On August 1, the Evangelical Environmental Network wrote to members of the committee urging them to vote against the resolution.
Here is the text of the EEN’s letter--
Your website lists that on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, your Committee will meet to consider the Independent Regulatory Review Commission’s (IRRC) unanimously approved regulation #7-544.
We strongly urge that you cancel this meeting and avoid any further attempts to hinder this standard or any similar standard approved by the IRRC for the conventional drilling industry.
At the Evangelical Environmental Network, our primary concern is the health of our children.
During the original rulemaking, over 28,600 pro-life Pennsylvania Christians sent comments supporting the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed standard for the Control of VOC Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Sources [50 Pa.B. 2633].
While we are not completely satisfied with the final rule, as it sets the minimum standards required by Federal law – it is a necessary and overdue regulation.
As pro-life evangelical Christians, we proclaim that all life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death. An overwhelming number of medical studies continue to show the link between fossil fuel pollution and health and life threats to our children.
Sadly, 25% of babies who live less than 1 mile from Pennsylvania’s natural gas facilities are born premature, and face increased brain, spinal cord, and congenital birth defects.
These children, both unborn and born, have an exposure rate to known cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and toluene that is 86-times higher than an average PA resident.
What’s more, over 200,000 Pennsylvanian children attend school within 1/2 mile from these facilities or other oil and gas facilities. Fugitive methane and other leaking chemicals will cause over 30,000 additional asthma attacks in our kids per year.
Recent studies prove that the methane industry leaks at least 16-times more methane gas and over 21-times more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than reported to the state.
The drilling industries’ harmful VOC emissions cause smog, worsen respiratory diseases, and increase the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
For its part, methane causes 25% of the human-produced warming we are experiencing today, resulting in more extreme weather events such as flooding, hotter temperatures, and an explosion of Lyme Disease across our Commonwealth.
Aside from the health impacts of any decision to disapprove of this or other upcoming conventional well standards, the fiscal costs of doing so would be significant and avoidable. This fiscal irresponsibility offends my lifelong Republican philosophy and an affront to my morality in favoring a few at the expense of the majority.
According to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) sections 179(a) and (b) and 40 CFR 52.31, a decision to disapprove, in all probability, would mean that Pennsylvania will fail to meet compliance deadlines and be subject to the sanction(s) found in CAA section 179(b)(2).
The sanctions started on June 16, 2022 and will apply in the affected nonattainment areas. If The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not received and approved the State Implement Plan (SIP) within 6 months (December 16, 2022), then the Highway Funding Penalties listed in CAA section 179(b)(1) and 40 CFR 52.31.3 will be in effect.
The highway funding sanctions will apply to the following nonattainment areas: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, Lehigh Valley: Lehigh, Northampton, Lancaster, Reading, and Carbon Counties.
The potential lost highway funds for fiscal year 2023 alone is estimated to be between $500-750 million.
If you won’t stand up to defend our children, please stand up to protect our Federal highway funds – our roads are almost as foul as our air.
Please stop this foolishness and act for the interests of all Pennsylvanians, especially our children.
The Rev. Mitchell C. Hescox
President/C.E.O.
Click Here for a copy of the letter.
On July 28, the PA Environmental Council and Environmental Defense Fund wrote to Committee members opposing the resolution. Read more here.
For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Evangelical Environmental Network website. ENN is based in New Freedom, York County.
The mission of ENN is to inspire, equip, educate, and mobilize evangelical Christians to love God and others by rediscovering and reclaiming the Biblical mandate to care for creation and working toward a stable climate and a healthy, pollution-free world.
NewsClips This Week - Oil & Gas:
-- Citizens Voice: Conventional Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- Centre Daily Times: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- Gettysburg Times: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- Latrobe Bulletin: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- Erie Times: Study: Spreading Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Is Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- PA Capital-Star: Study: Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads Dangerous To Human Health, Environment
-- Environmental Health News: PFAS, With Possible Link To Oil & Gas Drilling, Found In Washington County Water Supply By University Of Pittsburgh
-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: New PA Law Aims To Address Old Oil & Gas Well Cleanup, But It Could Make The Problem Worse, Critics Say; Wolf Launching Review Of Conventional Drilling Industry
-- FracTracker Alliance: New Film Tells Story Of Grant Twp., Indiana County's Fight Against Fracking Waste & The Survival Of The Hellbender -- By Ted Auch, PhD
-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Can Environmental Violations Define Oil & Gas Companies As Bad Actors? A Judgment Awaits
-- WHYY: Energy Transfer Pleads No Contest To Criminal Charges Related To Mariner East, Revolution Pipelines
-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Energy Transfer Reaches Plea Deal With AG In Criminal Case Over Mariner East And Revolution Pipelines
Related Articles This Week - Oil & Gas:
-- Republicans On House Committee Disapprove Final Reg. To Reduce VOC/Methane Emissions From Unconventional Oil & Gas Facilities Risking $500 Million In Federal Highway Funds [PaEN]
-- AG Shapiro: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Convicted Of Criminal Charges Related To Construction Of Mariner East 2 & Revolution Natural Gas/Liquids Pipelines In PA [PaEN]
-- Sunoco Fails To Meet July 1 Cleanup Deadline For Mariner East Pipeline Spill In The Lake At Marsh Creek State Park, Chester County [PaEN]
-- DEP Inviting Stakeholders To Participate In Workgroups On New Federal Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Program [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project: Asthma And Air Pollution From Natural Gas Drilling/Facilities [PaEN]
-- TribLive Guest Essay: EPA Must Address Natural Gas Leaks That Are Harming Our Children - By Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project: Public Health Impacts Of Blue Hydrogen Production, Health, Environmental Protections Needed -- By Alison L. Steele, Executive Director [PaEN]
[Posted: August 1, 2022] PA Environment Digest
