On Friday, August 27th, CHEC conducted a symposium at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) on the potential public health concerns associated with gas extraction activities, especially those occurring in the Marcellus Shale region. The panel discussion addressed the following topics: Potential human exposure pathways to water and air contaminants, Behavioral […]
Penn Future’s “Keep the Promise” tour will provide opportunities for people to speak up about/ask questions about the coupling of a severance tax to forced pooling. A severance tax would mean that the gas coming out of drilled Marcellus Shale wells would be subject to a particular tax (to benefit the PA’s budget and possibly […]
Among our initial discussions with stakeholders and users of the DataTool, it was often suggested that CHEC introduce new data categories instead of the standard ones that define data on the DataTool, and then list those groups on the blog for people less familiar with the navigation of FracTracker’s DataTool. Matt Kelso, our new data […]
Piloting FracTracker in the Marcellus Shale Region By Conrad (Dan) Volz, DrPH, MPH – Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH); Director, Center for Healthy Environments and Communities; Director, Environmental Health Risk Assessment Certificate Program, GSPH This document explains the fractracker.org web-platform for tracking shale […]
Due to all of the reports we receive daily about citizens’ experiences with shale gas extraction, CHEC has created an online form that people can use to submit these reports or questions. The information you provide can be anything from a road degradation issue in your municipality, an increase in DUI rates, a spill or […]
The Mountain Watershed Association (MWA) is developing a pilot ‘Marcellus Citizen Stewardship Project’ in collaboration with the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and other environmentally-focused organizations to increase public awareness of issues associated with developing the Marcellus shale in western Pennsylvania. As part of […]
CHEC would like to thank the Western PA Conservancy for allowing their raw GIS data to be published online. The following snapshot was creating by layering two separate datasets: Core Habitat Biological Diversity Areas Marcellus Shale Drilling Permits in PA from 2007 to Aug. 2010 A core habitat area is the essential habitat of the […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may consider including in their hydraulic fracturing study the impacts on air quality that the shale gas extraction process could have. Direct conversations with EPA staff indicate that they plan to conduct a full life cycle analysis and assess greenhouse gas issues, and may also look at air quality in […]
During a recent FracTracker training session, CHEC’s director Dr. Conrad Dan Volz used the following maps created with FracTracker’s DataTool to demonstrate the potential impact that additional oil and gas activities in Pennsylvania could have on the state’s watersheds and waterways. The first map you see below shows all of the facilities in PA that […]
Shale gas is considered by many in the industry to be an ideal transition fuel toward renewable energy. This article written in June by Daniel Botkin, professor emeritus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, discusses whether extracting shale gas is worth the risk and also compares the benefits and drawbacks of other energy sources. […]
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