PA Environment Digest Blog: Moms Clean Air Force To DEP: Families In Washington County Are Already Living In The Middle Of Major Natural Gas Industrial Sites - Do Not Expand The Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant And Make It Worse

This testimony was presented by Rachel Meyer, Moms Clean Air Force and Western Pennsylvania resident, at a March 11 hearing by the DEP Office of Environmental Justice on an Air Quality Permit for the expansion of the MarkWest Energy's Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant in Smith Township, Washington County.

My name is Rachel Meyer and I am the Ohio River Valley Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, a national community of over 1.5 million parents and caregivers united to protect our children’s health from air pollution and climate change.

Today I represent our more than 105,000 PA members.

My family and I live in Independence Township in Beaver County.

The Falcon Pipeline carrying ethane from the Harmon Creek facility passes through our township on the way to Shell’s ethane cracker plant where the ethane is again processed in a highly polluting facility to make plastic.

Families’ and children’s health is already at risk because of the pollution from MarkWest’s Harmon Creek facility.

As petrochemical facilities such as Harmon Creek propose to expand, so do the negative health impacts for Pennsylvanians in many communities connected by the harmful infrastructure of this industry.

Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than the area immediately surrounding Harmon Creek. Within a square mile of MarkWest’s expansion, there are two unconventional well pads, two compressor stations, and another gas plant which is also seeking expansion. (See Google Earth image.)

There are families stuck in the middle of this. Tragically, children are uniquely vulnerable to the negative consequences of the industry’s pollution.

Pollutants listed in the Harmon Creek draft air quality plan approval such as volatile organic compounds can increase the risk of health impacts such as developmental problems, asthma, and cancer.

The proposed operations have the potential to cause additional harm to their health and cognitive development.

Only about a mile and a half away, where we are tonight, is where 986 Burgettstown School District students spend a large proportion of their time in their schools and on the sports fields.

Technically, the Harmon Creek expansion should not even be permitted as a minor source.

This plan approval would authorize a huge addition with potential emissions that can exceed major source thresholds.

The volatile organic compounds are already projected to be 49 tons per year - one ton away from the 50 tons per year threshold required to be a major source.

Parents have legitimate concerns because the controls that would make this a synthetic minor source are not sufficient to ensure emissions will not exceed those thresholds.

As Mark West Liberty, the owner of the Harmon Creek gas plant, plays games with numbers to avoid paying for pollution controls, it will be children in the community who pay with their health.

Furthermore, DEP should not allow Harmon Creek to expand to add yet another, third cryogenic plant at this site when they have not demonstrated compliance for the two plants they have.

This is evidenced by their history of noncompliance, malfunctions, flaring and black emissions.

At Moms Clean Air Force, we stand with children's health and against the expansion of the Harmon Creek facility and the harm it will cause.

I would also like to state that while I appreciate the DEP exercising its discretion to facilitate enhanced public participation, the environmental justice meeting and the hearing should be on different days as many of us asked for.

Time between the meeting and hearing is needed for the public to be able to incorporate what they learn from the meeting into their comments.

Click Here for a copy of the testimony.

Rachel Meyer, Moms Clean Air Force, can be contacted by sending email to: rmeyer@momscleanairforce.org.

Visit DEP’s MarkWest Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant webpage for more information on DEP actions related to this facility.

Resource Links - Harmon Creek Hearing:

-- Community Speaks Out Against Expansion Of Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant In Washington County [PaEN]

-- Washington County Resident To DEP: Harmon Creek Natural Gas Plant Expansion Will Result In A Huge Increase In Air Pollution, It Should Be Required To Have A Major Air Quality Permit, It Is Not A ‘Minor’ Source [PaEN]

-- Moms Clean Air Force To DEP: Families In Washington County Are Already Living In The Middle Of Major Natural Gas Industrial Sites - Do Not Expand The Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant And Make It Worse [PaEN]

-- Fact Sheet: How Oil and Gas Operations Impact Your Baby’s Health

-- 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 [PaEN]

-- 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 [PaEN]

Resource Links - Health: