Allegheny County Board of Health Meeting and Fracking Committee Recommendation

September 15, 2026

Pittsburgh Works Together Statement on the Allegheny County Board of Health Meeting and Fracking Committee Recommendations 

 On behalf of the working men and women of organized labor and the employers who make up the membership of Pittsburgh Works Together, we are deeply concerned about the secret dealings and lack of transparency associated with the development of the recommendations from the Board of Health’s Fracking Committee. 

The Fracking Committee was established in March 2025 “to investigate the health impact to Allegheny County residents.”  

• For nearly a year, from the time it was created until Feb. 13, 2026, the Fracking Committee did not keep minutes at any of its meetings, according to an assistant solicitor for the Allegheny County Health Department. As a result, the public is unable to understand how the Committee approached its task.  

At the time, the Fracking Committee consisted of Board of Health members Laura Dagley, employed by Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Dr. Graham Snyder, of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

• The Health Department refused to turn over documents that the Fracking Committee presented to the Board of Health at a public meeting until ordered to do so by the Pennsylvania Open Records Office. 

• Despite repeated requests for the Fracking Committee meeting schedule, one was never provided and it remains unclear when the Fracking Committee met to discuss and approve the recommendations to be presented to Board of Health at its Sept. 16, 2026. 

• Finally, after the deadline had passed for the public to sign up to speak at the Sept. 16 Board of Health meeting, a new agenda was released indicating that the Board would vote on committee recommendations that the public have not yet been able to review. 

This is a disturbing pattern of secrecy and a lack of transparency on an issue of importance to the well-being of Allegheny County and its citizens. 

Pittsburgh Works Together is a business-organized labor-workforce-economic development alliance working to grow jobs and expand the industries that are the foundation of our economy, including energy, manufacturing, and construction, to provide opportunity for all residents.

Ken Zapinski

Director of Research & Public Policy

ken@pghworks.com

412-352-4364