Van Wagner teaches Environmental Science at Lewisburg High School in Pennsylvania. He’s also an accomplished country-folk musician who has donated his time to teach music to kids at Pennsylvania summer camps. I came across this compelling plea on Wagner’s website:
“I have played music at several summer camps for children who are cancer survivors. Camp Victory / Camp Dost and Camp Can-Do to name a few local examples. These children are amazing. I’m always amazed how grateful they are to me for spending a few hours simply singing with them. It is I who should be thankful. These children have smiles worth their weight in gold. They are filled with joy and know more about love and friendship than most adults. I challenge any fracking advocate to donate some time at one of these camps. While there sit down at the dinner table with these kids and try to explain to them why grown-ups want to put more cancer causing chemicals in our environment because of things like energy, stock values and jobs. (more…)
It’s difficult to pick one favorite, but four-out-of-five fractivists agree the ultimate anti-gas image is by Artist/Activist LMNOP. based in Brooklyn, NY.
Resolve to get more involved in the incredible fossil-free grassroots movement that’s been springing up across the USA. No one should be an energy company guinea pig! Help your community maintain control over rampant, unregulated shale gas fracking, toxic waste water, pipelines, compressor stations and dehydration units. Chances are – wherever you are – there’s a local group fighting for our right to clean air, land and water. (more…)
Protests against unconventional shale gas drilling have been popping up across the United Shale Shocked States of late, and the global List of Fracking Bans and Moratorium, curated by the incomparable Johnny Lineham at Fracking Hell (UK), has grown so long it speaks for itself. More citizens in more countries are demanding serious study of the impacts of unconventional gas production on human health and climate change. Is it a coincidence that the public’s interest in renewables has also been renewed? Given than many of the bans and moratorium are in the US, it’s safe to say most Americans expect an equally high level of environmental accountability from elected officials.
In front of the Convention Center, 13th & Arch Sts., Philadelphia, PA (19107)
Hyperbolic Hippies On The March?
Anti-Fracking Activists will go “toe-to-toe” with gas industry executives who will be present at The Marcellus Shale Coalition‘s second annual Shale Gas Insightconference, held on the very same day. As Protecting Our Waters, the Shale Gas Outrage host organization, states: “Industry will be rubbing elbows with some of our elected officials, their sights set on expanding toxic fracking throughout our region. Their ‘greenwashing’ doesn’t fool anyone: we’ve seen the damage, and even with a few new regulations, the damage is escalating out of control.” (more…)
Environmental incidents such as unconventional gas drilling accidents – or fraccidents – must be reported, wherever they occur. SkyTruthis a whiz-bang non-profit based in West Virginia. Their team uses remote sensing and digital mapping technologies to combine environmental protection with environmental awareness. Their motto: “As soon as WE know – YOU know.” (more…)
Publicity for the anti-fracking movement and the upcoming anti-fracking rally in DC – Stop The Frack Attack! – has been outstanding. Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon singing Don’t Frack My Mother, and it’s quickly exploding on YouTube. Real Time’s Bill Maher had both Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Maddow on the same show, the season finale no less. Steven Colbert is now even more infamous for locking horns with Pennsylvania Gashole-in-Chief, Tom Ridge, thanks to Fox’s newly released short film, The Sky Is Pink. And no one can stop smiling after David Letterman announced, “We’re screwed!” in a recent anti-fracking rant. Even Business Insider picked up the clip.
Luckily, it’s not just the lamestream who’s buzzing. Facebook is alive with carpool information and bus ticket sales. Can’t wait.
What Did The Delaware River Ever Do To Tommy Corbett?
PA Governor Tom Corbett wants to drill the iconic Delaware River Watershed… Y’know, the river George Washington crossed to win American independence, the river that currently sustains 15.6 million people and countless species, the river that already generates $22 BILLION for the Pennsylvania economy each year, according to the University of Delaware. Our guv’na is the poster child for greed, corruption and neo-con ignorance. He looks (and acts) like a stupid frat boy, yet when it comes to shale gas, he’s devious as all hell. It’s like he’s date-raping every river, meadow, forest and mountain in the state.
