Highlights
SEVENTH EDITION RELEASED!
December 14, 2020 — Co-authored by Dr. Steingraber, the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking is a fully referenced compilation of the evidence outlining the risks and harms of fracking. Bringing together findings from the scientific and medical literature, government and industry reports, and journalistic investigation, the Compendium is a public, open-access document housed on the websites of Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Like previous editions, this seventh edition focuses on topics most closely related to the public health and climate impacts of fracking, including risks from fracking infrastructure, such as compressor stations, pipelines, silica sand mining operations, natural gas storage facilities, the manufacture and transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and, gas-fired power plants. Overwhelmingly, evidence demonstrates that these activities are dangerous to public health, the environment, and the climate, and that there are fundamental problems with the entire life cycle of operations associated with fracking. Emerging science also shows that fracking is a grave environmental justice issue, with communities of color, Indigenous people, and impoverished communities bearing disproportionate harm.
SIXTH EDITION RELEASED!
June 19, 2019 — Co-authored by Dr. Steingraber, the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking is a fully referenced compilation of the evidence outlining the risks and harms of fracking. Bringing together findings from the scientific and medical literature, government and industry reports, and journalistic investigation, the Compendium is a public, open-access document housed on the websites of Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Like previous editions, this sixth edition focuses on topics most closely related to the public health and safety impacts of fracking. These include risks from fracking infrastructure, including compressor stations, pipelines, silica sand mining operations, natural gas storage facilities, the manufacture and transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and, for the first time, gas-fired power plants. Fracking, a major source of two greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, is incompatible with climate solutions. Climate change is a public health crisis and receives our close attention in the sixth edition.
UNFRACTURED WORLD PREMIERE: Thursday, October 19, 2017
Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival
“Unfractured takes us through a battle of astonishing international significance and into the life and mind of a complicated and compelling woman…”
Watch the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Unfractured. Produced and directed by Living Downstream filmmaker Chanda Chevannes, Unfractured follows Dr. Sandra Steingraber, “as she reinvents herself as an outspoken activist and throws herself into an environmental war that many believe is unwinnable.” See the film website here.
“Democracy, like the climate itself, has tipping points”: Lessons for Our Time from Rachel Carson
On November 30, 2016, Dr. Steingraber addressed the Rachel Carson Council’s 75th Anniversary Jubilee Celebration and Colloquium in Washington, DC. Her remarks were updated and adapted for a column on Bill Moyers’ website, readable here.
New York State Becomes the First State with Significant Shale Gas to Ban Fracking
On December 17, 2014, at the conclusion of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s cabinet meeting, acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker recommended the state reject high-volume hydraulic fracturing. The Cuomo administration will now move to prohibit fracking statewide. Dr. Steingraber: “This victory is an incredible affirmation of science and the principles of public health.”
“Our beautiful lake is being turned into a gas station for fracking“
On November 19, 2014, Sandra Steingraber was sentenced to jail for the second time for peaceful civil disobedience in defense of Seneca Lake. Dr. Steingraber was arrested with others while protesting Texas-based Crestwood’s plans for gas storage expansion in abandoned salt caverns along Seneca Lake, in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Just before her sentencing, Dr. Steingraber videotaped an interview with the Laura Flanders Show, introducing viewers to We Are Seneca Lake, an ongoing civil disobedience uprising to protect the region.
May 2014 Letter to New York Governor Cuomo and Acting Department of Health Commissioner Zucker
Sandra Steingraber is co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York (CHPNY), an initiative to amplify the voices of hundreds of health professionals in New York about fracking. On May 29, 2014, joined by 25 health and medical organizations and over 200 individual health professionals and scientists, they wrote, “[t]he totality of the science… shows that permitting fracking in New York would pose significant threats to the air, water, health and safety of New Yorkers.” Read the full letter
A New Environmentalism for an Unfractured Future: European Commission “Green Week” 2014 
Steingraber presented a keynote speech for the New Environmentalism Summit of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Watch the video or read the transcript
Sandra Steingraber Speaks on the Health Impacts of Fracking in Pungesti, Romania
Read Steingraber’s statement responding to events she witnessed in Pungesti with the community.
Short Video: Fracking and the Un-Hoodwinking of America
New Yorkers Against Fracking
In 2011, Sandra Steingraber received the prestigious Heinz Award. By donating the cash prize to the anti-fracking movement, she became, in 2012, the co-founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a statewide coalition of more than 280 grassroots organizations.
Americans Who Tell the Truth Portrait
Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) portraits and narratives highlight citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental, and economic fairness. See AWTT’s page on Sandra Steingraber.
Film
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
Recent Speaking Engagements
God's Own Junkyard: Environmental Stewardship in New York State 2019
03/17/19(Rochester, New York)Medical Symposium on Potential Health Impacts of Oil & Gas Production in Colorado
02/01/19(Fort Collins, Colorado)In the Media
- Pennsylvania Families Exposed to Unusually High Levels of Oil and Gas Industry Chemicals, Report Finds Mar 03, 2021
by Sharon Kelly
“This investigation represents the first comprehensive body burden analysis of residents living in areas targeted by fracking… As such, it fills an important data gap and strongly suggests that the toxic emissions from fracking operations are entering the bodies of nearby residents at levels known to cause harm.” Dr. Steingraber commented on the Environmental Health News body burden study, in DeSmog. Read the article
- Investigation Into Chemical Exposure From Fracking in Pennsylvania Provokes Call for Rapid Phaseout Mar 01, 2021
by Jessica Corbett
“Sandra Steingraber of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, a group that has long sounded the alarm about the impact of fracking—which largely affects poor and rural households—responded by calling for an end to the process.” Dr. Steingraber is quoted extensively in a CommonDreams article addressing a newly-released investigation on chemical exposures in heavy fracking regions of southwestern Pennsylvania. Read the article
- Dr. Sandra Steingraber Feb 22, 2021
by KENW
Dr. Steingraber was interviewed by veteran journalist Lorene Mills on her show, “Report from Santa Fe,” produced by New Mexico PBS and KENW. Watch here
More In the Media