Environmental group urges stronger health protections as committee hears gas industry briefing

Alice Liu, policy analyst at the Clean Air Council, told the House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee that residents who live near oil and gas operations face documented health risks and that state policy should reflect those harms.

"We don't have to choose between clean energy and economic development. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a false trade off," Liu said in opening remarks, and she urged the General Assembly to consider health-based protections for communities near extraction and processing sites.

Liu framed her testimony around three industry segments — upstream production, midstream transmission and storage, and downstream distribution — and emphasized methane and other pollutants. "Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change when burned or when it leaks," she said, adding that fracked gas also contains volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants linked in peer‑reviewed…