Five years ago, the Statewide Grand Jury issued its report documenting these impacts in a way the jurors-- ordinary Pennsylvanians-- said, “provided us with a sound and detailed understanding of the realities of this industry and the problems associated with fracking in our Commonwealth.”
“We were moved by the profoundly emotional experiences many have endured.
“Often, their pain was still raw, but they nevertheless testified and taught us about the sometimes harsh reality of shale gas operations.
“While we cannot truly capture what it was like to witness their testimony, all those reading this report should understand that we find the testimony of these homeowners credible and compelling.”
“While each homeowner's experience was unique, they were in many ways similar, regardless of whether they lived in the same township or hundreds of miles from one another.
“Indeed, many of their accounts were remarkably consistent.
“Dozens of people experienced the same medical symptoms in association with the same oil and gas activity.
“Parents invariably feared what exposure to fracking operations posed to their children's health and future, as any parent would.
“There are simply too many people who have suffered similar harms in communities throughout Pennsylvania where fracking occurs to disregard the damage caused by this industry's operations.
“This reality necessitates laws and regulations capable of protecting those put at risk by fracking, and a government willing to enforce them.
“For too long, Pennsylvania has failed to live up to its responsibility to its people in both respects.”
“We are not “anti”-fracking. The purpose of this Report is to present an account of the impacts of an industry that will affect Pennsylvanians for decades to come.
“We are aware that unconventional drilling brings significant economic benefits. But if the activity is to be permitted, it still must be regulated appropriately, in ways that prevent reckless harms.
“Instead, we believe that our government often ignored the costs to the environment and to the health and safety of the citizens of the Commonwealth, in a rush to reap the benefits of this industry.”
No Laws Or Regulations Have Changed
In fact, since that report, inadequate state laws have not changed, the regulations we have now have been in place for nine years and remain the same, and the number of DEP Oil and Gas Program staff dedicated to enforcement remain frozen at December 2016 levels, while the number of shale gas wells drilled grew 43.6% since 2016 from 10,228 to 14,683. [Read more here].
$158.3 Million In Penalties
The compliance history of Big Shale Gas and the related petrochemical industry in Pennsylvania is highlighted by criminal convictions and record penalties and restitution-- $158.3 million and counting-- for environmental and safety violations.
Just in the last five years, nine Big Shale Gas-related companies have been convicted of criminal charges by the state Attorney General for environmental violations in Pennsylvania.
But that has not stopped the violations. Read more here.
575 Water Supply/Stray Gas Complaints In 2 Years
DEP received 575 water supply/stray gas complaints in the last two years-- 2023 and 2024 involving the shale gas and conventional oil and gas industry, about the same as other years.
It takes a year, sometimes two or three to find those responsible, in particular for shale gas operations. Read more here.
Daily Grind Of Living Next To Oil & Gas Industry Continues
The daily grind of spills, polluted water supplies, smell of natural gas in the air, noise, air pollution, explosions, landslides, truck traffic, radioactive waste, gas flares, erosion problems, dust, lights, road dumping waste, abandoned equipment and wells continues.
DEP’s weekly Oil and Gas Inspection reports document these problems and violations. Read more here.
20+ Years To Get Permanent, Replacement Water
On March 12, Pennsylvania American Water announced it has completed drilling on two test wells as potential drinking water sources as part of its efforts to develop a new, clean public groundwater supply to serve residents in Dimock, Susquehanna County.
The project is moving forward on schedule for completion in 2026, which will be 20+ years after the largest groundwater contamination event in Pennsylvania history caused by the shale gas industry contaminated wells in a nine square mile area. Read more here.
April 1 Webinar
On April 1, the Environmental Health Project will hold a webinar on What The Shapiro Administration Can Do To Better Protect Public Health From the Impacts Of Shale Gas Development from Noon to 1:00 p.m.
The Effects Of Shale Gas Operations On Pennsylvania Families
The Grand Jury Report summarized the testimony it heard from over 70 households on the impacts of shale gas development and infrastructure starting on page 22.
The problems and issues raised were disturbing then and are still relevant today.
Here, reprinted in its entirety, is the summary the jurors wrote in the section of the report they titled-- The Effects Of Shale Gas Operations On Pennsylvania Families.
We heard testimony of the experiences of over 70 households with the shale gas industry. This sampling represents the limited number of complaints we as a grand jury had jurisdiction to investigate.
While the number of homeowners we heard from is far less than the total number of Pennsylvanians who have experienced harm from fracking operations, their stories provided us with a sound and detailed understanding of the realities of this industry and the problems associated with fracking in our Commonwealth.
We are deeply grateful to the homeowners who shared their stories with us. We were moved by the profoundly emotional experiences many have endured.
Often, their pain was still raw, but they nevertheless testified and taught us about the sometimes harsh reality of shale gas operations.
While we cannot truly capture what it was like to witness their testimony, all those reading this report should understand that we find the testimony of these homeowners credible and compelling.
While each homeowner's experience was unique, they were in many ways similar,
regardless of whether they lived in the same township or hundreds of miles from one another.
Indeed, many of their accounts were remarkably consistent.
Dozens of people experienced the same medical symptoms in association with the same oil and gas activity.
Parents invariably feared what exposure to fracking operations posed to their children's health and future, as any parent would.
There are simply too many people who have suffered similar harms in communities throughout Pennsylvania where fracking occurs to disregard the damage caused by this industry's operations.
This reality necessitates laws and regulations capable of protecting those put at risk by fracking, and a government willing to enforce them.
For too long, Pennsylvania has failed to live up to its responsibility to its people in both respects.
[Fracking Is Heavy Industry]
Fracking is a heavy industrial operation. It requires hundreds or even thousands of trips by heavy trucks, coming and going from a well pad, 24 hours a day, for months.
Drilling and fracturing requires the use of dangerous chemicals – some known and some unknown, because the industry refuses to disclose them.
The use of these chemicals produces contaminated solid waste and hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid waste.
