{"id":1981,"date":"2014-07-29T16:45:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T16:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gastruth.org\/?p=1981"},"modified":"2014-07-29T16:45:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T16:45:05","slug":"fracking-impacted-residents-with-neglected-health-complaints-call-on-ag-kane-to-investigate-doh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/?p=1981","title":{"rendered":"Fracking-Impacted Residents with Neglected Health Complaints Call on AG Kane to Investigate DOH"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For Immediate Release<\/b><\/p>\n

For more information:<\/p>\n

Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth,\u00a0610-678-7726<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Bernhardt, Food & Water Watch,\u00a0267-428-1903<\/a><\/p>\n

Fracking-Impacted Residents with Neglected Health Complaints Call on AG Kane to Investigate DOH<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On Conference Call, Residents Ignored by DOH Share Details, Call for Investigation and Announce Story-Collecting Initiative<\/b><\/p>\n

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Harrisburg, PA \u2013 Today, individuals from around Pennsylvania who had fracking-related health complaints fall on deaf ears at the state\u2019s Department of Health (DOH) shared their stories and called on Attorney General Kathleen Kane to launch an investigation into the apparent disregard for their complaints.<\/p>\n

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The call on Kane follows a\u00a0series of reports that DOH had several procedures in place designed to neglect health complaints<\/a>\u00a0related to hydraulic fracturing, including circulating a list of \u201cbuzzwords\u201d relating to either fracking or health impacts frequently seen near areas with fracking-related infrastructure. In the midst of the conference call, advocates received a request from the Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s Environmental Crimes unit to interview the impacted individuals.<\/p>\n

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“In 2008 my family and I began\u00a0getting sick after a compressor station was built 780 feet\u00a0from our home,\u201d said Pam Judy, a resident of Greene County.\u00a0\u201cThe first place I contacted seeking information and assistance was the DOH.\u00a0 I was advised that they had received no similar complaints and they were unable to direct me to anyone who may be\u00a0able to help us.\u00a0 After doing some research on my own I located a gentleman in Texas who had experienced a\u00a0similar situation and he provided me with a list of the blood tests we needed to have done to determine exposure as well and a wealth of additional information.\u00a0 I should have been able to receive the same valuable information from the DOH.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cI called two or three times to get information, while I was going in and out of the emergency room in Johnstown with migraine headaches, severe rashes, and blurry vision,\u201d said Randy Moyer, a resident of Blair County. \u201cDepartment of Health never got back to me, so I had to go on my own to figure out the details of my condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Moyer and Judy are two of the 11 individuals impacted by fracking who have identified themselves as having experienced neglectful treatment from DOH. Advocates used the call to publicize\u00a0an online form<\/a>and hotline\u00a0(717-467-3641<\/a>\u00a0or 717-467-DOH1)<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know these stories are just the tip of the iceberg,\u201d said Sam Bernhardt, Senior Pennsylvania Organizer for Food & Water Watch. \u201cThese stories have been swept under the rug, and we are going to continue working to uncover them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“These stories not only confirm the allegations made by the whistleblowers, but demonstrate that the agency was unresponsive to fracking-related complaints since at least 2008 and as recently as last week. Nothing has changed. Pennsylvanians are not getting the answers they need from the agency tasked with protecting public health,” said Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth.<\/p>\n

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For Immediate Release For more information: Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth,\u00a0610-678-7726 Sam Bernhardt, Food & Water Watch,\u00a0267-428-1903 Fracking-Impacted Residents with Neglected Health Complaints Call on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1983,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}