Largest Petition Ever In Pennsylvania, And It Calls For A Fracking Moratorium

100,000 Pennsylvanians

April 30, 2013 is an historic day. 

On this date, a coalition of environmental organizations and anti-fracking activists deliver the largest petition ever submitted to the Pennsylvania state legislature. It calls for a moratorium on new shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

The petition, Protect Pennsylvania From Gas Drilling, includes the names and signatures of more than 100,000 Pennsylvania residents, and it sends a stunning message to state legislators and the shale gas industry. This is what it says:  

Dear [Decision Maker],

Gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale has become one of the greatest threats to Pennsylvania's environment and public health in decades, including:

* Contaminating drinking water supplies;
* Destroying our state forestlands;
* Increasing air pollution.

I am asking you to support a moratorium on further shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania until it is proven safe for our environment and the public's health.

Sincerely,

Over 8,982 unconventional shale gas well have been fracked in Pennsylvania, and perhaps thousands of new drilling permits have been issued, while exactly $0 have been spent to study the health, environmental or economic impacts. In sharp contrast, New York State Governor Cuomo recently upheld his state's moratorium on shale gas drilling in order to study the health impacts more thoroughly. 

According to PennEnvironment: "Gas drillers have already committed more than 3,000 environmental violations and the state is withholding information about the results of water tests for Pennsylvanians at risk, putting gas drillers before our health."

Originated and maintained by PennEnvironment, the petition is supported by a broad coalition of environmental groups across the state, including:

• PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center
• Berks Gas Truth
• Clean Water Action
• Credo
• Delaware Riverkeeper Network
• Democracy For America
• Environmental Action
• Food And Water Watch
• Keystone Progress
• Mountain Watershed Association
• Protecting Our Waters
• 350.org

Iris Marie Bloom, Protecting Our Waters, shares her account of why this moratorium is so timely and so necessary in A Call To Action: Moratorium Action on April 30th! by Sarah Lowry:

"As Pennsylvania communities are fractured, residents and workers are suffering both the health impacts and the quality of life impacts which make life unbearable for many in shale country. The drilling and fracking is terrible, causing methane migration and a 'roulette' in which some water is contaminated, some not; it kills animals through spills, illegal dumping, access to toxic frack waste ponds; it causes erosion, fish kills, and more. But the infrastructure — flares, waste pits, compressor stations, separators, dehydrators and many other toxic fume-emitting components of shale gas development — is even more overwhelming.

"Economists find that dairy production is going down in shale country. Yesterday I met yet another farmer from Bradford County, PA who has relocated out of state because fracking surrounds her farm. Workers are getting skin lesions and going to the emergency room for little-understood illnesses; residents are being forced out of their homes at times with respiratory distress, nosebleeds, scorched throats from flaring, and other impacts. IT’S TIME TO CALL A HALT!"

Having collected a few of those signatures myself, at places like Philly Farm Fest and The Pennsylvania Farm Show - a mere drop in the bucket compared to the tireless efforts of many! - I can tell you that Pennsylvanians are now becoming more fully aware of the problems and dangers associated with hydraulic fracturing. Most people agree, we need more information and greater protection before shale gas drilling can be deemed completely safe. When our water, soil and air are at risk, it seems I’m not the only one who's unwilling to take it on faith that this industry will “get gas right.”

PennEnvironment: Gas Drilling Is Leaving A Trail Of Pollution Across Pennsylvania

According to Erika Staaf, PennEnvironment Clean Water Advocate, “The faster the gas industry grows, the bigger the swath of destruction it leaves across Pennsylvania. Already, gas companies have contaminated our drinking water with benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and other dangerous contaminants; dumped under-treated wastewater in rivers and streams from the Monongahela to Neshaminy Creek; and clearcut our state forestland to make way for gas wells."

PennEnvironment’s Marcellus Shale Stories introduces viewers to the impacts of shale gas production in several concise video presentations covering the major issues: Family Health; Water Contamination; Property Value; Farming & Food; State Forests; Heritage Places and Downstream Impacts.

For a link to the LIVE FEED of the Petition Delivery and Press Conference held on the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg on April 30, 2013 visit EnvironmentalAction: Don't Frack PA