When Pennsylvanians elect state legislators, we expect them to represent the will of their communities — not that of corporate polluters or political power brokers in Harrisburg. That’s why House Bill 502 is not just bad policy, it’s a betrayal. For Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Fox Chapel, the bill’s prime sponsor, it’s a deeply troubling departure from the values she once claimed to champion.

HB502 is a disaster in the making. Legislators see the writing on the wall — in addition to outcry from 25 environmental groups, four of the bill’s original co-sponsors rescinded their support before the legislator recessed for summer. As the state Legislature comes back for the rest of the legislative year, it is critical that HB 502 must not pass.

It’s not hard to see why HB 502 is deeply unpopular. The bill strips municipalities of their right to protect residents from the well-documented harms of oil and gas development, and undercuts the growing movement of local governments passing protective ordinances. Food & Water Watch has helped at least 35 communities pass local ordinances, protecting over 700,000 Pennsylvania residents from the fossil-fuel industry. If passed, HB 502 would halt the growing movement to protect more people around the state.

Communities in Steele’s own district have been at the forefront of this movement. They’ve taken proactive, innovative steps to buffer neighborhoods from drilling operations, compressor stations, power plants and other industrial hazards. And with good reason: The science is clear that proximity to oil and gas development is linked to respiratory illness, low birth weights, increased risk of childhood cancers and other serious health conditions.

HB 502 threatens all of that local progress. It sends a chilling message from Harrisburg: “We know better than your community. Sit down and take what the gas industry gives you.”

What makes Steele’s support for this bill especially galling is her record — and her promises. She ran on a platform of environmental values and support for community-based action. She spoke passionately about representing the people — not polluters. She assured constituents that public health and safety would be a priority. Pure and simple, Pennsylvanians elected Steele to be a firewall against fossil-fuel greed — not a footnote in their takeover.

How can the same person who once helped pass a pioneering municipal ban on toxic coal tar as a councilwoman now be the main sponsor for a bill that opens the door to unfettered fracking and fracked gas power plants in our backyards? How can someone who once fought for local control when it came to banning a dangerous paving substance now turn around and gut that very same principle when it comes to drilling and pipelines?

The answer, unfortunately, seems to lie in appeasing powerful interests. Gov. Josh Shapiro has shown increasing alignment with fossil-fuel developers. HB 502 fits neatly into that shift. If political ambition or pressure from the governor’s office is what’s driving Steele’s support for HB 502, it’s a betrayal not just of her constituents, but of the principles she built her campaign on.

Steele and others backing this bill should be ashamed. They have abandoned the communities who believed in them. And unless they change course, they will be remembered not as champions of the people, but as enablers of an industry that has long put profit over public health.

HB 502 is a test of whether our elected officials will stand with people or with polluters. A test of whether local voices still matter in the era of industrial encroachment and climate crisis. Any version of HB 502 that establishes state control over energy siting must be rejected wholeheartedly. History — and Pennsylvania constituents — are watching.

To oppose HB 502, reach out to your representative and tell them to condemn this overhaul of local control.

Megan McDonough is Pennsylvania state director for Food & Water Watch.

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