Data-Driven Policies are a Win for All
Chief Risk Officer Hayley Scott responds to recent commentary in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that misinterprets the purpose of Radical Transparency to advocate for restrictive energy policies.
December 12, 2023
By Hayley Scott, CNX Chief Risk Officer
Recently the Conservation Voters of PA published an op-ed in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that gravely mischaracterized responsible energy development. The article failed to cite or name what it called a “growing body of research” claiming that natural gas development is harming Pennsylvanians, and missed the entire point of a historic public-private partnership between CNX Resources and the Commonwealth.
This is the bottom line: no credible studies indicate natural gas is a threat to public health. To prove this is the case, CNX is engaged in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) to gather trusted air, water, and waste management data essential to fully understanding the development process.
Further, by willingly implementing this “Radical Transparency” approach with intense monitoring across our operations, we aim to provide concrete, fact-based data to ease these misguided fears and show there is no need for additional buffer zones or other punitive regulations. We produce energy in Pennsylvania better than anywhere else in the world and, as we all know, imposing regulations based on emotion and rhetoric – rather than facts and data – is a recipe for disastrous public policy.
Our industry is one of engineers and scientists – data is at the root of our operations. Policymakers must rely on the same in order to best protect our economy and shared environment. Radical Transparency is a step in the right direction of obtaining the critical data to guide decision-making in the Commonwealth and to ensure the benefits of our natural gas economy continue to build Pennsylvania up from within.
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