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McNeill: It’s time we know what the big gas companies know

Rep. Jeanne McNeill    March 9, 2021 | 10:11 AM

HARRISBURG, March 9 – State Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-Lehigh, has joined Rep. Dan Miller, D-Allegheny, in sponsoring H.B. 838, legislation that would adopt the recommendation from state Attorney General Josh Shapiro that all chemicals in the fracking process in the commonwealth be disclosed 14 days prior to use at any stage of the process, including drilling.

“It’s time that we know what the big gas companies know,” McNeill said. “It’s time that every Pennsylvania resident knows what chemicals are used in the fracking process so that they can make choices with regard to their health and safety.”

The attorney general recently released the findings and recommendations of the 43rd Statewide Grand Jury, which found Pennsylvania failed to protect Pennsylvanians from the risk of natural gas operations. It issued a recommendation “requiring fracking companies to publicly disclose all chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before they are used-on site.”

The proposed legislation would amend the Oil and Gas Act to do the following:

  1. Remove the current exceptions to disclosure that allow companies to hide the chemicals they use in the fracking process.
  2. Require disclosure of chemicals 14 days prior to use at any stage of the fracking process, including drilling.

“It’s not too much to ask that a Pennsylvania resident have clean drinking water, nor is it too much to provide our communities insight into what’s being trucked through their neighborhoods,” McNeill said.

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