PA Environment Digest Blog: 500 Feet Isn't Enough: Environmental Groups Urge Environmental Quality Board To Accept Rulemaking Petition For Study Increasing Setbacks From Shale Gas Wells

On October 29, representatives from Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Environmental Health Project, Environmental Integrity Project, and Protect PT rallied at the State Capitol in Harrisburg to urge the Environmental Quality Board to accept a rulemaking petition for study to increase setback distances between shale gas wells and homes from 500 feet to 3,281 feet (1 kilometer).

Background

On October 22, 2024, the Clean Air Council and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a 358-page rulemaking petition with supporting documentation to the Environmental Quality Board for consideration. Read more here.

The EQB is the 20-member board that adopts regulations for the Department of Environmental Protection.

The petition recommends increasing the setback distance from shale gas wells from 500 feet to--

-- 3,281 feet from any building;

-- 3,281 feet from any drinking water well;

-- 5,280 feet from any building serving vulnerable populations (e.g., schools, daycare centers, hospitals); and

-- 750 feet from any surface water of the Commonwealth.

These recommended distances are based on health and environmental studies related to shale gas development that demonstrate the current 500 foot setback is “woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the dangers.”

[Note: The current 500 foot setback was not based on science, but political negotiation during consideration of Act 13 of 2012.]

In November, 2024, DEP announced it had determined the petition meets the initial criteria to be considered by the Board for study, including that the Board has the statutory authority to adopt a regulation setting more protective setbacks from shale gas wells. Read more here.

In March, 2025, DEP said it would recommend the Board accept the petition for study, but at the same time said, “the recommendation does not infer a rulemaking ultimately will be developed.” Read more here.

In April, the Board discussed the petition briefly, but tabled a vote on accepting the petition until Board members had the opportunity to review comments submitted by the shale gas industry at the last minute. Read more here.

At its September 9 meeting, the Board abruptly adjourned its meeting without any action on the setback petition and two unrelated rulemaking petitions submitted by the oil and gas industry. Read more here.

The gaps in consideration of the petition were because the Board did not meet.

The November 12 meeting of the Environmental Quality Board is canceled. The next meeting is on December 9.

If the meeting is held, the Board can take up the petition and vote to accept it for study.

If the petition is accepted, DEP will then evaluate the petition and, at some point, bring a recommendation back to the Board on whether to adopt the recommendations in the petition as a regulation, or make a different proposal for setbacks or recommend no action be taken.

Statements By Groups

Between October 22, 2024 and October 29, 2025 there were 628 permits issued for new unconventional shale gas wells in Pennsylvania.

Each week that goes by, more and more permits are issued for new shale gas wells that could be subject to more protective setbacks, if the Environmental Quality Board would act to increase setbacks.

“When he was Attorney General, Josh Shapiro’s own grand jury once recommended strengthening setback requirements across the state. Now that he is Governor, he has adopted the motto of ‘get s--- done.’ It’s been more than a year now since Pennsylvanians have demanded those safer setbacks,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council. “Gov. Shapiro, it’s time to get stuff done!”

“I stood with impacted residents a year ago requesting Governor Shapiro make good on his Grand Jury report recommendation to protect families from fracking by increasing the distance between Pennsylvanians and polluters,” said Melissa Ostroff, Pennsylvania Policy & Field Advocate at Earthworks. “Not a day goes by without more evidence showing the harm of fracking on communities – and the time to act has long since passed. I urge EQB to move this petition forward to the next step in the regulatory process without delay.”

“We were in Harrisburg last fall, when we first submitted our petition to the EQB for protective buffers from fracking. Now, a year later, our petition has still not received full and proper consideration from our government,” said Gillian Graber, Executive Director of Protect PT. “So, we’ll be back in the Capital continuing to uplift testimony from frontline residents and share the scientific evidence that shows that current drilling setbacks are not doing enough to keep us safe. The EQB has a duty to all Pennsylvanians to allow the DEP to thoroughly study this important information.”

“Every day that Pennsylvania fails to adopt protective buffers from fracking sites the dangers to health and the environment mount,” said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “After a year watching our petition for health-based common-sense minimum setbacks languish, we are here demanding that EQB act with urgency to move our petition forward.”

