The University of Pittsburgh and and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have released the results of a project that studied three health concerns and natural gas development. Of the results, the studies found that children living within 1 mile of at least one natural gas well were five to seven times more likely to develop […]
The FBI is looking into how the state of Pennsylvania granted permits for a controversial natural gas pipeline as part of a corruption investigation, the AP reports. Sources tell the AP that the FBI is questioning current and former state employees about Governor Tom Wolf’s administration’s role in approving the Mariner East project, also owned […]
By Peter Hart Pennsylvania is home to more than 10,000 fracking wells, which forces communities to live with air pollution, water contamination and an array of health problems linked to drilling. The frackers want to drill more wells, and the state’s Democratic governor is not going to do anything to slow it down. But local […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned of a “multistate infestation” with the Asian longhorned tick—the first new tick species to enter the U.S. in 50 years. New Jersey was the first state to report the Haemaphysalis longicornis on a sheep in August 2017. Since then, it has been found in Arkansas, […]
By Sharon Kelly The petrochemical industry anticipates spending a total of over $200 billion on factories, pipelines, and other infrastructure in the U.S. that will rely on shale gas, the American Chemistry Council announced in September. Construction is already underway at many sites. This building spree would dramatically expand the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical corridor (known […]
By Tara Opsal and Stephanie Malin Coloradans will vote on a ballot initiative in November that requires new oil and gas projects to be set back at least 2,500 feet from occupied buildings. If approved, the measure—known as both Initiative 97 and Proposition 112—would mark a major change from their state’s current limits: 500 feet […]
Only 11 percent of the natural gas pipelines in Pennsylvania are disclosed through publicly-available maps, Pittsburgh NPR station WESA reported this week. Pipeline companies are only required to disclose transmission lines, which make up a small fraction of the commonwealth’s more than 89,000 pipelines. WESA’s report comes a week after a pipeline explosion in Beaver […]
By Sharon Kelly Back in 2008, residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding areas received a notice in the mail advising them to drink bottled water instead of tap water—a move that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internal memos at the time described as “one of the largest failures in U.S. history to supply clean drinking […]
By Itai Vardi A Pennsylvania state senator, who is responsible for a slew of legislation favoring the oil and gas industry, leases his own land to fracking companies, recent disclosure documents show. Last year, veteran lawmaker Gene Yaw of Lycoming County profited from royalties he received from several different drillers. Yaw, who chairs the key […]