Dr. Ned Ketyer, a prominent  pediatrician in Pittsburgh and a consultant for the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, has been conducting research in air quality and the health impacts of the proposed “ethane cracker plant” near Pittsburgh. Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC expects the Beaver County cracker plant to be operational in the early 2020s. It will “crack” ethane, one of the components of natural gas, to produce ethylene—the building block for plastics. The air quality of South-Western PA is already poor and there are more cancer cases there compared to other places in the state. Dr. Ketyer will explain his findings and answer questions about known health effects of “fracking and cracking”  natural  gas.

His talk is sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility/Harrisburg (PSR) and it is free to the public.