By: Patrice Tomcik, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: November 30, 2021
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Hello, my name is Patrice Tomcik, and I am the mother of two boys living in the town of Gibsonia, located in Southwest Pennsylvania on top of the Marcellus Shale. I am a National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force—a community of over 1 million moms and dads nationwide united against air pollution and climate change to protect our children’s health. We envision a safe, stable, and equitable future where all children breathe clean air. I support the proposed EPA methane rules and urge a finalization of the strongest and most comprehensive rules to protect children’s health from all sources of oil and gas methane pollution.
Quickly and significantly reducing methane pollution and other harmful air pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations is one of the best levers we have to slow the rate of climate change now and help clean up the air to protect children’s health. This is why it is so important for EPA’s final rule to include frequent inspections for smaller, leak-prone wells, eliminate flaring, and require the use of non polluting equipment. Federal methane rules are the best way to create baseline protections for all children across the nation, especially for states that have failed to enact meaningful oil and gas methane protections.
While we are all vulnerable to air pollution and climate change, certain populations are affected more, such as children, low-income communities, as well as Black, Latino, and Indigenous people. Frontline communities located the closest to oil and gas operations are impacted the most.
In the US, more than 9 million people live within a half mile of oil and gas operations and 2.9 million children go to school within a half mile of oil and gas operations that puts their health at risk.
My children attend the Mars Area School District, where there are unconventional gas wells and a vast spider web network of pipelines. The closest gas wells that have been fracked are about a half mile away from my children’s five-school campus that puts 3,200 students' health at risk.
Oil and gas operations emit climate-warming methane and harmful volatile organic compounds, such as benzene, that can affect lung development in children and increase the risk of immune system damage, developmental problems, and even cancer. Every day I send my children to school, I fear for their health, especially my youngest who is a cancer survivor and is now immune compromised. My children and all children across the nation need strong and comprehensive pollution protections.
In addition to the unconventional wells in my county, there are many smaller, leak-prone wells that put the health of 21,000 people who live within a half mile at risk in Butler County alone. This is not surprising since Pennsylvania is the second largest gas producer in the nation where smaller, leak-prone wells account for more than half of the methane emissions in the state.
Requiring robust leak detection and repair of all smaller, leak-prone wells can be especially impactful in oil and gas states where thousands and thousands of these wells are disproportionately contributing to the climate crisis and putting families' health at risk. And to make sure that today’s small wells don’t become tomorrow's abandoned wells, we need standards to help ensure oil and gas wells are properly plugged and remediated so they don’t leak perpetually in the future and become the burden of taxpayers later as orphan wells.
Another step the EPA needs to take to protect families is to eliminate the practice of routine flaring as leading states like Colorado and New Mexico have done. Flaring is a wasteful practice and a large source of pollution that contributes to climate change. Flaring can impact the health of those who live closest as a recent study of pregnant mothers and their babies in Texas shows an association of proximity to flares and adverse birth outcomes.
Finally, the EPA needs to follow the example of leading states like Colorado to phase out equipment that is designed to release pollution such as pneumatic controllers and require zero-emitting alternatives.
Moms Clean Air Force looks forward to working with the EPA during the rulemaking process to support the strongest and most comprehensive methane rules to protect children’s health from all sources of oil and gas methane pollution including smaller leak prone wells, routine flaring, and polluting equipment. Every child has the right to breathe clean air, and the right to a stable climate.