The industry is exempt from treating the dangerous byproducts of its operations as hazardous.
Spills and accidents happen. Emissions are inevitable.
We examined evidence and heard testimony showing that when all this industrial activity occurs within a few hundred feet of someone's home, as our laws have allowed, harm to public health and significant disruption to people’s lives result.
We do not claim to have an easy solution that would allow fracking operations and residents to coexist in perfect harmony. However, the recommendations we do offer are necessary and obvious.
Extensive testimony, hundreds of exhibits containing records, and technical data from leading experts and dozens of DEP and DOH employees support what we propose.
Ultimately, the recommendations in this Report are rooted in and validated by the experiences of everyday Pennsylvanians who shared with us the real world effects unconventional oil and gas operations can have on people’s lives.
Confronting and fixing the legal, regulatory, and executive-level norms that enabled the harms experienced by the homeowners will go a long way toward restoring some balance between fracking operations, public health, and the constitutional right to "clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment."
The vast majority of homeowners we heard from lived in rural, agricultural areas.
Some deliberately sought an escape from the noise of urban or suburban life when they bought property and built their dream homes.
They lived on small plots of land as well as on farms spanning hundreds of acres.
Some entered into oil and gas leases, often under false pretenses or lacking a full understanding of what fracking operations would entail. As one homeowner told us--
“The land manager told us that when they were finished, all that would be in there were a few green tanks, but we had no idea that it was going to be a three-year ordeal of 24-hour lights, back-up beepers, digging, my wall vibrating in my house. Just had no idea.”
[Creating An Industrial Zone]
Many did not sign leases, but that did not insulate them from the life-altering disruption of industry activities.
Extraction may occur on a neighboring property, or an oil and gas company might have obtained the mineral rights to the land from a prior owner, allowing the company to access the property to extract the oil and gas lying below.
So long as the operation was not within 500 feet of their home – the only limitation under Pennsylvania law – residents had no control.
Families that once lived in peaceful agrarian communities suddenly found themselves living in something resembling an oil refinery.
As one witness described it--
“It has made it an industrial zone. There is no country living out there anymore. Getting out of our driveway alone is dicey at best.
“We have a lot of fracking trucks. We have a lot of sand trucks.
“We have a lot of construction vehicles . . . . And there is – you know, when we first started building, there was one small compressor station. There is two very large compressor stations.
“There are two cryogenic plants. There are several wells, pigs, of course, and that is all within less than a mile from our house.
“Most is I would say less than three quarters of a mile. . . . So, yeah, it is – it is worrisome.”
For homeowners who did not own the mineral rights beneath their property, the realization that an oil and gas operator had the right to come onto their land and set up operations could be traumatic--
“A: I just got a chill. You kind of forget some of those things. But when it first happened, it was devastating to have somebody knock on your door and tell you we're going to come on your land, we have the right to do it, and we're going to use – I don't even know how many acres they said. I don't even know if they knew at the time.
“You know, beautiful wooded land, places I take trail horses with old tree lines with trees covered and old fence lines. It was a nightmare.
“I remember [my husband] and I both – I don't think I slept through the night for a month. It was like a nightmare.
“You just can't imagine somebody knocking on your door saying we have the right to come on your land and do such and such to the land. It was like a living nightmare really.
“Q: Ultimately, did they come on the land to start constructing well pads?
“A: Ultimately, they did, yeah.”
Once an operator has secured leases for mineral rights in and around the area of the proposed well pad, their next step would be to acquire all necessary permits.
Once the permits are in hand, the operator would begin the actual construction of the well pad.
The heavy industrial nature of fracking becomes evident to property owners from the very outset of constructing the well pad.
Many homeowners described the extreme disruption this process caused to their lives.
Heavy truck traffic caused clouds of dust to circulate around their properties, blanketing their homes inside and out.
They kept their windows shut. They stopped spending time outdoors.
Their children could not play in their yards.
A grimy film would accumulate on glass surfaces as dust and particulate matter invaded the interior of their homes.
These sort of problems were a direct result of our laws permitting shale gas sites in such close proximity to people's homes.
[No One Could Escape The Impacts]
The industrial nature of fracking operations is apparent from just looking at a typical well pad.
Construction of the pad is only the beginning. Next comes the drilling of the gas wells.
This part of the process can continue for weeks on end, day and night, with the drilling pad lit up with blinding lights, creating extraordinary noise and vibrating the Earth around it.
The closer a homeowner lived to these operations, the more traumatic they were to their previously peaceful lives.
Homeowners described sleeping in corners of their basements in an effort to escape the bright lights and noise.
They could not sleep. Their children could not sleep. They could not escape the industrial activity happening so close to where they lived.
When they sought help from local authorities, their pleas often fell on deaf ears.
For example, we heard testimony that when residents complained that industry operations were in violation of noise ordinances, local governments changed the ordinances to accommodate the industry rather than responding to the needs of their citizens.
In addition to finding no help from the local authorities, we heard from homeowners who sought help elsewhere and were equally frustrated.
One witness recounted calling DEP to register her complaints and being told to call 9-1-1 instead.
When she called 9-1-1 as instructed, they did not understand why she was calling and were equally unhelpful.
The lack of response from agency after agency led to feelings of hopelessness, despair, and distrust toward the government.
[Contaminated Drinking Water]
Many homeowners reported that they first experienced contamination of their drinking wells during the drilling process.
Drilling through the water table would turn their well water brown and rust-colored and fill it with sediment.
Sometimes after drilling was complete, their well water would eventually return to normal after constituents in the aquifer resettled or contaminants introduced during the drilling process dissipated or moved along in the aquifer.
For others, contamination of their water supply was just beginning. In some cases, homeowners experienced a complete loss of their water supply.
For many Pennsylvanians living in rural areas, such as where shale gas drilling
proliferates, clean drinking water is available only from wells.
Most of us take for granted the safe, municipally supplied water we use every day.
In rural parts of the Commonwealth, public water is the exception to the rule, and well water is the only option.
