Dozens of children and young adults were diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and other forms of cancer in a four-county area outside Pittsburgh, where energy companies have drilled more than 4,000 wells since 2008, according to state records.
Over 30 landfills in the state accept fracking waste like drill cuttings.
The measure’s sponsor said a name change could spark what he sees as a needed culture change.
“We got played,” said Ray Kemble, the most outspoken of a small group of Dimock residents who have battled the drilling company and state regulators alike.
The Delaware River Basin Commission said its decision will control future pollution, protect public health and preserve the waters of the basin.
Dimock drew national notoriety after people were filmed lighting their tap water on fire in the Emmy Award-winning 2010 documentary.
Most people don’t want fracking banned, but do support regulation. Politicians, especially Democrats in Pa., may have to walk a tricky line.
The forum, which took place Oct. 5, was to inform the public on the status of the studies–one into the relationship between fracking and childhood cancers and the other into its relationship with health impacts like poor birth outcomes and asthma.
The state funded the studies after pressure from families of patients of a rare cancer in Washington County.
The four states in the Delaware River Basin — Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York — voted to ban fracking in February 2021.
