Highlights
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
- Babies Born Near Oil and Gas Wells Are Up to 70% More Likely to Have Congenital Heart Defects, New Study Shows Jul 19, 2019
by Julia Conley
“Biologist Sandra Steingraber was among the experts on the dangers of fossil fuel extraction who pointed to the study as the latest evidence that allowing oil and gas wells to operate, especially near communities, is a public health hazard.” Steingraber is quoted in Common Dreams’ coverage of a new study documenting links between proximity to fracking and infant congenital heart defects. Read the article
- In Your Opinion: Decompressor Station Would be Morally Wrong Jul 10, 2019
by Maureen Dill
“Sandra Steingraber, co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, said in a statement, ‘the case against fracking becomes more damning’ with the publication of each edition of the Compendium.” Letter to the Editor in the Oneonta Daily Star references Steingraber’s work. Read the letter
- Parenting ‘Tips’ to Avoid Toxics Aren’t Enough – We Need Action to Protect Our Kids Jun 30, 2019
by Sonya Lunder
“In her book Raising Elijah, biologist Sandra Steingraber questions whether it is even possible to avoid the effects of toxic chemicals. She asks if shopping guides are the modern equivalent of bomb shelters – serving as both ‘an illusion and a distraction from some larger engagement.'” This Guardian piece references Dr. Steingraber’s 2011 book. Read the article
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