Heaven Sensky
Heaven Lee Sensky (she/her) is the Organizing Director with the Center for Coalfield Justice. She primarily serves Washington and Greene Counties on issues of Oil and Gas development and provides support for our organizing team. Heaven has been with CCJ for 4 years, working on a variety of campaigns serving impacted community members including advocacy around the prevalence of rare childhood cancers, the impacts of waste generated and disposed of by the oil and gas industry, and advocating for harm reduction in relation to the opioid epidemic. CCJ is organizing frontline residents through grassroots efforts to advocate for healthy communities with thriving economies.
Heaven was born and raised on a small farm in Washington County where her family has resided for 5 generations. She is a first-generation college student and a graduate of American University (Washington, D.C.) with a bachelor’s degree in Communications, Law Studies, Economics, and Government. Before joining team CCJ, Heaven interned in the United States Senate and for the office of Barack and Michelle Obama. She lives with her husband Casey and her dog Olive on her family farm.
Contact Heaven at heaven@centerforcoalfieldjustice.org.
Blog Posts by Heaven Sensky
When I first joined team CCJ back in 2019, I was tasked with supporting local community members in holding a Solar Festival in Greene County, the heart of Coal Country. Residents wanted to introduce the efficacy of solar power to their communities.
On March 9th, Union Township residents organized together to pressure their Board of Supervisors to delay a vote to approve the conditions for the Sarah Well Pad. They won an extension. Community members made it clear that they needed the Board of Supervisors to postpone their planned vote to approve EQT’s application for the Sarah […]
October 1, 2021— On September 21, public health advocacy groups Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania (PSR PA) and the SWPA Environmental Health Project (EHP) met for a fifth time with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) to press the agency to consider a number of actions that would lower the risk of health impacts to residents from shale gas development emissions. Secretary Alison Beam and seven other DOH representatives attended the virtual meeting. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), including Deputy Secretary of the Office of Oil and Gas Management Scott Perry, also attended.
“It is always surreal for me, as an impacted resident, to watch others experience the grief of some of our neighbors whose lives have been uprooted by the oil and gas industry,” said Heaven Sensky, Community Organizer for Center for Coalfield Justice. “It is uncomfortable to put ourselves up for display, and sometimes I even forget how vastly different our lives are compared to those who hold the power to make decisions about our safety. I want to thank the DOH for being respectful witnesses to our suffering. I am hoping with everything that I am that they will carry with them what they have seen here and that they will do something about it.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Lois Bower-Bjornson, Southwestern Pennsylvania Field Organizer, Clean Air Council, 412-979-5509, lbb@cleanair.org Laura Dagley, Medical Advocacy Coordinator, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, 540-556-0132, laura@psrpa.org Ned Ketyer, Board Member, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, 724-255- 7440, ned@psrpa.org Stacey Magda, Community Organizer, Mountain Watershed Association, 724-455-4200 x9, stacey@mtwatershed.com Tammy Murphy, Advocacy Director, Physicians for […]
Despite the financial inconsistencies, the DOH seemed receptive to the ongoing request for a visit to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Heaven Sensky, Community Organizer for Center for Coalfield Justice, said, “It is absolutely imperative that representatives from the Department of Health, who are making decisions and drawing conclusions about our exposure to harmful fossil fuel extraction, come to our communities and witness themselves what we are facing. One cannot begin to understand the proximity and density of families whose homes and lives have been invaded by the fossil fuel industry without taking the time to witness it. We welcome the Department of Health to our community, and we hope that their experience here will better inform them moving forward with the study.”