Mar 16, 2024 2 min read

I write in response to the opinion of Dan Weaver published Wednesday in the Observer-Reporter. Weaver’s position is incomplete.

HVAC systems powered by electricity produced by wind or solar, or geothermal exchange make dwellings warm in winter and cool during summer heat waves. Especially when they are well insulated, homes powered this way cost less to heat and cool than those powered by gas, and also have less risk of explosion and indoor air pollution. All the actions attributed to gas can be accomplished by electricity from solar and wind.

Weaver does not recognize many health hazards produced by extraction of gas. This includes respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurologic diseases, increased rates of leukemia and lymphoma among children living near fracking wells, and exposures to carcinogenic chemicals in workers at fracking waste treatment facilities. Weaver does not mention the contamination of drinking water wells that occurred during drilling and from breaks in pipelines.

Yes, we all want clean water to drink, but fracking has made billions of gallons of water undrinkable.

Much more has been reported about the devastating effects of decades of methane release on the global climate. Natural gas is causing a lot of pain.

Barbara Wendeborn Brandon, MD

Pittsburgh

Barbara Wendeborn Brandon is a retired physician and a member of the Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania and Physicians for Social Responsibility.