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BARB JARMOSKA
Montoursville
On Oct. 21, the Senate passed SB 790 by a vote of 26 to 23. Local state Sen. Gene Yaw voted yes.
The bill clearly sacrificed the health and safety of Pennsylvania citizens to the profit margins of conventional gas and oil drillers, in my opinion. One of many concerning provisions of the bill granted permission for brine from conventional drilling to be spread on unpaved roads as a dust-suppressant.
Just last year, a team of Penn State researchers published a peer-reviewed study that found that "in Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2014, spreading O&G wastewater on roads released over 4 times more radium to the environment (320 millicuries) than O&G wastewater treatment facilities and 200 times more radium than spill events."
According to the Pennsylvania Environment Digest, "In 2017, approximately 193,000 barrels [8.1 million gallons] of wastewater from conventional oil and gas operations were used for road spreading."
DEP put a moratorium on road-spreading of brine in 2018. In May of 2019, the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Development Advisory Council (CDAC) and other industry lobbyists convinced senators to draft legislation that changed the DEP ruling, noting the economic hardships suffered by drillers as a result of the DEP ruling.
Doing the bidding of the natural gas industry is not in Sen. Yaw's job description but is clearly evident in his voting record. Our elected representatives are in Harrisburg to represent the best interests of Pennsylvanians. With this and other legislation, many are failing us regularly and miserably.
Our only option at this time is to call on the House to stop both SB 790 and HB 1635. Reps. Everett and Wheeland, will you put people over profits or follow Yaw's footsteps and cave to gas industry pressure?