Thus, if industry operations contaminate a family's water supply, they cannot simply hook up to a public system.
When their water suddenly changes in taste, smell, or appearance, they can either continue drinking it and hope for the best or begin hauling clean water to their homes.
Many resort to using large water tanks called “water buffalos.”
Sometimes an oil and gas operator alleged to have contaminated a family’s well will supply them with a water buffalo, at least temporarily, while other homeowners are left to cover the cost of an alternative water source themselves.
One homeowner testified that paying for an alternative water supply cost her family $650 per week, which can easily exceed a family's monthly mortgage payment.
We heard testimony from some homeowners who felt that oil and gas operators would remove their water buffalo in direct response to additional or continuing complaints that they made.
We find this behavior, if true, unconscionable.
[Fracking Trucks]
The next stage in the process of extracting natural gas is known as hydraulic fracturing.
During this stage of the process, many homeowners described over 200 trucks coming and going from a well site in a single 24-hour cycle. This traffic goes on for weeks as a well is fracked.
These numbers are not exaggerated. They reflect the millions of gallons of fluids, sand, and chemicals necessary to hydraulically fracture a well.
We heard the following account of what fracking-related truck traffic is like--
“It was horrific. It was constant. The amount of trucks going in and going out of there, I've never seen anything like it in my life. You couldn't pull out without being behind, between or trying to maneuver with the trucks. . . . [T]hey made the roads go like a washboard. It was rough.”
Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping millions of gallons of fluid into the earth under enormous pressure.
This causes powerful vibrations to resonate through the earth. These vibrations shake homes and crack foundations.
Several homeowners described how the earth around their homes would vibrate so intensely that worms would crawl out from the ground in their yards and basements.
A fleet of heavy trucks coming and going, day and night, to provide millions of gallons of fluid to the well pad, accompanies all of this fracturing activity.
The noise would be overwhelming.
[Impacts On Well Water Remarkably Similar]
Descriptions of the effects of fracking on peoples' well water were remarkably similar across the Commonwealth.
Many described a "black film" or "black sheen" appearing in their water, particularly when it would sit idly in their toilets. Some would have "cloudy" water.
"Black sludge" or "black slime" would clog and damage the pumps and filters used to treat their well water.
They would find sandy, particulate matter in their water and filters.
They described a "sulfur" or "rotten eggs" smell. Homeowners detailed a variety of chemical smells, as "sweet," "like a chemical lab," "plastic," or "like formaldehyde."
Those who ventured to taste their water often described it as "foul" and "metallic."
None of these conditions occurred prior to fracking operations near their homes.
Homeowners' water became unusable for not only drinking and cooking, but bathing, hand washing, and other basic household purposes.
Some came to realize their water was contaminated not because of perceptible changes such as smell or color, but through illnesses and health effects.
Accounts of red, itchy, burning rashes from exposure to contaminated water were widespread.
When people were away from their residence, their skin problems subsided.
They were unable to safely wash their hands or bathe in their own homes.
Often these symptoms would manifest without their water exhibiting noticeable problems such as intense smells or discoloration.
As one homeowner described her family's experience--
“We started getting sores all over us. And we were sick to our stomachs and having problems with breathing whenever we were in the shower.
“And it would burn our eyes, nose, and throat; and it just -- it was putrid. It was embarrassing.
“If we had anyone coming to our home, we would have to shower and air the house out and then try to spray air fresheners to get rid of the smell. It was bad.”
We learned that part of what complicates well water testing and determinations of contamination is that subsurface waters are dynamic, and chemicals in an aquifer may not appear at detectable levels in a water supply at the same time.
Nor do they necessarily remain indefinitely.
This means that contaminants may be in someone's water and affecting their health, but they are initially unaware of it at the time, but when symptoms manifest those chemicals may have washed out or dissipated in the water table and been replaced by some other contaminants.
Often a homeowner will take action to test their water only when it becomes highly salty, or when some other noticeable problem manifests, without realizing they have been exposed to contaminants over the prior months.
When testing then occurs, it may not reflect the totality of their exposure, and the links between their health condition and possible causes are more difficult to determine.
Water analysis is an imperfect science that cannot always provide the answers homeowners need.
This complexity of water testing is compounded by the fact that operators are not required to disclose all the chemicals used to fracture any particular well, or any chemicals used in the drilling process.
That makes it impossible to analyze a homeowner's water for sources of contamination properly, because the tester does not know what to look for.
Homeowners frequently described a lingering fear that analysis of their water was not showing a full and accurate picture of what was happening.
When they turned to DEP for answers, they were often left unsatisfied because DEP’s standard water analysis was too narrow and would not account for the full range of potential contaminants in their water.
When results were provided they were difficult for the layman to understand.
Turning to the industry operator would bring equally unsatisfying answers. In the midst of this anxiety-inducing situation, homeowners often concluded that no one was taking their concerns seriously.
They were ultimately left to decide whether to pay the hefty cost of an alternative water supply or complex treatment systems to clean their water of unknown chemicals and fracking byproducts or continue using their suspect well water.
[Water Impoundments]
Different homeowners described different ways in which the industry's operations affected their lives.
We heard many accounts of impoundments; man made ponds, several acres in size, where oil and gas operators stored millions of gallons of fluids.
In some instances the DEP permitted the use of an impoundment to hold fresh water for use in fracturing wells in the surrounding area.
Over time, however, the industry sometimes would use these impoundments to store contaminated wastewater, even though they were not designed to store toxic fluids.
Such impoundments lacked features like double liners and leak detection zones capable of detecting leaks.
As a result some of these ponds of liquid waste failed, with devastating consequences. Dangerous chemicals and contaminants invaded the environment and affected public health.
Families came to realize that wastewater impoundments not only contaminated their water, but the air they breathed.
As enormous open toxic pits, some of which were acres in size, impoundments would release harmful chemicals into the air.
The smell of sulfur and intense chemicals smells would inundate nearby homes. Property owners would sense a metallic taste in their mouths.
