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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Megan McDonough, mmcdonough@ fwwatch.org, 412-522-8619

With Health Effects Already Well-Documented, Wolf Must Stop Fracking

WASHINGTON

Today, Governor Wolf announced that the state would launch two investigations into the health effects of fracking. The research would take three years to complete, and cost a total of $3 million.

Food & Water Action Pennsylvania Organizing Manager Megan McDonough issued the following statement:

"While these studies are an acknowledgement of the pressure building on the Governor, especially from families who have lost children, we already know that fracking is a health and climate disaster. Families affected by this industry have already waited long enough for action, some paying a price that no parent should ever pay. We cannot allow fracking to continue while we wait another three years for meaningful action; we need Governor Wolf to stand up for impacted communities by immediately halting new drilling permits and pipelines, and work to ban fracking throughout Pennsylvania."

Karen Feridun of the Better Path Coalition said:

"This announcement is a direct reaction to the Pennsylvanians who have lost their family members to cancer confronting Governor Wolf on Monday and urging him to investigate the link between cancer and the dramatic expansion of drilling and fracking in their communities. We already know the terrible toll that fracking has taken on our public health, so this study must focus on examining the link between fracking and rare childhood cancer. And Governor Wolf must put a moratorium on fracking while these studies takes place."

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

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