Tim Darragh gets us up-to-speed on the behind the scenes machinations of Patrick Henderson, Corbett’s state-funded Energy Executive, in Pennsylvania Lobbying for DRBC Fracking Rules in The Allentown Morning Call:
“‘That’s been a frustration since the November meeting was canceled,” said Corbett spokesman Patrick Henderson. ‘We have been having discussions with the DRBC staff as recently as this week’ ” (more…)
On June 4, 2012, former Governor Ed Rendell published a letter to the editor in The Inquirer, entitled Embrace the Natural Gas Solution.
It’s now official that Democrats (the new Republicans?) will say anything to take credit for US energy independence, and former Governor Rendell is at the helm of the party. Mother Earth, meet the new face of the Enemy… and I lived in Philly when he was mayor, I used to like this guy! This charismatic fathead must not be allowed to tout natural gas as “clean” fuel without correction. We need to call Rendell out with an honest, Progressive voice. We need to remind him of the facts.
PennEnvironment is among the first to cry foul over Rendell’s erroneous editorial, urging people to express our outrage in our own letters to The Inquirer (200 words or less). Email it to inquirer.letters@phillynews.com. (more…)
On Friday, May 4, 2012, the Obama Administration issued “New Rules!” for frackers on federal lands. According to John M. Broder in New Proposal on Fracking Gives Ground to Industry in The New York Times, Team Obama made “a significant concession to the oil industry, companies will have to reveal the composition of fluids only after they have completed drilling — a sharp change from the government’s original proposal, which would have required disclosure of the chemicals 30 days before a well could be started.”
In a statement on the US Department of the Interior website, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar comments, “This administration’s energy strategy is an all-out effort to boost American production of every available source of energy. As we continue to offer millions of acres of America’s public lands for oil and gas development, it is critical that the public have full confidence that the right safety and environmental protections are in place.”
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…)
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…)
Last week, it came to light that Aqua PVR LLC is displacing 32 families in Piatt Township, Lycoming County, so they may syphon off hundreds of millions of gallons of Susquehanna River Basin water for gas drillers. News of this outrage traveled quickly through blogs and on Facebook pages like StopFrackingPA! There was talk of how best to get information about Aqua PA’s heartless corporate behavior out to Rachel Maddow.
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”?
UPDATE On The Residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Village from Judy Morrash Muskauski: “A Bryn Mawr-based Aqua PVR LLC has decided it will give most residents of Riverdale Mobile Home Village until June 1 to move.The company received permission from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to withdraw up to 3 million gallons of water per day from the site. The company plans to build a pump station on the site. The water will be transported via pipeline to gas drilling sites. The residents’ leases have been terminated.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZL9wgGqJk1s
ORIGINAL POST: Displacing a community of 32 families from the Riverdale Mobile Home Village in Piatt Township, PA is just another day on the job for Aqua PVR LLC. For 38-year resident, Doris M. Fravel, however, the news is devastating. The company, owned by Bryn Mawr-based Aqua America, plans to eliminate her neighborhood and build a water withdrawal facility for the Natural Gas Industry.
“I could sit down and cry my eyes out,” the 82 year old widow told David Thompson of The Williamsport SunGazette in his article, 32-Unit Village No More.
Loretta J. Gary, POWer extraordinaire, called attention to the story which has quickly become emblematic of the way pro-gas interests are cramming drilling-related activities down Pennsylvania’s collective sore throat. It’s on anti-fracking organizer Alexander Lotoro’s considerable Facebook radar, too. (more…)
Yesterday, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission approved 48 more water withdrawal permits despite vocal protests and the lack of public comment. According to StateImpactPA, there were Protests, But No Arrests at the March 15, 2012 Hearing in Harrisburg.The Wall Street Journal also picked up the story by the Associated Press.
Unlike other utilities and recreations large-volume water uses, withdrawals for unconventional gas drilling – fracking – become permanently toxic and are largely un-returned to the watershed. They forever deplete the hydrological cycle. (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 