Public community meeting on excess cancers in SW PA

From an Article by Don Hopey & David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 19, 2019

Environmentalists and researchers attending a panel discussion Tuesday called for studies to determine whether shale-gas drilling and fracking, or other pollution sources, could be responsible for an increasing number of childhood, teenage and young adult cancers in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Bernard Goldstein, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, moderated the discussion and talked about a handful of investigations of environmental exposures and possible “clusters” of disease.

“This situation raises important questions about public health, what’s happening to people where they live, and the lack of responsibility by the industry,” Dr. Goldstein said.

He noted that he had been involved in more than a dozen investigations of potential disease clusters and said they are invariably “frustrating and humbling.” “That’s because the science is often not good enough to give us the answers we need,” he said.

About 150 people attended the event at Bella Sera in North Strabane, Washington County. It was held in response to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s project, “Human toll: Risk and exposure in the gas lands,” that documented up to 67 childhood, teenage and young adult cancers over the past decade in Washington, Westmoreland, Fayette and Greene counties.

Those cases include 27 cases of Ewing sarcoma — a rare bone cancer with only 250 diagnoses nationwide each year.

A major concern is the Canon-McMillan School District, with a legacy of six cases of Ewing sarcoma in the past decade, along with 10 cases of other cancers, many of them rare types, among current students, including a girl who died in February from astrocytoma, a brain-spinal cord cancer.

Dee Kochirka, vice president of the Allegheny County chapter of the Izaak Walton League, said the league’s objective is to unite the state’s 80 or so environmental groups to speak with one voice on environmental health matters.

“We need to be heard. The scientific methods can take decades to prove true. It took 40 years to prove cigarettes cause cancer,” she said. “Are we going to wait until more children die to find out about shale gas drilling?”

Reports of childhood cancers continues to raise concern.

The panel raised concerns that identifying a cause of the cancers is difficult, but pollution from various sources, including shale gas development, could be responsible, said Dr. Ned Ketyer, a panelist and a retired pediatrician who now works with the Environmental Health Project. He noted that the number of Ewing sarcoma and other cancer cases is alarming.

“Only unbiased studies can lead to answers,” he said.

On Monday, more than 100 organizations and 800 individuals signed a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and state Health Department Secretary Rachel Levine requesting an investigation of potential links between shale gas development and childhood cancers.

The group also requested that all new shale gas permitting be suspended until the health department determines whether such a link exists.

In response, the Marcellus Shale Coalition sent a letter later Monday to Mr. Wolf, terming the request “ridiculous.” It said those asking for the investigation represent “the insidious movement we are witnessing to shut down American shale gas development.”

He called the groups’ actions as “shameful” in the effort “to exploit the very real and heartbreaking issues associated with childhood cancer” that “should not be fodder to advance a political agenda.”

“The claims made by the signatories to the letter are an affront not only to the integrity of the researchers who have dedicated their lives to understanding rare cancers such as those affecting families in Southwest PA, but also to those who work in the industry, as well as the professionalism and expertise of your own environmental regulators and health professionals,” said David J. Spigelmyer, Marcellus Shale Coalition president.

Panelist Janice Blanock, whose son, Luke, died from Ewings sarcoma in 2016, said there’s no loss like the loss of a child and parents shouldn’t have to watch their children suffer, especially if it’s caused by something environmental.

“It’s time to come together as one united group of concerned citizens,” Ms. Blanock said. “It’s our right to make sure we have a healthy environment for our children. I want to ask each of you what you will do. What will you stand up for?”

Dear Concerned Citizens, September 13, 2018

North Carolina is my home —— Hurricane Florence is at our doorstep. And I am furious.

If you’re in the path of the storm, stop reading and get yourself and your family to safety. But if you’re outside the impacted region, it’s time to get to work.

A million and a half people here and along the Southeast coast have just been ordered to evacuate their homes because a climate change-fueled superstorm is hurtling their way, and our elected leaders were too deep in the fossil fuel industry’s pockets to do anything to stop it.