Contamination in the air would overwhelm homeowners with nausea, dizziness, and a feeling that they would pass out. They would vomit. Their eyes, nose, skin, and throat would burn.
These were not fleeting episodes.
The air in their homes would cause persistent sores, nosebleeds, mouth ulcers, unexplained bruises, and extreme fatigue. Visitors would grow ill.
Children would become frighteningly lethargic. Homeowners stopped going outside from fear of exposure.
Their children could no longer play in their yards or explore the previously bucolic farmland where they lived. Nor did the inside of their homes offer an escape.
We learned that air quality testing inside residences confirmed the presence of dangerous chemicals that would not normally be in people's homes, like benzene, toluene, methylbenzene, chlorobenzene, xylenes, acrylonitrile, cyclohexane, and three different types of trimethylbenzene.
One homeowner described what it was like to live near a wastewater impoundment--
“My property had a fence around it and they put the frack pit in 200 feet behind my property which was the size of a football field.
“Then they started filling it with chemicals. It constantly smelled like gasoline and kerosene, constantly.”
[Haunted And Traumatized]
Homeowners processed their experiences in different ways. In telling their stories, some seemed haunted and freshly traumatized, while others were stoic.
The common theme from every homeowner who testified before us was an all-encompassing, debilitating anxiety that comes from so many unknowns.
This was especially the case in the early days of the fracking boom, when there were more questions than answers.
While this was partially due to the newness of the activity, it was also a consequence of the industry having no obligation to provide information to families living within a stone’s throw of a well pad.
Homeowners were not informed that toxic chemicals were used during the drilling or fracturing of a well.
They were not told that toxic waste was stored in impoundments. They had no idea if these giant ponds of wastewater were leaking.
They smelled foul odors, but did not know the cause, or if the mere act of inhaling could cause them to become ill.
They did not know if their water was safe to drink or bathe in.
Almost every normal daily activity suddenly posed unknown risks. There was little to no transparency.
[Turning To Medical Community]
When families would turn to the medical community their problems would often remain unresolved.
We heard from several homeowners who attempted to find answers to their ongoing health concerns and received troubling responses from medical professionals.
Too often, they recounted their doctors expressing reluctance to overtly link their symptoms to fracking operations, while also telling them it was not safe to stay in their homes.
For instance, one parent described receiving test results confirming that chemicals used in an adjacent fracking site were poisoning her family.
When she visited a toxicologist with this information, the doctor told her his office could not confirm the gas industry was responsible because his practice may lose its government funding, but that if he were in her situation, he would leave the family home.
This type of account was not an anomaly. Another homeowner described a similar experience with the medical community--
“. . . [W]e've kind of hit a brick wall there as well trying to relate it.
“We go to the doctor's with him and they're not allowed to talk about anything. You mention one word, drilling or fracking or any of the key words, then you're kind of shut down.
“At one point we met with the doctors at UPMC and they took us into an emergency room and brought a couple chairs in and shut the door and whatever happens in this room has to stay in this room.
“What they told us is they can't put a direct link to it. It's just that the only thing they can do is process of elimination, take one thing out of the mix at a time until they determine what's wrong.
“They sent us to a specialist. Then it just kind of went nowhere either.”
Another homeowner recounted the struggle faced when trying to find answers to what was making her children so sick--
“…our other doctors, like our family doctor and the pulmonologist and the gastroenterologist that my son saw, I mean basically, they were just trying to help us figure this out along with us.
“I mean, no one had any experience or expertise in this area. . . . And so it just – it was hard trying to put two and two together.
“And, you know, [the operator] wouldn't tell us what they were using up there. You know, they have their proprietary chemicals, which we fought hard to try to get those, and so we didn't even know what else to test for.
“I mean, it was – if they would have at least given us what they were using, then we could have – you know, I could have had my kids tested for other things.
“We were just trying to figure things out on our own, find out information from the people in Texas, who had already been through a lot of this.
“It was – it was just hard, and there was no cooperation whatsoever.”
For many, determining what industry operation was causing them to get sick was elusive.
The most obvious pathway of contamination seemed to be well water, so people initially focused on their water.
Many would obtain alternative water sources once the quality of their well water was ruined or they started getting sick.
Even though they were no longer exposed to contaminated water, their health would not improve, and many found themselves and their children getting sicker.
[Air Pollution]
Families would then turn to the next most likely pathway of contamination: air.
Wastewater impoundments would release repugnant airborne smells and toxins so intense property owners would pass out, become sick or vomit, or so overwhelming that they would have to be rushed to the hospital.
Many other components of this industry’s operations release airborne contaminants as well, which can be particularly harmful to those living close to sources of these emissions.
Emissions from well pads, pigging stations, compressor stations, and other industry operations can all contaminate the surrounding air.
Sometimes the way homeowners experienced emissions from well sites would change over the course of a day, with the air smelling “sweet and sulfur-like” at night, and like “burning hair” during the day.
We heard of smells like “hair dye at a salon” and “burnt electrical components.”
We heard of the industry performing "blowdowns" or wellhead "flaring"; or the rapid release of gas due to maintenance, a malfunction, emergency, or as part of regularly mandated safety testing.
Many homeowners described these events as sounding like a "jet engine," vibrating nearby homes and windows, and releasing plumes of gas that would, in some instances, settle like fog in the surrounding area.
One homeowner described awakening at 4:00 in the morning, without notification, to the "jet engine" sound of a wellhead flaring natural gas.
The industry employees overseeing these operations wore protective headgear, but she was not, and was left with a loud hissing sound in her ears.
Various homeowners all described emissions from compressor stations smelling like chlorine.
Noxious gases generated from compressor stations would permeate the interior and exterior of peoples' homes, causing burning eyes, headaches, and sores in their mouths, and the development of serious illnesses.
Blood tests would confirm the presence of contaminants in people who had been exposed to these gaseous emissions.
Health symptoms related to exposure to routine emissions were numerous and deeply troubling.
