BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PHILADELPHIA PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; PHYSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS FOR HEALTHY ENERGY; DR. BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN; DR. WALTER TSOU; DR. JEROME A. PAULSON; DR. WILLIAM ROM; DR. MEHERNOSH P. KHAN; DR. SANDRA STEINGRABER; DR. SIMONA PERRY; DR. ROBERT OSWALD; DR. MICHELLE BAMBERGER; KATHRYN VENNIE; AND EARTHWORKS

The brief, filed by a coalition of physicians, scientists, and environmental advocates, contends that the natural gas industry systematically suppresses public health data through federal exemptions, state laws, and confidential legal settlements. It argues that the public interest in understanding the health risks of hydraulic fracturing—such as water contamination and air pollution—outweighs the private interests of gas companies in maintaining secrecy. The authors specifically highlight the Hallowich family's experience with deteriorating health due to nearby gas operations and urge the court to reverse a lower court's decision to seal the case records.

• Unconventional gas development poses significant health risks through the contamination of drinking water via methane migration, toxic fracturing fluids, and radioactive substances brought to the surface from underground formations.
• Air pollution from gas operations, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), can lead to respiratory impairments such as asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks, and premature death, with some emissions like benzene capable of causing cancer.
• The natural gas industry has successfully lobbied for exemptions from several federal environmental laws, which reduces the amount of monitoring and reporting data available to the public.
• State laws in Pennsylvania restrict the ability of healthcare providers to share information about fracturing fluid ingredients with the public or other researchers, even when such information is necessary for patient treatment.
• Gas companies routinely use protective orders and confidential out-of-court settlements to prevent the public from accessing information about the health impacts of their operations.
• In the Hallowich case, the defendants' justification for sealing the record was based solely on a generalized interest in promoting settlements, which the brief argues is insufficient under Pennsylvania and Third Circuit law to overcome the presumption of open access.

APA

Earthjustice (2012). BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PHILADELPHIA PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; PHYSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS FOR HEALTHY ENERGY; DR. BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN; DR. WALTER TSOU; DR. JEROME A. PAULSON; DR. WILLIAM ROM; DR. MEHERNOSH P. KHAN; DR. SANDRA STEINGRABER; DR. SIMONA PERRY; DR. ROBERT OSWALD; DR. MICHELLE BAMBERGER; KATHRYN VENNIE; AND EARTHWORKS. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/hallowich_brief.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PHILADELPHIA PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; PHYSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS FOR HEALTHY ENERGY; DR. BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN; DR. WALTER TSOU; DR. JEROME A. PAULSON; DR. WILLIAM ROM; DR. MEHERNOSH P. KHAN; DR. SANDRA STEINGRABER; DR. SIMONA PERRY; DR. ROBERT OSWALD; DR. MICHELLE BAMBERGER; KATHRYN VENNIE; AND EARTHWORKS. 2012. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/hallowich_brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PHILADELPHIA PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; PHYSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS FOR HEALTHY ENERGY; DR. BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN; DR. WALTER TSOU; DR. JEROME A. PAULSON; DR. WILLIAM ROM; DR. MEHERNOSH P. KHAN; DR. SANDRA STEINGRABER; DR. SIMONA PERRY; DR. ROBERT OSWALD; DR. MICHELLE BAMBERGER; KATHRYN VENNIE; AND EARTHWORKS |date=27 April 2012 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/hallowich_brief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2012brief, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PHILADELPHIA PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY; PHYSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS FOR HEALTHY ENERGY; DR. BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN; DR. WALTER TSOU; DR. JEROME A. PAULSON; DR. WILLIAM ROM; DR. MEHERNOSH P. KHAN; DR. SANDRA STEINGRABER; DR. SIMONA PERRY; DR. ROBERT OSWALD; DR. MICHELLE BAMBERGER; KATHRYN VENNIE; AND EARTHWORKS}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/hallowich_brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }