Full Title: Pennsylvania’s Shale Gas Boom: What the Shapiro Administration Can Do to Better Protect Public Health
Author(s): Alison L. Steele, Scott Smith, Talor Musil, Jo Resciniti, and Jackson Zeiler
Publisher(s): Environmental Health Project
Publication Date: April 1, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Since 2005, shale gas development has increased dramatically across a vast swath of Pennsylvania, and frontline communities have experienced otherwise unexplainable and sometimes devastating health impacts. Residents have reached out to government officials and agencies for explanations as to what is happening, but their inquiries have often been met with denigration, misinformation, or silence.
The Environmental Health Project (EHP) has closely examined the actions of Pennsylvania’s governing bodies over more than a decade of shale gas development (also called hydraulic fracturing or fracking). They have identified a series of egregious and, at times, intentional efforts to make it easier to extract gas without regard to the health of those living nearby. These failings are discussed in detail in the 2022 white paper, Pennsylvania’s Shale Gas Boom: How Policy Decisions Failed to Protect Public Health and What We Can Do to Correct It.
Now, they turn our attention to Gov. Shapiro, who talked passionately about the importance of protecting public health from shale gas development when he was attorney general. He pointed to industry and regulatory failures and vowed to address recommendations made in a Grand Jury Report released in 2020. When he campaigned for governor, he promised stronger health protections for Pennsylvanians, given their constitutional guarantees to clean air and pure water. More than two years into his term, residents are still waiting for meaningful action.
Several key indicators, including the administration’s policies and responses to shale gas-related issues, demonstrate that the Shapiro Administration has not fulfilled the commitments the governor made to Pennsylvanians in general and to frontline communities in particular. However, this paper also identifies important ways the administration can correct course and work toward better health protections for Pennsylvania residents impacted by shale gas development.