Respiratory problems, headaches, dizziness, and burning eyes were commonplace.
Children in particular experienced nosebleeds and extreme stomach pain.
People told us that after the industry came into their lives they experienced weight loss, neuropathy (nerve pain), tremors and shaking, nose and throat pain.
Linking the wide variety of health issues homeowners have associated with air contamination to specific industry operations can be difficult.
The absence of testing and lack of access to industry data substantially impede understanding.
What we do know is that upon installation of an industry operation close to a family’s home, they would begin to detect smells associated with the gases and chemicals emitted from these operations.
At the same time, they started experiencing various symptoms indicative of airborne contamination and getting sick.
Environmental testing at their homes, when properly conducted, would confirm the presence of airborne contaminants.
Medical testing would likewise reveal that chemicals associated with industry operations were inside of their bodies.
One homeowner eventually saw a specialist who told him his blood revealed “chronic benzene exposure.”
His wife also had benzene levels in her blood. But he was particularly concerned for his children. As he told us--
“Q. How does it make you feel that your children were being exposed?
“A. Well, the same thing. The worst thing about it is if you read the toxicologist's report, one of the last statements he makes is now you need to be concerned about cancer sometime in the future.”
For many families, exposure to contaminated air results in health anxieties and requisite medical monitoring becoming a routine part of their children’s lives--
“A: So there was blood work, urinalysis; and it is hard to take kids to have their blood taken all the time. It is pretty terrifying. How much do you torture them through that; but yet, there were things found in their blood.
“Q: Okay. And do you have any recollection sitting here today what those things were or would you have to look back at the actual medical records?
“A: They said it had something to do with the ethyl benzene.”
We heard the same account from witness after witness about the rashes their families would get from exposure to air contaminants.
These rashes would appear on the frequently exposed parts of their bodies – their hands and arms, necks and faces – and would go away when they were away from home for a long enough period of time.
While a rash may not seem like a particularly distressing ailment, one parent’s description of a rash his son continually had captures the disturbing nature of this condition--
“Yes. We all call it a frack rash. He gets like an alligator skin after that and becomes really sensitive after a while. He's moved out of the house a couple times, moved back in. As he moves away, he's gone for a month and it goes away. If he's back in, it acts up right away.”
Another near constant account was of children frequently waking at night with sudden, severe nosebleeds. As one parent testified--
“Both kids seemed to have [nosebleeds] a lot. My daughter seemed to get them more at night so she would kind of just wake up and panic, you know, something is on my face, screaming.
“She was, like, four or five years old. So by the time you turn on the light, you see – I know kids get bloody noses. We all do, but it was becoming a chronic thing.
“And it was getting to the point where I could trace them back to when they were doing maintenance at one of the compressor stations or opened the lines because there was too much pressure.
“But it was getting really bad like she had this pretty little – her first princess bedspread and it was just ruined.
“It was getting to the point where I was using hydrogen peroxide to get the blood out of the carpet. That is not something normal. The doctors couldn't find any reason for it.”
Another mother recalled a similar experience--
“We had – my daughter had a lot of nosebleeds. It seems like the nosebleeds were worse with her.
“They would just be standing there and then all of the sudden blood would start pouring out of their noses. It wasn't anything like that they had done anything to prompt it.”
A constant theme in the stories we heard was that children suffered health effects from nearby oil and gas operations more than adults.
In addition to severe and chronic rashes, headaches, and nosebleeds, we heard accounts of children experiencing lethargy, bruising, intense cramping, difficulty sleeping, and painful stomach problems, including nausea and vomiting.
They had eye problems ranging from frequent burning sensations and conjunctivitis to partial blindness.
We heard of young people suffering symptoms associated with neurological problems, like twitching and tremors, erratic and uncontrollable eye movements, and neuropathy, which involves weakness, numbness, and stabbing or burning sensations throughout the body.
[The Industry Is Making Our Children Sick]
We heard clear and convincing evidence that leads us to conclude that industry
operations in Pennsylvania have made our children sick.
That is not a reality we are willing to accept, and the recommendations we propose will help to alleviate this problem.
We learned that kids get sick from airborne contamination not just because of some faulty industry operation, such as a malfunctioning compressor station, or practices that are no longer commonplace, like the use of wastewater impoundments.
We know that air contamination is not limited to anomalous, outdated, or unintended industry activities.
Indeed, the exact opposite is true.
Standard operating procedure under Pennsylvania’s current legal and regulatory regime exposes those living in close proximity to fracking operations to possible exposure and health risks.
Pennsylvania needs to resolve this problem by requiring industry sites be far more distant from where we live and work.
The current 500 foot standard is woefully inadequate.
[No Accounting For Aggregate Impacts]
Pennsylvania's laws further aggravate the problem by not accounting for the aggregate effects of fracking operations.
When numerous gas sites exist in a relatively small area, their collective effect is not measured or acknowledged in the governing regulatory scheme.
Many homeowners described living near a combination of well pads, pigging stations, gas processing plants, compressor stations, and impoundments.
The DEP regulates these sites only individually, however, and by each individual company associated with them.
Therefore, two oil and gas companies may own and operate adjacent pigging stations, but so long as each is compliant with emissions limits, Pennsylvania law is met.
Meanwhile, a nearby homeowner is exposed to the collective effect of the emissions from both pigging stations, in addition to other nearby well pads and industry operations, but there is no recognition of the heightened risk posed by the collective emissions from multiple sites.
[Some Symptoms Never Went Away]
When families would escape their homes, whether temporarily or permanently, many of their symptoms would go away.
For some the damage was permanent, however, and they continue to struggle with long-term problems like reduced motor faculties and sensitivity to chemicals.
Many parents and medical professionals fear for the long-term health of children who have suffered health problems related to industry activities, particularly their ability to have children of their own and the risk of developing cancer.
Doctors have advised that children who have suffered persistent health problems related to nearby fracking sites participate in regular cancer screening for decades to come.
