Wed, Oct 05
|Town Park
PA Health & Environment Studies Community Meeting
In-person and virtual option
Time & Location
Oct 05, 2022, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Town Park, VFW 191 Dr, Canonsburg, PA 15317, USA
About the event
Click here for a recording of the public meeting.
On October 5, a public meeting in Canonsburg, PA, will offer residents an opportunity to learn more about a pair of studies being conducted by the University of Pittsburgh titled the “PA Health and Environment Studies.” The studies are exploring potential health impacts of the shale gas industry on residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania, including potential connections between this heavy industry and a spike in childhood cancers in the region.
There will also be a virtual option.
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Place: Town Park (Yoney Pavilion), VFW 191 Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317
Attendees will hear from persons who formerly participated as members of the studies’ External Advisory Board and who will discuss the studies and help to prepare the community to understand the scope and limitations of the results. Additionally, the Environmental Health Project will present information families can use to identify impacts and protect their health. The PA Health and Environment studies are ongoing, and results will not be shared at this meeting.
Representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health had originally committed to being on hand to explain the study process and to take questions from community members. However, the agency and the school have now decided to pull out of the meeting. Meeting organizers released a separate statement on this development, which can be viewed here.
In 2019, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s administration allocated $3 million to the studies, taking action after months of impassioned pleas by the families of childhood cancer patients who live in the most heavily drilled region of the state. The studies have been underway for two years.
The studies cover the entirety of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Region, including Allegheny County, Armstrong County, Beaver County, Butler County, Fayette County, Greene County, Washington County, and Westmoreland County.