RN, Associate Professor and Director, Center for Global & Public Health, Villanova University - College of Nursing and Raina Rippel, Director, Southwest PA Environmental Health Project.
