Gas industry conference attendees watched from the Convention Center windows while we rallied on Arch Street below. They’d been warned to remove their badges when leaving the building. It was very Ayn Rand. The speakers, the testimonies, the songs, the chants and street theatre were nothing short of spectacular. I suspect like many I am still processing it. And, yes, together we greeted them Philly-style…
For an amazing photo gallery of the event, visit the Shale Gas Outrage facebook page. My favorite image:
credit: © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net
#GovernorGashole
Meanwhile inside the industry conference, Shale Gas Insight, our governor, Tom Corbett, delivered an amped-up version of his usual anti-environment rhetoric. Pennsylvanians are being harmed by gas drilling, and by his administration’s weak environmental policies, though Corbett and the industry would like us ignore this fact. They say all energy production comes with “risks.” They need to say it the stricken farmer’s face, and to the grieving mother. Define “risks.”
For Immediate Release: September 21st, 2012:
“Shale Gas Outrage speakers, marchers push to stop fracking, support renewable energy, efficience, conservation”
credit: © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net
Protesters from shale gas “sacrifice zones” and downstream communities protest industry conference, press for fracking bans and moratoria
Contacts:
Iris Marie Bloom, Protecting Our Waters, 215-840-6489 protectingourwaters@gmail.com
Tracy Carluccio, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, 215-692-2329 tracy@delawareriverkeeper.org
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Philadelphia, PA – “The nearest wellpad was 4000 feet from my house. After my family’s water became saturated with methane, officials told us not to use the kitchen stove because it could cause a flash fire… My granddaughter began vomiting, and only got better after they brought us a water buffalo [tank for clean water],” Tammy Manning, one of many speakers whose lives have been turned upside down by gas drilling, told the crowd of about 1000 at Shale Gas Outrage yesterday in Philadelphia. Rally and march participants vowed to protect people in affected communities by demanding a moratorium on shale gas drilling. (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 