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What's New?

Deans Day Award for Shale Gas Waste Water Research

Congratulations to CHEC's Kyle Ferrar, MPH for receiving a Dean's Day EOH Keleti Award for excellence in environmental health for his poster titled, "Where the flowback flows; assessments of effluent contaminants from facilities discharging Marcellus Shale wastewater to surface waters in Pennsylvania."

The Pennsylvania gas law fails to protect public health

Our legislators punted when it was time to protect us, say Pitt experts Drs. Bernard Goldstein and Jill Kriesky — Gov. Tom Corbett recently signed a bill that goes beyond just ignoring concerns about the potential human health effects of Marcellus Shale drilling, it retains some of the worst aspects of industry secrecy about proprietary hydrofracking chemicals while making unethical demands on physicians. Read more»

WV Report By CHEC's Jill Kriesky, PhD

While Dr. Kriesky was working for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy she began writing an economic report titled "Creating an Economic Diversification Trust Fund - Turning Nonrenewable Natural Resources into Sustainable Wealth for West Virginia" with co- authors Boettner T, McIlmoil R, and Paulhus E. The report was recently released, concluding:

WV would benefit greatly from the creation of a permanent severance tax trust fund. An Economic Diversification Fund would help the state meet many of today’s economic challenges, while ensuring that future generations benefit from the mineral wealth of their state. In the past, West Virginia did not gain broadly shared prosperity for its residents, despite the tremendous wealth of natural resources in the state. As the Marcellus Shale gas play begins to boom in West Virginia, the state should take action today to ensure that it truly benefits from the extraction of its valuable natural resources. Without a permanent fund, the economic benefit from the natural resource extraction will decline along with the natural resources themselves. Entire Report (PDF)

Congressional Testimony by Dr. Goldstein

On February 1, 2012, Bernard D. Goldstein, MD testified before the Congressional Energy and Environment Subcommittee, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology regarding "The Public Heath Implications of Unconventional Gas Drilling." Read testimony»

300 Attended Health Effects of Shale Gas Extraction Conference

On November 18, 2011 the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health hosted the 2nd annual conference on the Health Effects of Shale Gas Extraction in Pittsburgh, PA. This event drew national & international attention & attendees. Check out the presentation videos & more!

PPHA Presentations by CHEC Staff

This year the Pennsylvania Public Health Association (PPHA) held a luncheon talk & a full session on the concerns associated with intense development in the Marcellus Shale field. See below for CHEC's presentations: