PA Environment Digest Blog: Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Vanessa Lynch, Mother, Allegheny County Resident - Its Been 5 Years Since A Grand Jury Report Said Pennsylvania Failed To Protect Families From Fracking, Let's Right Past Failures

The Department of Environmental Protection is in the middle of holding eight hearings on a state plan to implement an EPA federal rule 40 CFR Part 60, Subparts OOOOb and OOOOc Reducing Emissions Of Methane and Other Pollution from conventional oil and gas and shale gas operations. Read more here.

This testimony was submitted by Vanessa Lynch, mother, Allegheny County resident and Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force.

My name is Vanessa Lynch and I am the Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force, representing over 100,000 Pennsylvania caregivers united against air pollution to equitably protect our children's health.

I support the adoption of a strong and durable methane state plan.

Durability is defined as uninterrupted or lasting existence.

Just five days ago was the five year anniversary of then Attorney General Shapiro's 43rd Grand Jury which found Pennsylvania failed to protect families from fracking. [Read more here]

The methane state plan is a tangible opportunity to right past failures, creating real change and strong protections, decreasing oil and gas air pollution in communities that have been inundated by fracking.

The most important part of creating lasting change for frontline families? Durability.

I live in Allegheny County with my husband and two children.

A well pad has been fracked in a medium density residential area of my local township.

The well pad is located near homes, a daycare center, an assisted living facility, and a park where my children spent many of their childhood days playing in the stream and participating in recreational sports.

Oil and gas air pollution isn't a theoretical threat to my family. It is a daily reality of our lives.

According to our partners at Fractracker, as of 2022, over 100,000 children under the age of 18 live near a fracked well in Pennsylvania.

A 2022 study from the Yale School of Public Health found Pennsylvania children between the ages of 2 and 7 were 2-3 times more likely to develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia if they lived near an unconventional or fracked well. [Read more here]

A subsequent 2023 study from the University of Pittsburgh found further associations between proximity to oil and gas infrastructure and childhood lymphoma rates. [Read more here]

Air pollution from the oil and gas industry has been shown to cause adverse birth outcomes, respiratory diseases, asthma attacks, reproductive problems, and neurological problems as well.

Not only does oil and gas air pollution put the health of Pennsylvania families at risk, but it also means more methane pollution, which is accelerating climate change, will be released into our air.

Pennsylvania consistently has the highest number of cases of Lyme disease in the nation, a trend we are seeing as a result of climate change due to warmer winters and longer summers that increase the tick population.

Families throughout Pennsylvania are also dealing with the crippling impacts of increasingly powerful and frequent storms amplified by climate change.

Flooding and extreme storms are pounding our neighborhoods, killing residents, damaging homes and causing lengthy power outages which are hard on families.

The cumulative impacts of oil and gas air pollution, public health costs, and climate change related weather impacts make it clear Pennsylvania must go further to address climate-warming methane pollution.

I am thankful Governor Shapiro has identified the methane state plan as important to his administration.

As a leader who intimately knows the difficulties families on the frontline of the oil and gas industry face, Governor Shapiro must embrace ambitious and durable action on the methane state plan and its safeguards.

As a mother who lives with oil and gas wells in my community, my family is depending on the Governor to ensure these protections last.

Durability is non-negotiable.

Click Here for a copy of the testimony.

To see other comments submitted on the methane reduction plan, visit DEP’s eComment webpage.

Visit DEP's Reducing Methane Emissions From Oil & Gas Operations webpage for information on hearings and how to submit comments. The deadline to submit comments is July 30.

(Photo: Shale gas drill rig in Washington County, Playground and gas flare near shale gas well pad.)

Resource Links:

-- DEP Sets 8th Hearing July 22 On State Plan To Implement Federal Rule Requiring Methane Emissions Reductions From Conventional Oil & Gas, Shale Gas Facilities [PaEN]

-- DEP To Use General Permit To Implement New Federal Oil & Gas Facility Methane Reduction Regulation [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Now Operate As Many As 95% Of Conventional Wells To Vent Methane Gas Making It Too Expensive To Comply With New EPA Methane Emission Reduction Regulations [PaEN]

-- PIOGA: DEP’s Plan To Reduce Methane Pollution From Oil & Gas Facilities An ‘Existential Threat’ To The Oil & Gas Industry [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Facility Owners Must Now File A Methane Emissions Compliance Report By June 1, 2025 Required By A 2022 DEP Methane Pollution Reduction Rule As A Result Of Court Settlement [PaEN]

-- EPA Pulls Back Regulations Setting Methane Emission Limits, Regulating Wastewater From Oil & Gas Operations, Risk Management Rule At Petrochemical Plants [PaEN]

Comments On DEP Oil & Gas Methane Emissions Reduction Plan:

-- Shale Gas Industry VP Attacks Credibility Of A Mom And Allegheny County Resident For Comments She Submitted In Support Of DEP Plan To Reduce Methane Emissions From The Oil & Gas Industry [PaEN]

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Why Pennsylvanians Must Speak Up For Reducing Oil & Gas Methane Emissions - Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Patrice Tomcik, Mother, Butler County Resident And Moms Clean Air Force Member [PaEN]