PA Environment Digest Blog: Post-Gazette Editorial: Who Pays For Natural Gas Development’s Harm? Pennsylvania Should Acknowledge The Clear Fact That Fracking Has Hurt People, Specifically Children

This editorial first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on August 20, 2023--

The results of a long-awaited study of the effects of unconventional natural gas development — that is, hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” — on children’s health show that neither industry advocates nor environmental activists were exactly right.

Yes, fracking is associated with increased levels of asthma and rare lymphomas in children, as well as small effects on birth weight. No, some of the darkest fears about the threat were not confirmed.

But the study gives clear evidence, from right here in southwestern Pennsylvania, that some families and children have shouldered heavy costs due to the fracking boom.

This was never fair: The costs of fracking should be borne by the companies themselves.

To that end, the state should create a fund, bankrolled by shale gas companies, to compensate those who suffered while corporations profited and the rest of us got cheaper gas.

Boom times

It is popular to deny the benefits of Pennsylvania’s shale boom over the last 15 years, but that’s simply not realistic.

The Commonwealth now produces 20% of all natural gas in the United States — 7.5 trillion cubic feet last year alone — which has helped make Pennsylvania the biggest electricity exporter in the country.

While Pennsylvania energy consumers haven’t gotten a particular benefit, the shale boom did lead to a national decline in natural gas prices that has saved households thousands of dollars.

Further, over the past two decades the proportion of electricity generated by natural gas in the state has increased by 50%, corresponding to a 45% decrease in coal — from a clear majority to only 12% — leading to cleaner air and a decrease in carbon emissions.

County-administered impact fees have generated $2.5 billion to fund local projects during the boom. (Though a severance tax — a state tax on the extraction — would have been more lucrative for state coffers.)

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania natural gas has helped to make the United States one of the world’s top exporters of liquified natural gas — a geopolitical advantage against an aggressive gas-producing Russia and a hedge against international energy market shocks, such as the war in Ukraine.

Banning the extraction of Marcellus Shale gas was never realistic, or prudent, even if it was also never completely safe.

Bearing the burden

As with any resource extraction, those closest to it bear a disproportionate cost.

The $2.5 million Pennsylvania Health and Environment Study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health with the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, finally allows us to speak confidently about a few small slices of that cost.

As affected communities had suspected for some time, there is a clear correlation between proximity to unconventional natural gas production and childhood asthma, up to a full 10 miles away.

This means the asthma-exacerbating effects of a well in Cecil Township, Washington County, could be felt as far away as Mt. Washington.

The fact the effect gets stronger as distance from the wells decreases makes the cause of the effect clear.

There is also a strong correlation between childhood lymphoma and living within one mile of a well, with the usual likelihood of 0.0012% rising five- or sevenfold. This means, on average, between five and seven more cases of lymphoma per 100,000 children.

Encouragingly, the data did not support a connection with other rare childhood cancers, including the infamous Ewing sarcoma, which has afflicted an unusual number of people in the region.

The researchers caution, however, that limited data makes the strength of this conclusion weak.

While the drilling boom has abated — this year there will be one-fifth as many fracking permits issued as the peak of 3,564 in 2011 — the study gives ample evidence that current rules about setbacks from residences are insufficient.

New infrastructure should be built at least a half-mile from existing residences. The current rule of 500 feet is no longer supportable.

Who pays?

This study did not determine, nor was it designed to determine, the specific cause of the health effects it documented.

Fracking interests will hide behind this fact, and could do so for many years or even forever: Proving causation in matters of environmental health is notoriously difficult.

It will also be difficult for affected families to sue companies, unless they can prove executives knew or should have known the risks and proceeded nevertheless.

But that shouldn’t stop the state of Pennsylvania from acknowledging the clear fact that fracking has hurt people, specifically children.

And anybody with a sense of fairness can recognize that making families bear those costs alone is gravely unjust.

Gas companies, if they acknowledge the harm at all, will insist they’ve already paid off affected communities through impact fees.

But the playgrounds and other infrastructure those fees fund are general benefits, not the personal compensation this new information demands.

The state will have to step in to create and administer a compensation fund, bankrolled by gas profits, to which families can apply, at least to have their medical bills paid.

But the state should also consider compensation for reduced property values, now that the risks are clear.

From rare earth metals in China and Africa to lithium in Bolivia, the environmental and personal costs of resource extraction are always heaviest for those nearest.

For shale gas, they’re right here in Pennsylvania.

It would be inhumane for companies — and for all of us — to reap the benefits while ignoring those who shouldered the costs.

Health Study Articles:

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Studies Find Shale Gas Wells Can Make Asthma Worse; Children Have An Increased Chance Of Developing Lymphoma Cancer; Slightly Lower Birth Weights [PaEN]

-- State Dept. Of Health Apologizes For Not Listening To Communities Suffering Health Impacts From Shale Gas Development; New Health Study Results ‘Just The Tip Of The Iceberg’ [PaEN]

NewsClips - Health Study

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Who Pays For Natural Gas Development’s Harm? Pennsylvania Should Acknowledge The Clear Fact That Fracking Has Hurt People, Specifically Children

-- The Center Square: Natural Gas Well Setbacks May Not Be Protective Enough After Health Impact Study Results

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Gov. Shapiro’s Anti-Marcellus Views Reflected In New DEP Regs [That May Be Coming Next Week]

-- Bloomberg Column: Cancer In Kids Is Too High A Price For Cheap Natural Gas - By Mark Gongloff

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: DEP Plans To Tighten Regulations On Natural Gas Drilling, Including Recommendations For 2020 Grand Jury Report

-- Marcellus Shale Coalition: University Of Pittsburgh Health Studies ‘Reproduces Previously Flawed Studies’ Not Actual Field Monitoring [But Likes One Result That Favors Them]