A Hazard Mitigation Plan is an emergency preparedness manual that supports public health and safety by outlining natural and human risks in the area.
Click Here for the 2021 Washington County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Click Here for the draft 2027 County HM Plan Risk Assessment
Visit the Washington County Hazard Mitigation Plan webpage for more information.
Why Is Participation Important?
The HMP Coalition of residents and nonprofit organizations encourages residents to urge the county to address these emergency hazards in the county HMP Plan-- coal mining operations; conventional oil and gas wells; unconventional oil and gas wells; hazardous materials releases; gas and liquid pipelines.
Every 5 years State and County Hazard Mitigation Plans are required to be updated ensuring financial support in the event of a disaster from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and to provide updated information of risk to first responders, county employees responsible for emergency planning and members of the community.
Local public input is not only a mandatory part of this process, yet it is also invaluable to identify and plan to address risks and hazards within the County.
Plan Should Include These Risks
Currently, the Washington County steering committee has placed Coal Mining, Conventional, Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells, Hazardous Materials Release and Gas and Liquid Pipelines under two Environmental Hazard Profiles: “Facilities” and “Transportation”.
The State Hazard Mitigation Plan has listed each of the below five hazard profiles separately since 2004.
The HMP Coalition believes it's well past time that the Washington County HMP follows suit and properly provides risk preparedness for first responders, hospitals and health care professionals as well as the public at large.
Click Here for a Coalition background paper on these issues. Below is a summary.
These five hazard profiles pose significant risks to public health and safety and should be individually listed and ranked for risk within the 2027 Washington County Hazard Mitigation Plan update.
-- Human Caused Environmental Hazards - Coal Mining operations. Mine void water releases and discharges are not treated as acute environmental hazards. There is a need for meaningful discussion and background of surface contamination, drinking & private well water impacts as well as downstream flood and sedimentation risks.
-- Human Caused Environmental Hazards - Conventional Oil and Gas Wells. 73% of the county population is vulnerable to conventional well incidents. (Pg. 188, Table 4.3.12-2)
-- Human Caused Environmental Hazards - Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells. From 2018 to April 2023 Washington County had 222 Unconventional well incidents. The second highest total was 41 incidents in Green County. (Pg. 569 2023 SHMP)
-- Human Caused Environmental Hazards - Hazardous Materials Releases. From 2018-April 2023 Washington County had a total of 1,041 Hazardous Material Incidents. Making it the county with the second highest incident totals. (Pg. 548 of SHMP)
-- Human Caused Environmental Hazards - Gas and Liquid Pipelines. As of 2022, Washington County had a reported 575 miles of natural gas pipeline and 303 miles of liquid petroleum pipeline (Pg. 527 2023 SHMP).
Washington County has the second most gas pipelines and most liquid pipelines in the state (Pg. 540 SHMP) and has zero information pertaining to vulnerability of people and buildings to pipeline failure.
This is a major gap that needs to be addressed in the 2027 Washington County HMP update.
From the onset of mining to the first fracking wells until now, there remain major gaps in hazard preparedness of operational risks mining and oil and gas poses in Washington County.
The HMP Coalition of residents and nonprofit organizations encourages residents to urge the county to address these emergency hazards in the county HMP Plan--
-- Adopt the following human-causing environmental hazard profiles into the 2027 Washington County HMP; Coal Mining operations; Conventional Oil and Gas Wells; Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells; Hazardous Materials Releases; Gas and Liquid Pipelines. All of these hazards have been profiled in the PA State Hazard Mitigation Plan as hazards since 2004 (pg. 95 SHMP)
-- Conduct outreach to obtain up to date data with the appropriate local and state departments pertaining to the above sections, especially data that can assist in outlining vulnerability of people and buildings countywide, as seen in the PA State Hazard Mitigation Plan (SHMP).
-- Include descriptive language outlining each hazard profile used in the 2023 State Hazard Mitigation Plan when making section updates for the 2027 Washington County HMP.
-- Include local stories of environmental hazard events, and related state funded health studies, DEP reports, and media reports to tell the history and describe historic and current risks and hazards in Washington County pertaining to environmental hazards including yet not limited to coal mining, unconventional oil and gas well, conventional oil and gas well, hazardous materials releases and gas and liquid pipelines.
