PA Environment Digest Blog: Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Rachel Meyer, Mother, Beaver County Resident - My Home Is Near A Natural Gas Compressor Station, 8 Shale Gas Well Pads, And The Shell Petrochemical Plant Is In My County

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 Rachel Meyer, mother, Beaver County resident and Ohio River Valley Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force.

My name is Rachel Meyer and I am the Ohio River Valley Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Independence Township, Beaver County.

Within three miles of my family's home there is a natural gas compressor station and eight unconventional well pads each with multiple wells.

Where there are oil and gas operations, you can find methane leaking along with volatile organic compounds.

VOCs, such as benzene, are harmful to health and can contribute to ground level ozone or smog that damages lungs and can trigger asthma attacks.

I have had days where my own asthma has been aggravated for no other attributable reason than pollution escaping from these facilities.

This is where my five year old daughter lives, learns, and plays. I worry about the long term effects on her health and developing lungs.

Far too many Pennsylvania families like mine are surrounded by polluting oil and gas infrastructure.

Air pollution from the oil and gas industry can cause respiratory diseases, asthma attacks, increased hospitalizations, reproductive problems, blood disorders, neurological problems, and cancer.

We must protect children from exposure to oil and gas pollution.

Reducing methane escaping from oil and gas infrastructure is also necessary for slowing climate change.

Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas -- 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. It is responsible for 25% of the man-made global warming we are experiencing today (Reference).

A strong majority of Pennsylvanians support action on climate.

Even in Pennsylvania, we see the negative impact climate change is already having.

Storms are more severe, heat waves more deadly, and now wildfire smoke is even becoming a regular threat.

We must adopt an effective plan to reduce methane pollution and slow the rate of climate change in order to protect our children.

In 2023, Pennsylvania's oil and gas operations emitted over 1 million metric tons (MMT) of methane. That's the same amount of climate pollution as 23 coal plants or 21 million vehicles (Reference).

Of all the states in the nation, only Texas produces more natural gas than Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania's methane-leaking natural gas infrastructure is also tied to the petrochemical industry's push to find uses for this resource beyond energy production and heating.

For example, as a result of Shell's petrochemical facility for making plastic now operating in Beaver County, we have more well pads and expanding gas processing plants where ethane is separated from the methane and other components of natural gas to be sent to make plastic.

All of this additional infrastructure creates more pathways for methane and health-harming VOC's to pollute our air.

With all of this production, Pennsylvania has a responsibility to step up and be a national leader in reducing harmful methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) pollution from existing oil and gas infrastructure.

In addition, at this time, multiple clean air protections are being eliminated at the federal level making it even more important for Pennsylvania to secure durable protections now.

In order to achieve a more protective plan, we urge the Pennsylvania DEP to include separators in the definition of complex well sites, require quarterly leak detection at all well sites, and supplement the Super Emitter Program to engage frontline residents more readily.

It is crucial that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection finalize the most durable and protective state plan for methane in order to reduce pollution and protect the climate.

For children like my daughter, their health and well-being depend on it.

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 well pad methane emissions from DEP methane overflight research study in 2023.)

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]