EHP’s Community Health Impact Assessment (HIA) revolves around one central question: Do you have enough information to determine that a particular shale gas site is safe enough for your community?

EHP’s do-it-yourself HIA is a structured way to bring together data on your community related to:

• expected emissions from a shale development site
• potential health risks in the immediate area.

It gives local decision-makers, residents, and state public officials a checklist of questions that ought to be answered before a shale gas site is approved, and it provides a road map for answering those questions. Once completed, an HIA can be used to influence zoning boards, other local or state officials, and community groups.

This tool helps you to include public health in the planning process. When health risks are known and taken into account, adjustments can be made during the permitting process to better protect the health of people living close to a proposed site. Such adjustments may include making required setbacks from homes greater, relocating the site, monitoring emissions, or determining how waste is handled in your community.

If you have any questions, please contact Beth Weinberger at bweinberger@environmentalhealthproject.org