Anti-Fracking Petitions Proliferate in PA and Around the World
There are tons of anti-fracking petitions floating around these days. A few years ago, it would have been a challenge to find one, but now they’re like fish in a barrel. Some have gained heavy traction, like PennEnvironment’s “Protect Pennsylvania from Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling” which has more than 35,000 signatures, yet lawmakers of both parties regularly remark that they tend to pay “internet petitions” scant notice.
“Nobody pays attention to them,” confirmed State Senator Daylin Leach [D-17th] at an informal discussion on gas drilling issues hosted by PennEnvironment in Upper Merion earlier this year. I guess I already kinda knew that but I’m optimistic by nature and, after all, it’s only a few clicks, right? If nothing else, I’ll lend a little moral support to the petitioners? Leach recommends letters and petitions on paper, and calling on your legislators.
Still, maybe lawmakers ought to at least take note of the sheer number of online anti-fracking petitions. If nothing else, it’s an indication that the public is trying to tell them something. There are way more petitions than I could possibly list here, of course that didn’t stop me from trying! Please let me know if I missed yours.
It’s too easy to waste time on Facebook, yet every once in a while you find something big and beautiful. So, while I hope Mr. Zuckerberg’s new marriage goes more smoothly than his recent IPO, and I was initially daunted by Timeline, I had to share this recent fb discovery, which I happened upon via Alerte Schiste via Fracking Hell UK via Protecting Our Waters via …
Governor Shumlin signs new ban, on track to become law…
From Vermont Fracking Ban Poised to Become Law by the AP via Huffington Post:
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont appears on the verge of enacting the nation’s first statewide ban of a hotly debated natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing. (more…)
Coaltion-building is key to defeating the gasholes who want to Frack with the Delaware River Watershed. Luckily, we’ve got some serious NYC star-power to help fuel the movement to protect it.
“My Body of Water” is a short spot created by Citizens for Water, Damascus Citizens, Catskill Mountain Keeper, and Bone/Levine Architects, and it features Adrian Grenier, Leighton Meester, Norman Reedus, Zoe Kravitz, Sandra Bernhard, Ezra Miller, Nigel Barker, Christina Mclarty, Nev Shulman, Toure, Mehdi Nebbou, Alek Wek, Alysia Reiner, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear. Thanks to Josh Fox and Faith Zerbe of Delaware Riverkeeper Network for passing it along. Enjoy!
When Hollywood comes a knockin’ to make a movie in your state about a vitally important issue, you gotta say thanks. Opposition to Fracking, once you recognize that unconventional shale gas drilling cannot be done safely – not in the long-term or short-term – becomes like common sense, and you wonder why more people don’t share it. You hope they will, before it’s too late, and it really helps to have people as talented as Matt Damon and Gus van Sant around to help tell the story of Pennsylvania’s Gas Boom. I’m thankful that “Promised Land” – hailed by The Huffington Post as an “anti-fracking movie” – began filming in the Pittsburgh area in April, no doubt much to Corbett’s jowly chagrin. It’s all good, babe. (more…)
Anti-Fracking Rally in Washington DC – Saturday, July 28, 2012
Contact: Your Legislators! Ask Them To Speak Out Against Unconventional Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania atStop the Frack Attack
May 3, 2102, Fracksylvania, USA: At long last, a date to focus on, and work towards. A time to make our objection to filthy shale gas drilling known. Hurray. Sign up now for the rally, get updates and information, and get psyched. Or simply save-the-date and be there to make history on July 28th and protect our human right to clean air, land and water. (more…)
The Clean Air Council Is Having a Frack Attack in Pennsylvania
Clean Air Council (CAC) has launched a legal blitz to force EPA engagement on the critical air issues associated with natural gas operations in Pennsylvania. Frank Finan breaks down the issue with infrared footage from a compressor station in Northeast PA, appropriately set to “Power” by Kanye West.
Untold Emissions
CAC is focused on forcing full compliance with the Clean Air Act from the Fracking Industry. The Frack Attack Objectives:
Emissions inventory
Repeal of major exemptions
Proper permitting
Meaningful air monitoring
Enforcement of permits
“PA DEP: Your authority to forsake Pennsylvania’s air quality lies on shaky ground.” – Your Friends at The Clean Air Council
Follow Frack Attack actions at cleanair.org. For more information, contact CAC staff attorneys Jay Duffy, judffy@cleanrair.org or David Presley dpresley@cleanair.org.
Sign the CLAW PETITION for NO NEW DRILLING PERMITS in Pennsylvania HERE!
PA CLAW is a coalition of grassroots organizers and organizations working for a moratorium on Fracking for natural gas and its infrastructure across the state of Pennsylvania through various coordinated statewide campaigns and actions.
Bad news: the residents of Riverdale Mobile Home Park (on the Susquehanna River near the town of Jersey Shore, PA) have received word from Aqua America subsidiary Aqua PVR’s hired realtor that they will, in fact, be evicted — oops, I mean, have their water and sewer services cut off and have the offer of a token relocation fee of $2,500 removed, on June 1st. It costs at least $6 – 10K to move a mobile home, so Aqua appears to be willing to force some of these families into homelessness, and all of them deeper into poverty, rather than delay construction of their $24 million water withdrawal facility. Riverdale residents also keep hearing persistent rumors that they will be allowed to stay, so it’s very hard for them to cope or to know what to do. (more…)
Hulk, he’s my hero but Fractivist Barbie totally rocks! Our dear ole’ petroleum-based gal tackles Fracking fabulously, taking to the streets of Trenton, NJ to fight intrepidly for what she knows is right.
