The Lack of Adequate Regulation of Fracking is a Moral Issue

by S. Tom Bond on May 20, 2014

Rev. Sally Bingham, Founder and President, Interfaith Power & Light

FROM: INTERFAITH POWER AND LIGHT

Dear Friends in the Marcellus Region,

Sometimes it seems that there are no limits to what people will do to avoid using the clean renewable energy that nature has provided.

The oil industry’s newest tactic is “fracking” – short for hydrofracturing. It involves injecting the earth with chemicals, diesel fuel, water and sand to unlock oil and gas. It can also release methane into the air and radioactive elements underground, contaminate groundwater and many believe that it could destabilize faults and create earthquakes.

But fracking is so minimally regulated that we don’t even know what chemicals are used or what health effects they may have. Click here to tell the EPA: It’s time to regulate fracking.

We need more information and better safeguards, so we can make informed decisions about the risks we are taking and the enormous amount of water used to extract the oil and gas.

We can’t allow fracking to continue without knowing the consequences. That’s why we need to protect nature right now and put stronger regulations on fracking. We have a moral imperative to speak up. Join us in asking the EPA for stronger regulations on fracking.

The scary stories keep piling up: first a Texas family suffering from migraines, nose bleeds and vomiting, and now a cascade of man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma. It’s critical that we find out if fracking is the cause.

From Pennsylvania to California, fracking is on the rise, and that means a real risk of more methane leaks (methane is a potent greenhouse gas) and compromised water supplies for hundreds of thousands of Americans.

It’s not right or sensible to take this kind of risk with our God-given resources and with human health.

Sign our petition today and tell the EPA: Unless and until we know for sure that fracking can be done safely, we need stronger safeguards put in place right away.

Thank you for helping us meet this challenge.

Rev. Sally Bingham, President, Interfaith Power & Light

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Susan @ IPL 7/15/14 July 15, 2014 at 10:42 pm

Great news — Interfaith Power & Light was featured on the front page of the website of USA Today, today July 15, 2014!

The article, “Taking to the pulpit against climate change,” features the work of IPL and our state affiliates to raise awareness of climate change in houses of worship across America. It profiles the growing religious movement to move the national conversation about climate change into the context of values by featuring Kansas IPL leader Rabbi Moti Rieber and national IPL founder Rev. Sally Bingham.

Yale climate communications scientist Anthony Leiserowitz is quoted saying that the faith-based embrace of the issue is “one of the most exciting things happening in this entire space.”

You’re an important member of our community, which is why I wanted to be sure you saw this inspiring USA Today article highlighting our work together. Now, we need your help to spread this article far and wide.

Share the article on Facebook with your friends and family to spread the word about how important the faith community is to the movement to address climate change.

You and I are part of a growing, powerful movement. Anthony Leiserowitz said it best when he said that the faithful are moving the climate change discussion beyond science and polar bears to “a whole different set of values. Not liberal vs.conservative, but now moral and religious … It can engage people in, I think, a particularly deep and powerful way.”

- Susan Stephenson at IPL

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