EPA to Hold Public Hearing on Gas Drilling in Pittsburgh

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

September 15, 2011 | 6:22 PM

Susan Phillips / StateImpactPA

A compressor station in Susquehannock State Forest acts as part of the transmission system for natural gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency will be taking public testimony on the relationship between air quality and natural gas drilling. The EPA has proposed new rules that would reduce air pollution from oil and gas production. Emissions from drilling operations are one of the highest sources of smog. Methane leaks from the production, transmission and storage of gas also contributes to the greenhouse gas effect. Cancer causing emissions from the gas and oil industry include benzene, ethylbenzene and n-hexane.
The hearing on September 27 is one of three that will be held across the country. The EPA will issue its final rules by the end of February.