With climate disasters like Florence putting millions of lives at risk, we can’t afford more deadly denial — we need real climate leaders, now. Pledge to vote for climate champions in this critical year.

Instead of heeding warnings of our state’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, big polluter-backed Republican legislators here in North Carolina have spent the last several years ignoring and even outlawing the use of climate science to prepare us for moments exactly like this one.

In South Carolina, state legislators are still refusing to evacuate a prison squarely in Florence’s path, putting more than 650 incarcerated people’s lives at risk. And in both states, runoff from coal ash and hog waste poses a major riskto the mostly low-income communities and people of color living nearby.

The ugly message these politicians are sending couldn’t be clearer: corporate polluters’ profits are more important than their most vulnerable constituents’ lives.

It’s time to elect people who will stand up for our communities instead of fossil fuel billionaires. Can you sign up here to commit to vote for the climate leaders we need in 2018?

And climate injustice doesn’t stop at the doors of the White House: Trump just deliberately took $10 million of public funding away from FEMA disaster recovery and gave it to ICE — the agency that is unjustly detaining and deporting immigrants, taking thousands of children from their parents at the border, and putting refugees in jail.

Like I said, I’m furious. But here’s what’s giving me hope alongside my anger: There are hundreds of candidates running for office up and down the ballot — from Public Utilities Commissions to the Senate — who are ready to stand up to big polluter billionaires and fight for visionary policies like a Green New Deal that will help us and our planet thrive. Now, it’s up to you to help elect those leaders.

Pledge to vote this November for progressive leaders who will take the action required to slow the climate crisis. We’ll follow up soon with ways you can take your pledge to the streets and the ballot box.

I know talking politics while a storm is surging can feel impolite, but we can’t afford not to call out climate denial when climate disasters hit. Politeness, thoughts and prayers don’t bring justice in the face of disaster. But we’ve got our voices, our votes and our vision, and we’re going to use them all to turn our anger into action.

Onward, Jenny Marienau – 350 Action

PS: Communities in Florence’s path will need support preparing for the storm and recovering from its impacts. There’s a list of organizations on the ground that would benefit from your donations here — please give what you can.

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Sources and more information:

>>> “North Carolina politicians have decried the climate-change science that makes Hurricane Florence so deadly”
>>> Vox: “South Carolina won’t evacuate a prison in Hurricane Florence’s path”
>>> CBS: “Hurricane Florence could flood hog manure pits, coal ash dumps in North Carolina”
>>> NPR: “Trump Administration Transferred $9.8 Million from FEMA to ICE”
>>> 350 Action: 2018 Endorsements

### — This message has been authorized by 350 Action, 20 Jay St, Suite 732, Brooklyn, NY 11201, May Boeve, Executive Director.

Take Responsibility to the Next Level

Descriptive Information Available on Leaders, Speakers, Topics & Schedules

The Global Climate Action Summit will bring leaders and people together from around the world to “Take Responsible Ambition to the Next Level.” It will be a moment to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens with respect to climate action.

It will also be a launchpad for deeper worldwide commitments and accelerated action from countries—supported by all sectors of society—that can put the globe on track to prevent dangerous climate change and realize the historic Paris Agreement.

The decarbonization of the global economy is in sight. Transformational changes are happening across the world and across all sectors as a result of technological innovation, new and creative policies and political will at all levels.

States and regions, cities, businesses and investors are leading the charge on pushing down global emissions by 2020, setting the stage to reach net zero emissions by midcentury.​​

At the heart of the Paris Climate Change Agreement is the commitment by national governments to review their progress and rachet up the ambition of national climate action plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The Global Climate Action Summit, happening midway between Paris 2015 and 2020, is timed to provide the confidence to governments to ‘step up’ and trigger this next level of ambition sooner rather than later.

The momentum we generate this year must lead to bending the curve of emissions down by 2020—science advises us that this gives the world the best opportunity to prevent the worst effects of climate change. 2018 therefore must be the beginning of a new phase of action and ambition on climate change.

