**This event has passed but you can watch the recording here or via the embedded video below**
Join us on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7pm ET for a free webinar about the petrochemical infrastructure build-out that's unfolding in Pennsylvania and the greater Ohio River Valley, its implications for public and environmental health, and how you can help support the frontline activists working to prevent it from growing.
Decades of policy decisions contributed to the shale gas boom and now the petrochemical industry is eyeing the Ohio River Valley region as a production hub for single-use plastics made out of fracked gas, starting with Shell’s massive new ethane cracker in Monaca, Pennsylvania. The cracker facility is expected to come on line any day now and begin churning out billions of tiny plastic pellets called "nurdles", along with lots of air pollution and greenhouse gases. Fortunately, communities and organizations in the region are taking it upon themselves to monitor pollution from the Shell plant in the hopes of preventing future ethane crackers from moving in.
This event will feature Heather Hulton VanTassel, Executive Director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper in Pittsburgh, PA and Alison Steele, Executive Director of the Environmental Health Project in McMurray, PA who will speak about their work in the region. We'll also hear from Jill Antares Hunkler, a seventh generation Ohio Valley resident who is an educator, grassroots advocate, and a fracking refugee.
Our speakers:
Alison L. Steele, MBA
Executive Director, Environmental Health Project
Alison L. Steele earned her undergraduate degree in physics from Drew University in Madison, NJ and her MBA in Sustainable Business Practices from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. As part of her graduate work, Alison studied sustainability tools and practices used by leading companies in Europe, applied those concepts toward consulting services for large Pittsburgh-area companies, and published research on organizational behavior techniques used to aid adoption of sustainability initiatives. Prior to starting at EHP, she led policy and education efforts at Conservation Consultants, Inc. and developed the company's flagship grassroots community engagement program, which focused on advancing home health and energy efficiency in low-income Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Since 2020, Alison has directed the Environmental Health Project (EHP), a nonprofit organization that defends public health in the face of shale gas development. EHP provides frontline communities with timely monitoring, interpretation, and guidance. It engages diverse stakeholders – health professionals, researchers, community organizers, public servants, and others – in order to put public health considerations at the forefront of policy decisions.
Heather Hunton VanTassel
Executive Director, Three Rivers Waterkeeper
Heather Hulton VanTassel is an environmental conservationist passionate about nature-based solutions that lead to the sustainability of our planet and equality for all. Heather’s passion began in a small rural community in Western Pennsylvania and flourished as a first-generation college student at Carlow University majoring in Biology. Heather went on to earn her doctorate degree in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at The University in California, Riverside (UCR). Heather has held positions at UCR’s Center for Conservation Biology as a Research Specialist, Audubon South Carolina as a Program Manager of Sustainable Solutions, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina as the State Conservation Coordinator, and at The Carnegie Museum of Natural History as the Assistant Director of Science and Research. Heather has had formal training and certification as a Master Naturalist in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, Project Management Professional, Wetland Delineator, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace practitioner. Heather is now the Executive Director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper working towards drinkable, swimmable, fishable waters for all. In her free time, Heather enjoys hiking, spending time with her family, friends and pets, and (of course) recreating on our Three Rivers!
Jill Antares Hunkler is a mother, teacher, artist, grassroots organizer, environmental advocate, and seventh generation Ohio Valley resident in Belmont County, the most heavily fracked in the state. She considers herself a fracking refugee after being forced to relocate from the oil and gas infrastructure that polluted her home in the Slope Creek Valley. She educates the public and helps empower people to stand up for their rights for a healthy environment. Her mission is to promote peace, clean energy solutions, and a healthy and protected Mother Earth for current and future generations.
