skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Air pollution linked to coal plants more deadly than previously thought; Israel-Hamas truce extends as aid reaches Gaza; high school seniors face big college application challenges.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

House Republicans differ on January 6th footage, Speaker Johnson says any Ukraine funding must include changes to border policy and former New Jersey Governor Christie says former President Trump is fueling anti-Semitism and hate.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural low income youth, especially boys, experience greater economic mobility than those in cities, a new government rule should help level the playing field for small poultry growers, and the Kansas Governor wants her state to expand Medicaid.

Report: Oil, Gas Pollution has Outsized Impact on African-Americans in PA

play audio
Play

Thursday, November 30, 2017   

PHILADELPHIA – A new report shows that pollution from oil and gas facilities in Pennsylvania and nationwide is disproportionately harming African-American communities.

The report, "Fumes Across the Fence-Line," documents health impacts of living near oil and gas pollution, including increased incidents of asthma and cancer as an environmental justice issue.

According to Mollie Michel, a Pennsylvania field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, 38 percent of African-Americans in Pennsylvania live in a county where there is a gas or oil refinery, and almost 80,000 live within half a mile of oil and gas infrastructure.

"What we're seeing in the fence-line communities that live the closest is much, much higher incidents of asthma hospitalizations, higher respiratory diseases, and the toxins released will cause respiratory diseases, headaches and cancers," she states.

The citywide asthma rate in Philadelphia alone is twice the national average.

Michel points to one case study in the report that focuses on South Philadelphia, which shares a neighborhood with the oldest and largest fossil fuel refinery on the East Coast. She says the impact is dramatic.

"African-American children suffer almost 3,000 childhood asthma attacks, causing 2,100 lost school days a year because of increased methane pollution and ozone smog from oil and gas activity," she points out.

Michel says the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery is the source of more than 70 percent of the toxic pollution in that city.

Michel notes that Gov. Tom Wolf's effort to control methane emissions from new oil and gas facilities in the state is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.

"That doesn't address the hundreds of thousands of existing sources of methane pollution in the state,” she points out. “And that's the stuff that really needs to be addressed – our existing sources that are every single day polluting the air and making children sick."

The report finds that, nationally, more than 1 million African-Americans live within half a mile of existing natural gas facilities.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Last year Americans gave about $3.1 billion on Giving Tuesday, 15% more than in 2021. (DM/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day when millions of Americans are expected to make charitable donations. But it can also be a field day for scammers…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Starting Friday, North Carolinians will have greater access to health care as the long-awaited Medicaid expansion is launched. Medicaid will …

Social Issues

play sound

A new project in Southern Arizona aims to support local reporting and enable greater access to local news and information. Earlier this month…


play sound

Researchers are out with new findings they say show that death rates linked to air pollution from coal plants are underestimated. A Wisconsin …

YouthTruth Student Survey finds 74% of the class of 2023 wants to go to college while 66% expect to go to college. The survey also finds the gap is further exacerbated when factoring in race and ethnicity. (Adobe stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Illinois high school seniors have new hurdles to overcome to get to college. High school students are waiting several extra weeks to get their hands …

Environment

play sound

Clean-energy companies and supporters are calling on federal officials to prioritize the development of charging infrastructure for EV powered medium …

Environment

play sound

Missouri's duck-hunting season runs through January, and many enthusiasts are concerned about how plentiful their future quarry will be because of a …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021