[Farm, Livestock Impacts]
Additionally, we find that while families may implement measures to remediate the risks of living near an industry site inside their homes, such as with high-tech air filtration systems and alternative sources of water, they cannot remedy conditions outside the home.
As a result, pets and livestock would continue to face exposure. Often, homeowners' animals first showed symptoms of contamination from industry activity.
Even if their owners arranged a safe water supply for their animals, animals instinctively drink from seeps, streams, and ponds and their caretakers can do little to stop this.
Family dogs got violently ill and died. Horses were poisoned and died. Many homeowners regularly bred livestock like goats, sheep, and cows.
Some animals would become infertile, miscarry, and produce deformed offspring. Postmortem blood testing consistently showed the presence of fracking-related chemicals in animals’ bodies.
For many homeowners, the loss and harm to their animals was not strictly economic, but caused great emotional anguish.
Industry operations would ruin families’ ability to enjoy other aspects of their country homesteads.
For many, fishing and swimming in a pond is part of the joy of living in the countryside. Several homeowners described chemical spills, impoundment failure, or well bore breakdowns ruining their once thriving freshwater ponds.
We heard about fish kills, ponds turning black, natural gas bubbling around the surface of the water, and plants and animals living around ponds dying off.
Trees and massive patches of grass would die on people’s land.
While these effects of fracking may not seem as profound or life altering as other events we have learned about, such as someone's child becoming terribly ill, they nevertheless constitute a serious impact on homeowners' lives and are indicative of the variety of ways industry operations can harm the environment in which they occur.
Additionally, we heard testimony from individuals concerned about the possible effects of producing food on their property in close proximity to shale gas operations.
Well pads in rural areas of Pennsylvania means there is a lot of industry activity near farming.
We heard from a homeowner whose property was surrounded by multiple well pads who grew tomatoes, grapes, and apples.
The owner watered the produce with potentially contaminated water and sold it to a local grocery chain.
We heard from another farmer with a well pad on their property who raised and bred livestock that drank from suspected contaminated water.
When the livestock failed to breed as anticipated, possibly because of the tainted water they were exposed to, the farmer sold them at auction to be butchered and sold to the public.
We have learned that food, like water and air, is a possible pathway of contamination, and are concerned that contaminants from fracking may be spreading into the broader community by entering our food supply.
[Not My Community Anymore]
Industry operations also had effects on interpersonal relationships and sense of community.
Once close-knit communities unraveled over whether they supported or opposed fracking.
The industry perpetuated this division by rallying public support for their work and opposing those who spoke out against their business interests.
Formerly cordial neighbors would be openly hostile to one another. People told us they no longer felt comfortable shopping and socializing in their own communities because of the animosity they felt.
Friendships and community bonds were broken. We heard testimony from a witness who spoke about how life in her community changed--
“…I got some incidents where I would go to a grocery store and one time a guy came charging at me. The woman with him pulled him back.
“Other times I would be pushed pretty close to the edge of the road. I had a gas tanker beep loudly their air horn every time they go by my house.
“I went up to the [supermarket] one day and walked in and they had a table set up where you could get a subscription to the [local newspaper]. I thought about it. I said maybe I should.
“Then a guy came up behind me and said, you should, you're in it all the time.
“People felt free just to say things to me. Some of the neighbors that were talking to me just had to tell me how badly I was being spoken of. It was very hostile.
“I actually stopped shopping in my hometown. My family all lives a short distance away in [a nearby town] and I do all my shopping there or elsewhere.
“Once in a while, I have to run over to [the supermarket]. I have a beautiful home in a community that is not my home.”
[Faced With Financial Ruin]
As these experiences compounded, some homeowners eventually reached a breaking point and were left with no choice but to leave the homes they loved.
Medical professionals and others told them it was unsafe to stay; an obvious fact given what was happening to their family.
They could not sell their home, however, because it was unsafe, but also could not afford the cost of maintaining their mortgage and paying to live somewhere else.
Thus, they were stuck with the option of financial ruin or trying to carry on living in a home where they feared for their health and the long-term wellbeing of themselves and their children.
These were decisions born from desperation, and several homeowners shared with us the heartbreaking moment they realized they had no option but to leave--
“One day I was unpacking the car from Costco, I realized I'm now buying the double pack of hydrogen peroxide at Costco because this is strictly just to clean the carpet.
“This is it for me. I am done. This is not how kids live. So we left.”
Protecting one’s children is fundamental to a parent, and the realization that your own kids cannot experience a healthy, happy childhood is too much for anyone to bear.
A parent described learning from someone else that her own son would hide the fact that he was feeling the effects of airborne contamination from his parents just so he could play outside--
“…And she was sitting in the sandbox with him and she came back down with tears in her eyes and literally said to me that he told her that he doesn't always tell me when he is outside and gets headaches and dizzy and can smell it because mommy won't let him come out and play with his new trucks in the sand box.”
[Non-Disclosure Agreements]
Some homeowners were able to obtain financial relief by entering into settlement agreements with industry operators.
This, however, brought additional issues in the form of nondisclosure agreements that prevented homeowners from discussing with their neighbors the fact that their community had been contaminated by industry activity.
One homeowner described the way a non-disclosure agreement impacted her ability to answer her neighbors’ questions--
“And the people that just purchased the [] house down below. . . [S]he says tell me about your water situation and I said I'm not allowed. And she says we just bought this place. I need to know . . . . So I told them, I said you need to get in touch with the DEP and EPA as well and that is all I can tell them.”
Some homeowners found themselves with no choice other than to stay where they were.
We heard from one homeowner who testified as follows--
“I took my son [] to the doctor and he referred me to Children’s Hospital for his rash. . . . I went in there and after several times of going to [the doctor’s] office, she said that there was nothing she could do for me. Then she said her advice was to get an attorney or move.
“And then that’s when I thought, I can’t live – why is this happening? And that’s when I thought, I can’t move.
“I’m going to sell this house to somebody else and let this happen to somebody else or somebody else’s kid? I couldn’t do it.