“Unlike my plastic composition, the human beings I love are made of water, and rely on water for their very existence. Contaminating drinking water with known toxic chemicals for the supposed benefit of natural gas made no sense at all.” Video uploaded by BarbieAndKenSpeakOut for wordsforabetterworld.com (more…)
“We refuse to take the risk cuz our town is quaking up!”
Family friendly video uploaded by YouTube User PeterAlsop on March 24, 2012: “Uncle Sam and the local community confront the ‘fracker’ about what the fracking procedures are doing to their water. They point out that ‘we live here! And we notice you’re not fracking in your own city, where you and your children live!’ Besides, the point isn’t just keeping the water clean, but just creating jobs is not the way to provide a better world for the children, … but no more fossil fuels, regardless of jobs or profit! Our environment can’t take it! We need to be putting all our resources into renewable energy sources! Uncle Sam knows that the American people can work this out!”
“If you were looking for a way to poison the drinking water supply, here in the Northeast you couldn’t find a more chillingly effective and thorough method of doing so than with hydraulic fracturing,” wrote Paul Hetzler, a former environmental engineer with the NY Department of Environmental Conservation in The Watertown Daily Times in December, 2011.
Paula Clair of Garrison, NY cites Hetzler in her thoughtful Op-Ed piece, Don’t Sacrifice Water For Profits, in TimesUnion.com on March 31, 2012, writing: “Water is life. There is no life without it. Don’t let big oil/gas sacrifice our state, our homes and our health for their profit.” Clearly, Clair gets it. She’s awake, and questioning the source of her water. Her words reflect the growing public concern for watersheds, fresh air and food supplies. The Natural Gas Industry may be saturating our commercial airwaves with slick ad campaigns, but we the people have YouTube!
I’ve been called every nasty name you can think of, in the Comments sections of articles about Fracking that is. Epithets hurled at me include: tree-hugger, Chicken Little, anti-, Leftie, kool-aid drinking hippie and – my personal favorite – a nimby. I’ve also been called a liberal, idealistic, elitist, obstructionist and a dumb Democrat. Those are the accusations that actually make me stop and think. Have I somehow gotten this “frac’ing” thing all wrong? Is it possible that drilling for shale gas is the best thing since sliced bread? Maybe I’m merely raging against the machine, opposing something that truly is a “blessing under our feet”?
Clean Water Action Gas Drilling Discussion Series at Radnor Memorial Library on Mon, March 26, 2012
PennEnvironment Marcellus Shale Citizen Empowerment Project Comes to Bryn Mawr College on Thurs, March 28, 2012
Sixty-five percent of the U.S. public favors greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing, according to a Bloomberg News National Poll conducted March 8-11, 2012. Pennsylvania now leads the nation in unconventional gas production. The shale gas boom effects us all. Learn from a local perspective at two upcoming local events where experts will lead public discussions on the environmental and economic impacts of industrial shale gas drilling in our region.
“No matter how powerful and well-heeled the gas industry lobbyists may be, when people come together to defend our environmental values, we almost always find a way to win.“
[UPDATE: APRIL 5, 2012] Visit shaleshockmedia.org for full-length video of keynote speech by Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Cornell University, and other highlights from the conference.
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[Original Post] Marcellus Shale Exposed: A Symposium for Truth and Action onFri., March 16th & Sat, March 17th at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA is a great place to get informed and involved in the effort to protect our land, air and water from the ravages of Unconventional Gas Drilling. Presenters will include: Jeff Schmidt, Sierra Club * Tracy Carluccio, Delaware Riverkeeper Network * Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth * Deborah Rogers, Energy Policy Forum.
On Thursday, March 15th at 8am in Harrisburg, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission will convene for a public vote on more than 60 permit applications for large-scale water withdrawals. These hotly contested withdrawals will amount to mega-millions of gallons over a four-year period, for which users are charged a mere $.005/gallon. The vast majority of this fresh water is bound for toxic Industrial Shale Gas Drilling. (more…)
Ads Cost Money But The Truth About Shale Gas Drilling Is Free
I laugh a little when I hear Gas Industry folks complain about how well-funded the anti-fracking movement is. To which groups are they referring? I’m a fractivist. I volunteer, and I’m in very good company. The organizations I support are transparent about their funding, too, even if it’s the wrong brand of donor, as was recently the case with Sierra Club. Difficult as it must have been, Sierra came clean about Chesapeake Energy underwriting its Beyond Coal campaign. Now, I suspect, they’re working doubly hard to get beyond Gas.
It’s true, there’s a growing list of major environmental groups who want to ban or limit Unconventional Gas Drilling, (more…)
“You Can’t Drink Money”
Our kids have these placemats with the world map, the flags and the presidents. One has a colorful map of the states, and it reminds me how big America is. Few values, beyond freedom, justice and democracy, are ubiquitous to us all. Apparently, the right to clean water is one them. As gas drillers and misguided public officials are now discovering, when you mess with this basic, unifying element, people push back. One thing all shale gas drilling states have in common is that the Clean Water movement is rapidly building momentum. Across the Union, opposition is springing from all quarters, growing deeper and more diverse. Anti-fracking groups may have differing ideas about what to do with all this shale gas, and if fracking is ever okay, but together they’re galvanizing new interest in the environment, and the level of government protection our shared natural resources receive.
One point on which all groups can agree is perhaps best put by Ohio fractivist, Jenny Morgan, when she sings, “You can’t drink money.”
Keep Tap Water Safe 