-- The 2027 Washington County HMP should conduct research and provide information on how to address the major gap in risk assessment and preparedness that Data Centers pose to first responders, county wide residents and environmental public health and safety.
Resident Survey
Click here to complete this County survey on or before July 28th to tell the county which risks matter the most to you
More Information
For more information on these issues, contact these HMP Coalition members: Email clodge@environmentalintegrity.org, lbb@cleanair.org and aob@cleanair.org.
Visit the Washington County Hazard Mitigation Plan webpage for more information.
Resource Links - Washington County:
-- 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]
-- DEP: MarkWest Liberty Midstream Reports 5 More Drilling Fluid Losses Into Mine Voids In Washington County; Total Losses Now 1,241,500 Gallons [PaEN]
-- Washington County Residents On Water Wells Not Aware A MarkWest Pipeline Drilling Project Lost 1.2 Million Gallons Of Drilling Fluid In Mount Pleasant & Robinson Townships [PaEN]
-- MarkWest Harmon Creek Cryogenic Natural Gas Processing Plant Creates New Sun - At 4:47 a.m April 20, Again On April 21 - And It’s Still Burning [PaEN]
-- Aboveground Water Pipelines Feeding Shale Gas Drilling Operations Beginning To Freeze Due To Cold Temperatures; Range Resources Incident Reported In Washington County; Notify DEP Of Pipeline Problems [PaEN]
-- DEP: Truck Loses Load Of Shale Gas Wastewater On Access, Local Road To EQT Sarah Well Pad In Union Township, Washington County [PaEN]
-- Environmental Hearing Board Agrees There Is ‘Acute’ Danger In CNX Misusing A Deposition In An Appeal Before The Board To ‘Punish’ An Environmental Advocate For Her Advocacy Against CNX [PaEN]
-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council Invites Comments On DEP's Act 54 Report Documenting Adverse Impacts Of Longwall And Underground Coal Mining On Structures, Surface And Ground Water; Report Says 20% Of Undermined Streams Damaged [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Columbia Gas Permit For Project To Protect 2 Major Natural Gas Pipelines From Impacts Of Longwall Coal Mining In West Finley Twp., Washington County [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week:
-- Delaware RiverKeeper: Congressional Effort To Overturn Fracking Ban In Delaware River Watershed Died In Committee, This Time [PaEN]
-- DEP: HG Energy Suffers Underground Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Failure Resulting In Up To 42,000 Gallon Contaminated Water Spill In Washington County [PaEN]
-- PUC To Seek Public Comment On Proposed Settlement With UGI Utilities Over Alleged Shortcomings In Plastic Natural Gas Pipeline Construction [PaEN]
-- PJM Data Center-Driven Power Auction Prices Limited By $325/MW-Day Cap; Without Cap Would Have Been 70% Higher In PA, Most Areas; Missed Reliability Target By 6,831 MW [PaEN]
-- Gov. Shapiro's Legal Action To Impose Price Cap On PJM Interconnection Generation Capacity Auctions Results In Saving Consumers $13.3 Billion In Latest Power Auction [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- Reuters: PJM Power Grid Auction Hits Prices Limit, Falls Short Of Reliability Goal
-- PA Capital-Star: PJM Interconnection Electricity Price Hits Cap Again In Latest Auction
-- New York Times: A.I. Data Centers Add Billions In Power Costs In PJM Region
-- Pittsburgh Business Times: PA State Budget Saves $500 Million Data Center Sales Tax Exemption Amid Growing Opposition To A.I. Boom
-- Inside Climate News - Jon Hurdle: Fracking Ban In The Delaware River Basin Survives A Republican Congressional Challenge - For Now
-- TribLive Guest Essay: Before DEP Approves More Pollution At Shell’s Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County, It Should Look At Its Compliance Record - By Laris Mednis, Clean Air Council and Terrie Baumgardner Beaver County Resident
-- The Allegheny Front: Ohio Asks 4 Oil & Gas Contaminated Water Injection Wells To Shut Down, Suspects Frack Wastewater Is Migrating To Other Wells
-- Bloomberg: US Cost For Natural Gas Power At 17-Year High And Climbing
-- WESA/NPR: Oil Companies Are Making Billions, Calls To Tax Their Windfall Profits Are Growing
-- Bloomberg: First US LNG Natural Gas Cargo In A Year Docks In Yangpu Port To Power Chinese Economy
[Posted: July 17, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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