PA Environment Digest Blog: State Dept. Of Health Environmental Health Indicators Map Is Now Available To Show Potential Health Risks Near You, Including Oil & Gas Facilities & How To File A Report On A Health Concern

The state Department of Health Environmental Public Health Tracking team this week highlighted its Environmental Health Indicators Map as an easy way for Pennsylvanians to explore environmental, social, demographic, and health data, including health risks from oil and gas facilities.

In April of 2023, the state Department of Health issued an updated Pennsylvania State Health Improvement Plan that identified Environmental Health, and specifically oil and gas development, as a rising risk to public health. Read more here.

In August of 2023, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, with funding from the Department of Health, released the results of health studies in Southwestern Pennsylvania that found gas development activities make asthma worse and children have an increased chance of developing lymphoma cancer, among other findings. Read more here.

Environmental Health Indicators Map

The state Department of Health now has available an interactive, online Environmental Health Indicators Map that displays environmental, social demographic, and public health data related to a variety of environmental health concerns.

Map features, referred to as environmental health indicators, were selected to show where manufacturing, extraction [oil and gas development], waste, transportation, and other infrastructure is located, who resides in those areas, and how healthy those residents are.

It brings together information from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and several federal agencies including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Department of Health said the map can be used to make better public health decisions and design evidence-based interventions.

Among other facilities presenting public health risks, the map can be configured to show unconventional shale gas wells, conventional oil and gas wells, gas and hazardous liquid interstate and intrastate pipelines, petroleum product pipelines, pipeline compressor stations, natural gas underground storage areas and other facilities.

Map users can put in their address or a place near them and find out what kinds of facilities presenting environmental health risks are near.

Click Here for an explanation of the tools and capabilities of the map.

Click Here for a technical guide on data used in the map and how often it is updated.

The Environmental Health Indicators Map is a project of the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health.

Questions about the map should be directed to: dehe@pa.gov or call 717-787-3350.

Oil & Gas Health Concerns

Visit the Department of Health’s Oil and Natural Gas Production Health Concerns webpage for more background on oil and gas health issues, a list of environmental health physician partners available for consultations and other resources.

Quarterly reports are available on the individuals who reported health concerns from oil and gas operations to the Department of Health.

Click Here for the latest report.

Click Here for a list of FAQs on oil and gas health impacts.

Questions should be directed to: env.health.concern@pa.gov or call 717-787-3350.

How To File A Report On Health Concern

Click Here to report an Environmental Health Concern.

Resource Links:

-- 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]

-- Six Years And Counting: None Of The Recommendations The Grand Jury Made To Better Protect Pennsylvanians From The Impacts Of Shale Gas Development Have Been Adopted [PaEN]

-- State Budget Brief: DEP Oil & Gas Program Enforcement & Permitting Staff Has Been Frozen For Last 10 Years, Meanwhile Drilled Shale Gas Wells Increased By Nearly 50% [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry, Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 4 to 10: 4,200 Gallon Contaminated Water Spill; Cleaning Up Spills For 15 Days, 270 Days, 484 Days And Counting [PaEN]

-- DEP: Lola Energy Petroco Reported 4,200 Gallon Spill Caused By Contaminated Water Eating Thru A Pipe Fitting At Shale Gas Well Pad In Allegheny Twp., Butler County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 15: Contaminated Water Continues To Leak From Pipes Cut During Restoration At Equitrans Water SVC Richter Shale Gas Water Impoundment In Greene County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 270: Petro Erie Inc. Experiences Leaks From Refurbished Contaminated Water Storage Tanks At Conventional Well Site In Venango County After October 2025 Spill [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 484: Oil & Gas MGMT Inc. Took No Actions To Finish The Cleanup Of Conventional Well Spills Or Respond To DEP Violations In Westmoreland County [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - July 11 [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Final Water Quality Permits For The Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage Appalachian Reliability Natural Gas Pipeline Project In Armstrong, Greene and Westmoreland Counties [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On A Chapter 105 Permit For A Seneca Resources Co 16-Inch Shale Gas Water Pipeline Running Through Farmington & Chatham Townships, Tioga County [PaEN]

-- Energy Transfer Asks PUC To Dissolve Sunoco Pipeline Company And Transfer Assets To 2 New Companies-- One For Natural Gas Liquids Pipelines Like Mariner East Pipelines And Another For Refined Petroleum Product Pipelines [PaEN]

-- DEP published notice in the July 11 PA Bulletin inviting comments on a Mothball Plan notification received from PEI Power, LLC concerning a Title V Air Quality Permit for two landfill gas fired turbines in Archbald Boro, Lackawanna County. (PA Bulletin, Page 4180)

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Hearing July 30 On Water Withdrawal Requests, Including 2 Related To Shale Gas Development [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 63 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 11 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

-- DEP Restarts Comment Period On Corrected Major Amendment To Homer City Generation Data Center Project Industrial Wastewater Facility Permit In Indiana County [PaEN]

-- DEP To Hold Aug. 4 Hearing On Major Modification To Waste Permit For Blythe Recycling & Demolition Waste Site Landfill In Schuylkill County [PaEN]