The Summit will underscore the urgency of the threat of climate change by mobilizing the voices and experience of real people, in real communities already facing real and stark threats. It will challenge and channel the energy and idealism of people everywhere to step up and overcome it.

At the Summit, international and local leaders from states, regions, cities, businesses, investors and civil society—known as “non-party stakeholders/non-state actors”—will be joined by national government leaders, scientists, students, nonprofits and others in a new wave of mobilization.

They will be sharing what they have achieved to date and committing to doing more to usher in the era of decarbonization, greater levels of sustainability and prosperity for the many rather than the few.

These actors will also celebrate a range of new climate commitments under five key areas: Healthy Energy Systems, Inclusive Economic Growth, Sustainable Communities, Land and Ocean Stewardship and Transformative Climate Investments.

The confidence, enthusiasm and support generated by this wave of action now and through 2019, will embolden national governments leaders to trigger the necessary domestic processes ahead of 2020 while also triggering more states and regions, cities, businesses and investors to ‘step up’ further action themselves.

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PATRICIA ESPINOSA — Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change

I am delighted to be one of the co-chairs of the California Summit where we have an opportunity to move the needle further and faster towards the swift realization of the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Shell's Ethane Cracker will be toxic!

From an Article by Reid Frazier, NPR StateImpact Penna., October 3, 2017

A Pennsylvania environmental group is launching an ad campaign against two large industrial facilities near Pittsburgh.

PennFuture is kicking off its “Your Toxic Neighbor” campaign, which will include bus shelter posters throughout Allegheny County, targeting U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works and Shell’s yet-to-be-built ethane cracker in Beaver County.

In addition, it has created two websites that direct users to send letters and petitions to local officials urging stricter oversight of both the Shell and Clairton facilities.

The Clairton Coke Works is the largest source of particle pollution, carbon monoxide, and benzene in Allegheny County, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The Allegheny County Health Department determined the plant violated the terms of its air permits 6,700 times over a 3 ½ year period.

Shell is slated to begin construction at its ethane cracker in the next few months. When it’s built and operating, it will become one of the state’s largest sources of volatile organic compound pollution, a key component of ground level ozone, or smog.

“In both cases, we’re dealing with major pollution sources,” says Larry Schweiger, PennFuture’s President and CEO. “In the case of the cracker plant, it’s clear to us, policymakers were not fulfilling their trustee obligations and have moved beyond any consideration of citizen concerns.”

Schweiger says the campaign’s budget was yet undetermined. (PennFuture is funded by private donors and foundations, including The Heinz Endowments, which helps fund The Allegheny Front.)

Clairton’s pollution is the subject of a lawsuit from local residents, who claim that it’s making them sick. U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shell recently agreed to a settlement with environmental groups to conduct fenceline monitoring of air emissions at the plant, which can quickly detect elevated leaks, and place more stringent requirements on flaring, in order to burn off pollutants.

It received $1.6 billion in state tax credits, and will bring thousands of construction jobs to western Pennsylvania and 600 permanent ones once it’s built along the Ohio River in Beaver County. The plant will produce 1.6 million tons of plastic a year out of the region’s natural gas.

Schweiger says his group is trying to make people downwind of the plant aware of the pollution it will create, even with its state-issued air quality permits.

“It represents a new very large source of pollution. It will also trigger other developments which will add to the burden,” Schweiger says. “It ends up shifting the region from a place people want to come and live to a place where air quality prevents new enterprises, like Amazon and others from wanting to come to this area.”

Shell spokesman Michael Marr said in an email the company has worked with the state to make sure its impact on air quality in the region would be minimal. It acquired emissions reductions credits from other industrial plants that have closed down as a requirement of its air quality permit with PA-DEP.

“Our site will utilize the best available technology to control emissions along with fenceline monitoring, with that data available to the public.”

PA-DEP spokesman Neil Shader said: “DEP will enforce all applicable laws and regulations regarding clean air and clean water to the fullest extent of the department’s authority.”