“So that’s when we just decided we really have to, as a family, just watch out for one another and my two neighbors and just not go outside.”
[Knowing What We Know]
Knowing what we know, and having heard so many Pennsylvania families experiencing terrifying health problems in relation to unconventional oil and gas operations, we cannot accept the status quo in our Commonwealth that facilitates these harms.
Every Pennsylvanian should ask themselves how they would feel if a fracking operation suddenly commenced near their home.
Imagine waking up in the morning and knowing that when you step into the shower, it fills the house with a smell of rotten eggs and burns your skin.
You try to shower as quickly as possible with the windows open to mitigate the effects.
You try to increase the number of days between bathing your children to minimize their exposure to this harmful water.
To protect friends and family and out of embarrassment, you never allow visitors to come over because of the way your water looks and smells when it comes out of the tap.
You can’t help but wash your clothes in your now contaminated water.
You just hope you can air dry your clothes long enough that the odor diminishes before you have to wear them, all the while hoping that wearing clothes washed in unknown chemicals isn’t going to exacerbate any symptoms you or your children have developed since your water changed.
And you do have symptoms that tell you that something is wrong: headaches and nose bleeds and rashes that don’t go away.
Your children are tired and nauseous all the time and frequently sick.
You fear that something isn’t right with your water, in spite of being told it is safe and so you begin to spend money to buy bottled water.
You have animals to care for, but there is no way you can afford to give them bottled water to drink, so you continue to let them drink the potentially contaminated water.
You watch as some of your livestock and pets become sick and die.
You become more and more concerned for your health and the health of your children.
You cannot get straight answers from the gas company about what chemicals might be in your water because they’re not required to tell you, so you’re left to try to figure it out for yourself.
DEP tests your water but only for a handful of compounds – and not the ones you really want to know about.
You worry that it’s not just the water that is to blame, but the air that your family is breathing.
You can’t buy clean air at the grocery store.
You make more frequent trips to the doctor. You scour the internet for information.
You and your children do more blood tests. The symptoms persist.
You try to spend more time away from your house than you do in it.
But you cannot leave permanently because your house is worthless without potable water, so you cannot sell it.
You cannot afford to keep paying a mortgage on a house that has no value and so you just wait for the bank to foreclose or possibly declare bankruptcy.
No matter what, your credit is ruined, which makes it almost impossible to find another place to live.
You struggle to work because you’re feeling sick and you’re taking more time off to care for your sick children.
And even if you do finally manage to get away from the house and you find a new place to live, even when you have the opportunity to breathe clean air and drink clean water again, you are left waiting for a diagnosis that you hope never comes.
Because you know that the impact of drinking contaminated water or breathing contaminated air can show up slowly over time as a multitude of diseases.
This reality is not something that should be tolerated.
We find it unacceptable that, for many living in close proximity to unconventional oil and gas operations, their health is jeopardized and their constitutional right to “clean air” and “pure water” has been rendered a fiction.
Click Here for a copy of the full Grand Jury Report.
Click Here for the announcement of the Grand Jury Report.
Click Here for Reactions/Comments To Report In 2020, Including DEP, Health Dept. Responses
Attorney General’s Comments
When the Grand Jury Report was released in 2020, Attorney General Josh Shapiro made these comments, among others--
Today, we release their report, and in the time we have this morning, I will document what they found.
This report isn't about whether we should have fracking in Pennsylvania. It's about preventing the failures of our past to continue in the future, and it is about the big fights that we must take on to protect Pennsylvanians, in ensuring that their voices are not drowned out by those with bigger wallets and better connections.
The grand jurors made two things clear. Despite real improvements made by the Wolf Administration, there is still a profound gap between what our constitution mandates and the realities facing Pennsylvanians in the shadows of fracking drills.
We can't rely on big corporations to police themselves. After all, they report to their investors and their shareholders. That's their job.
It's the government's job to set and enforce the ground rules to protect the public interests through- and through multiple administrations, they failed to do that.
Grand jurors heard testimony from residents impacted by fracking on their land, that their water had a black film, that it looked like black sludge, and that it was cloudy.
And this was the water seen by those grand jurors, taken from neighborhoods and communities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. [shows bottle of dirty water] Those who tasted what came out of the tap said it was foul and it was metallic-tasting.
That's what the grand jurors heard. Black sludge or black slime would clog and damage the pumps and filters used to treat well water, costing homeowners thousands of dollars to fix it.
One woman testified before the grand jurors, she said, "We started getting sores all over us, and we were sick to our stomachs, and having problems with breathing whenever we were in the shower."
And it wasn't just the homeowners. Pets became violently ill. Local farmers had horses die, livestock became infertile and miscarried.
Families came to doubt the safety of the air around them. A grimy film would accumulate on glass surfaces inside their homes, so residents testified that they had to keep their windows shut and stop spending time outdoors.
Kids couldn't play in their yards. Some homeowners started feeling nauseous and dizzy.
Their eyes, nose, and skin and throat would burn, they testified. They got persistent nosebleeds and mouth ulcers.
The grand jurors heard repeated testimony of small children waking up with severe nosebleeds.
One parent testified that her four-year-old daughter was waking up crying with blood pouring out of her nose.
There was so much blood, that her daughter's princess bedspread was ruined.
Families couldn't get clear answers from their doctors on what they should do.
One homeowner actually testified that after taking her son to see a doctor multiple times for rashes, the doctor said, according to the testimony, that there was nothing she could do for it.
They said her advice, the doctor's advice was to get an attorney or to move.
Hardly the clean air and pure water that we are guaranteed under the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Look, we can peel back disagreements about the science, about whose fault it was, whether there was enough funding or the right laws or the right outreach. And we detail that in the report that you now have.
But the bottom line is, this was a failure.
A mom and dad trapped in a home they no longer feel safe in, comforting a child, feeling powerless to help.
As a father of four, I can't imagine that feeling. Feeling like they had no one who would listen to them.
