Updated: Nov 24
View Part Two here.
Siri Lawson and her husband Wayne currently live in Warren County, Pennsylvania. The county is home to 71 active oil and gas producers and, since 1981, has hosted more than 17,000 wells. The Lawsons have lived here for 11 years and have yet to fully unpack their belongings.
This is the fourth home they’ve shared throughout their marriage, previously owning two other homes in Pennsylvania and one in New York. The reasons for their moves? For 40 years, the Lawsons have been trying to escape the health impacts they’ve experienced first-hand while living near oil and gas activity.
In their first home in Pennsylvania, in the 1980s, Siri and Wayne discovered that an oil refinery was using a tank farm hundreds of feet below their property to dispose of hazardous waste. In a 2017 study, exposure to oil industry waste was found to be associated with multiple types of cancer, as well as respiratory, congenital, urological, and musculoskeletal conditions.
While in this home, Siri began struggling with respiratory problems. She was hospitalized in 1983 for heart failure due to a severe asthma attack and visited the emergency room 14 more times in 1984. Siri and her husband began the process of suing the refinery.
During that time, Siri and Wayne reached out to specialists who visited the Lawsons’ home to examine their air and water qualities.
https://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/post/spotlight-siri-lawson-part-one
Personal Narrative: Siri Lawson
(Part One)
Keeley Teslik
Jul 16
63