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Those fracking buzzwords

The Pennsylvania Department of Health just confirmed that it shared 19 buzzwords with staff taking public phone calls, but denied instructing staff to not move forward with calls involving those phrases,

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The Pennsylvania Department of Health just confirmed that it shared 19 buzzwords with staff taking public phone calls, but denied instructing staff to not move forward with calls involving those phrases, according to StateImpact Pennsylvania.

The story emerged when two retired employees — former nurse Tammi Stuck and former program specialist Marshall Deasy — revealed that they were instructed to remain silent whenever the fracking buzzwords came into play and take caller’s information with the promise of a returned call by a supervisor. Both retirees also said that they would need a supervisor's permission to attend outside meetings.

The Department of Health initially denied that the list of words exists, but have since changed their tune, confirming a February 2012 email with a list of buzzwords including natural gas, drilling, fracking, frack chemicals, wastewater, well (water) contamination, Marcellus shale, cancer cluster, hair falling out and skin rash.

Department of Health Spokesperson Aimee Tysarczyk told StateImpact Pennsylvania that the documents with the list of words did not instruct staff to not take complaints, although the email included instructions to send complaints to the Bureau of Epidemiology.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection had a similar policy for staff to avoid registering reports of noxious odors when the individual called after experiencing the odor. When residents did successfully call at the time of the odor, their case was closed if investigators arrived after the odor had left. The agency can wait up to two weeks to investigate a call.

Governor Tom Corbett’s office denied involvement in the Department of Health policies and has declined to comment on Department of Environmental Protection policies. 

 

 

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