Residents cried for help and no one from government came. This should never have happened in a state that has known the cost of unchecked mining and drilling for generations.
Click Here for a transcript of Attorney General Shapiro’s opening statement.
Resources Links - Compliance:
-- Criminal Convictions; Record Penalties, Restitution Of Over $158.3 Million Highlight Big Shale Gas, Related Petrochemical Industry Compliance History In Pennsylvania [March 2025]
-- DEP Reports 575 Water Supply/Stray Gas Complaints About Oil & Gas Operations In Last 2 Years; Investigation Can Take A Year, Sometimes 2-3 To Find Those Responsible [March 2025]
-- Daily Grind Living Next To Oil & Gas Industry: Spills, Polluted Water Supplies, Smells Like Gas, Noise, Air Pollution, Explosions, Truck Traffic, Erosion, Radioactive Waste, Gas Flares, Dust, Lights, Road Dumping Waste, Abandoned Wells [March 2025]
-- DEP To Recommend Environmental Quality Board Accept A Petition For Study To Increase Setbacks From Shale Gas Wells At April 8 Meeting [March 2025]
-- PA American Water Identifies Water Source For New Public Water System To Replace Water Wells Contaminated By Shale Gas Fracking 20 Years Ago In Dimock Twp., Susquehanna County [March 2025]
-- AG Shapiro: Grand Jury Finds Pennsylvania Failed To Protect Citizens During Natural Gas Fracking Boom [June 2022]
Resource Links - Steps Taken By Health Department:
-- 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’ [August 2023]
-- 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 [August 2023]
-- State Dept. Of Health Invites Citizens To File Environmental Health Complaints Related To Natural Gas Development; Health Will Also Review Environmental Test Results [September 2023]
-- State Dept. Of Health Pushing For Changes To Reduce Adverse Health Impacts From Natural Gas Development [November 2023]
-- New State Health Plan Identifies Health Issues Related To Natural Resource Extraction, Climate Change In Top 5 Threats To Health Outcomes [April 2023]
Resource Links: PA Environment Digest Oil & Gas Facility Impacts
Resource Links - Health Impacts:
-- 2025 PA Shale Gas & Public Health Conference Attended By Nearly 480 People Featured Health Experts, Scientists, Advocacy Groups On Health, Environmental Impacts Of Shale Gas Development [February 2025]
-- Presentations Now Available From 2022 Shale Gas & Public Health Conference In Nov. Hosted By PA League Of Women Voters & University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health [December 2022]
-- Fact Sheet: How Oil and Gas Operations Impact Your Baby’s Health
-- Frackland Video Tour, with Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council
-- Physicians For Social Responsibility PA’s Dr. Ned Ketyer Shares Summary Of Studies Of Shale Gas Development Impacts On Human Health [September 2024]
-- 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 [June 2022]
-- Cecil Township Supervisors In Washington County Adopt 2,500 Setback From Shale Gas Well Pads From Homes, Businesses, 5,000 Foot Setback From Hospitals, Schools [November 2024]
-- Range Resources And MarkWest Liberty Midstream File Legal Challenges To The 2,500 Foot Shale Gas Facility Setback Ordinance Adopted By Cecil Township, Washington County [January 2025]
-- The Energy Age Blog: Range Resources & MarkWest Liberty Midstream File Legal Challenges Against 2,500 Foot Shale Gas Setback Ordinance In Cecil Twp., Washington County [January 2025]
-- Cecil Township Supervisors Direct Solicitor To Prepare Ordinance Increasing Setbacks From Shale Gas Well Pads By At Least 2,500 Feet; Another Hearing, Vote Expected Nov. 4 [September 2024] [Hearing Summary]
-- House Committee Hearing On Increasing Safety Setbacks Zones Around Natural Gas Facilities Heard About First-Hand Citizen Experiences On Health Impacts, From Physicians On Health Studies And The Gas Industry On Job Impacts [October 2023]
-- Sen. Yaw, Republican Chair Of Senate Environmental Committee, Calls Bill To Reduce Shale Gas Industry Impacts On Health, Environment ‘Stupid’ [October 2023]
-- Senators Santarsiero, Comitta Introduce SB 581 Increasing Setback Safety Zones From Natural Gas Drilling Sites, Other Infrastructure, Based On Latest Science [January 2024]
-- Environmental Health Project: Setback Distances And The Regulations We Need To Protect Public Health From Oil & Gas Facilities [January 2021]
-- Senate Hearing: First-Hand Account Of Health, Environmental Impacts From Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater - ‘Inhaling Oil & Gas Wastewater 24-Hours A Day’ [April 2024]
-- House Hearing: A First-Hand Account Of How Repeated, Unlimited Road Dumping Of Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Is Tearing Apart Dirt Roads And Creating Multiple Environmental Hazards [June 2024]
-- House Hearing: Penn State Expert Says ‘Pennsylvania Should Ban Road Spreading Of Oil & Gas Wastewater;’ Contaminants Exceed Health, Environmental Standards [June 2024]
-- House Hearing: On Road Dumping Oil & Gas Wastewater - ‘We Studied This For Nearly 30 Years And The Conclusions Are The Same - The Wastewater Contains Harmful Contaminants’ [June 2024]
-- 3 Days That Shook Washington County: Natural Gas Plant Explosion; Pipeline Leak Of 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Gas; 10,000 Gallon Spill At Compressor Station [June 2023]
-- No One Warned A Cameron County Family Their Water Well Was Contaminated By A Seneca Resources Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Rupture [July 2024]
-- KDKA: Natural Gas Gathering Pipeline Crashes Into, Thru Westmoreland County Home And A Loophole In State Law That Doesn’t Regulate Gathering Pipelines For Safety [September 2023]
Related Article This Week:
-- House Environmental Committee Meets April 7 On Bill To Establish DEP Environmental Justice Permit Review Program To Analyze, Consider Cumulative Impacts Of Pollution From Some New Facilities [PaEN]
[Posted: March 31, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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