"The research has been clear for years: the closer one lives to fracking operations, the greater the risk of developing negative short- and long-term health issues,” said Alison L. Steele, Executive Director, Environmental Health Project. “As scientific evidence of the public health impacts of fracking continues to mount, the gap between research and policy widens in Pennsylvania. Any further delay to increase setback distances continues to disregard the negative health impacts that community members living near operations have been dealing with for years."

“The Environmental Quality Board has had ample time—an entire year—to decide whether to advance our commonsense rulemaking petition and study the implications of stronger protective buffers around sensitive sites and communities,” said Katie Jones, Ohio River Valley Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance. “Immediate action is now warranted, as this regulation change will better safeguard the health and safety of the 3.6 million Pennsylvanians living in areas where fracking is feasible without imposing a de facto ban on fracking.”

Click Here for the Protective Buffers PA Coalition announcement.

Visit the Protective Buffers PA Coalition website for more information.

Related Legislation

On October 14, Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) announced the introduction of House Bill 1946 which would increase the minimum setback from unconventional shale gas wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet from homes and 5,000 feet from schools, hospitals and long-term care facilities. Read more here.

The bill would also require a 2,500 foot setback from any drinking water source, (well, surface water intakes or reservoirs) rather than the current 1,000 feet and a 750 foot setback from any natural body of water, rather than 300 feet.

“Current setback distances allow for drilling way too close to homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water supplies and other things, putting public health and the environment at risk,” said Rep. Vitali, who serves as Majority Chairman of the state House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection Committee.

“Well pads emit methane, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, which are injurious to human health. Well pads also periodically spill produced water containing chemicals that contaminate our waterways.”

The increased setback requirements in House Bill 1946 are consistent with recommendations from the 2020 43rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report on the shale gas industry. Read more here.

On January 21, 2025, Sen. Steven Santarsiero (D-Bucks) and Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) announced they would introduce legislation increasing setback distances from unconventional shale gas wells consistent with the 2020 state Grand Jury Report.

So far, no bill has been introduced.

On January 22, 2024, Senators Santarsiero and Comitta introduced Senate Bill 581 increasing setbacks, but it died in Committee at the end of the 2024 session in the Republican-run Senate. Read more here.

(Photos: top- Range Resources Augustine Drill Pad in Cecil Township; Augustine Drill Pad showing scale of operation; bottom- Map of Shale gas wells (red dots), conventional oil and gas wells (blue/green dots) in Cecil Township (DEP Oil & Gas Program); 523 feet from nearest house; Well pad gas flare from bedroom window near Augustine well pad (WTAE). Other photos Courtesy of The Energy Age Blog.)

Resource Links - Setbacks:

-- Rep. Vitali Introduces Legislation To Increase Setbacks From Unconventional Shale Gas Wells From 500 Feet To 2,500 Feet From Homes, 5,000 Feet From Schools, Hospitals [PaEN]

-- Part I - 500 Feet Isn’t Enough: Michelle Stonemark Tells What It’s Really Like Living Next To A Shale Gas Well Pad - Nosebleeds, Headaches, Nausea, Air Pollution, Vibrating House, Sleepless Nights, Anxiety - In Cecil Twp., Washington County [9.26.25]

-- Part II - 500 Feet Isn’t Enough: 42 Scientific Studies, 20+ Years Of Experience With Shale Gas Drilling In PA; A State Grand Jury Report; Criminal Convictions; Public Complaints; Lawsuits; Media Reports All Document The Need To Increase Setbacks From Shale Gas Wells [9.26.25]

-- 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]

-- Environmental Quality Board Adjourns Without Discussing Or Acting On Any Of 3 Pending Oil & Gas Rulemaking Petitions [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project Releases New White Paper: PA's Shale Gas - What We Can Do Now To Better Protect Public Health [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: Lois Bower-Bjornson Shares Her First-Hand Experiences With Shale Gas Health, Environmental Impacts In Washington County [PaEN]

-- 7 Years Ago, People From Over 70 Households Gave First-Hand Accounts Of How The PA Shale Gas Industry Impacted Their Health, Lives And Communities To A State Grand Jury Describing The ‘Sometimes Harsh Reality’ Of These Operations [PaEN]

-- 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]