UPDATE via Mark Dodel: June 16 2013
SUCCESS!!
” Yesterday in Lancaster, PA, the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee voted 115 to 81 for a resolution calling for a moratorium on all frack drilling in Pennsylvania. This was a vote for the health and safety of Pennsylvanians and our environment against the out of state billionaires and corporations who own Corbett and the DEP.”
Resolution can be read here:
http://www.monroepadems.com/images/files/Moratorium_Fracking_Resolution.pdf
Read More:
6.15.13 PA State Democratic Committee Passes Resolution to Support Fracking Moratorium by Wendy Lee, Raging Chicken Press.
And here:
FIRST STEP: PA DEMS PASS FRACKING MORATORIUM by Dory Hippauf, Shaleshock
[ORIGINAL POST:]
CALL TO ACTION!
Tell the PA Dems, “STOP FRACKING NOW!”
Saturday, June 15th – Lancaster Convention Center
A coalition of concerned democrats will deliver a widely supported resolution to the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee which is meeting on Saturday, June 15th in Lancaster, Pa. They will address the party’s emerging policies towards shale gas production, urging them a second time to support Senator Jim Ferlo’s proposed Statewide Natural Gas Drilling Moratorium. Scroll down, or click here for a link to the action and resolution, written by Sue Lyons of Monroe County, Pa.
Use Discretion, Win Elections!
It’s time for the PA Dems to stop being out of step with the majority of Pennsylvanians and out of touch with the damage fracking is doing to our communities, natural resources, health, safety and climate!
Please support the coalition groups (list incomplete):
- Clean Water Action
- Food & Water Watch
- Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition
- Lehigh Valley Gas Truth
- Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens Group
- Protecting Our Waters
- Shale Justice
- United Sludge-Free Alliance
Join The Action!
Convene at the Convention Center with signs and banners, no sticks, ready to have your say. If you’re card-carrying Pennsylvania democrat, you can attend the meeting. Definitely bring your smart phone or camera. It’s gonna be one for the record.
Tell Pa Dems: “STOP FRACKING NOW!” was organized by Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth:
“If you’re coming on Saturday, please head to Penn Square in Lancaster across from the Convention Center. If you’re attending the meetings as a registered Democrat or proxy, the meetings begin at 8am. We’re asking registered Dems to arrive at the meetings starting at 9am, also Non-Dems or Dems who prefer to be outside in Penn Square. The general session, where voting could happen, begins at 1pm.”
Action Background:
The PA State Democratic Committee meets in Lancaster on June 15th. A member offered a resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking at their last meeting. The resolution never made it to the floor. A revised version will be offered this time and we think it deserves a floor vote.
Senator Jim Ferlo is introducing a moratorium bill. Berks Gas Truth helped deliver over 100,000 signatures calling for a moratorium to the Governor’s office on April 30th. It’s clearly time, actually way past time, for a moratorium, so why do the PA Dems hang onto the severance tax/regulation stance that is as outmoded as fossil fuels?
The party sets the platform on which candidates run. We can’t go into the 2014 campaign with our only alternative to Corbett a string of candidates who are still willing to give Pennsylvania to the drillers, as long as they pay a little in the process. We deserve better than that! Our natural resources deserve better than that. Our state constitution says so! Now it’s time for the Democratic Party to chime in and throw their support behind a moratorium.
Join us in Lancaster, and please share this with friends so that we have a good showing on June 15th!
For up to the moment information times and location, visit the event on Facbook: Tell the PA Dems, “STOP FRACKING NOW!”
Resolution For The Committee:
“Resolution of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in Support of a Statewide Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing”
WHEREAS, a fundamental purpose of government is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people; and
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 27 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania declares: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people;” and
WHEREAS, in recent years corporations drilling for natural gas and oil within the Commonwealth have employed a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” that requires, for each well drilled, the withdrawal of millions of gallons of fresh water from our watersheds, and the injections of thousands of gallons of chemicals into the ground, many of them toxic to humans and animals; and
WHEREAS, multiple scientific studies have documented pollution of the air, water, and land caused by hydraulic fracturing in many Pennsylvania counties; and
WHEREAS, citizens throughout the Commonwealth have suffered injury to their health and property as a result of poorly-regulated hydraulic fracturing; and
WHEREAS, corrosive and toxic waste water or “flowback” water from hydraulic fracturing has overwhelmed wastewater treatment plants in western Pennsylvania and permitted the release of harmful heavy metals, carcinogens, and radioactive elements into the water supply; and
WHEREAS, the expansion of the natural gas infrastructure, including transmission pipelines, compressor stations, power plants, impoundment pits, drilling rigs, refineries, and thousands of heavy trucks constantly on our roads and highways has industrialized and degraded the environment of many communities; and
WHEREAS, the Corbett Administration has not only failed to tax the fossil fuel industry in any way commensurate with the costs of the environmental damage the industry is inflicting on the Commonwealth, but has also failed to adequately enforce existing environmental law;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania supports a moratorium on the practice of hydraulic fracturing until such time as the practice can be done safely, and further supports requiring full restitution by the natural gas industry for any harm to human life and health, for damage to property, including loss of property value, for harm to water supplies, harm to wildlife, pets and livestock, and harm to the natural environment of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Sue Lyons Judy Fiske Anne Tiracchia Rosie Skomitz Ron Stouffer
– Monroe County – Monroe County – Monroe County – Berks County
– Berks County
Lani Frank – Chester County Shirley Curry – Montgomery County Ruth Damsker – Montgomery County Karen Bojar – Philadelphia County John Peeler – Union County
Tags: Berks Gas Truth, Ferlo, Moratorium, Pennsylvania, Sue Lyons
Keep Tap Water Safe 
Leave a Reply