Philadelphia Shale Gas Outrage Rally

Thousands Rally in “Global Frackdown”

Saturday people from all over the world hosted events to ban fracking. From New York, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and San Francisco, across the U.S. to Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), to Capetown (South Africa), and in Europe, people gathered to protect human health and the environment from the risks associated with fracking. Global Frackdown is the first coordinated international day of action against fracking that united activists on five continents at more than 150 events calling for a ban on fracking in their communities and to advocate for the development of clean, sustainable energy solutions.

“The events taking place around the world as part of the Global Frackdown prove that people are tired of the lies from big oil and gas,” said Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America. “Time and again, studies prove fracking is unsafe—for our communities, our families and our country. We’ve learned our lessons from Love Canal and the Horizon oil spill—when money is involved, corporations lie to the people to keep their profits up. It’s time to end the lies.” 

 “This past summer, we’ve gotten one stark reminder after another of the human and economic costs of a climate system starting to spiral out of control,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. “Substituting one bad fossil for another doesn’t solve the climate crisis. But the good news is that communities all over the world aren’t buying what the oil and gas industry is selling—more extreme energy fueling more extreme weather. They’re organizing inspiring actions all over the world to turn up the heat on the fossil fuel industry and its bought-and-paid-for political cronies.”

At the Cincinnati Frackdown in Ohio, the people met in Piatt Park to hear speakers and take action on the local, state and federal levels. Speakers conveyed the need to be good stewards of the Earth, frustration with state laws that make it difficult for local communities to protect human health and safety, and the need for a statewide ban on fracking. After the rally, protestors marched to Cincinnati City Hall to recognize the strong stand Cincinnati has taken against fracking.

Photos are still coming in from this tremendous day of action across the globe to ban fracking.

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1,000 Protesters in Philly for Shale Gas Outrage 

Protecting Our Waters and Delaware Riverkeeper Network

More than 1,000 people from Pennsylvania and the shale regions of neighboring New York, Ohio, West Virginia and beyond, along with downstreamers from Maryland and Delaware, joined together to protest the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s industry convention in downtown Philadelphia on September 20, making a unified statement to “Stop Fracking Now.”

This Shale Gas Outrage was led by Protecting Our Waters and endorsed by more than 45 organizations, all calling for a moratorium on shale gas development wherever it is occurring. 

A boisterous march through Philadelphia streets followed the high-energy rally. Marchers stopped at four locations to bring the message of Stop Fracking Now. At President Barack Obama’s election campaign headquarters, marchers demanded “Not One More Drop” be withdrawn from the Susquehanna River for fracking. President Obama votes through the Army Corps of Engineers on the Susquehanna and Delaware River Basin Commissions. Marchers also demanded sustainable, clean energy instead of shale gas and fossil fuels. Marchers confronted PNC Bank (heavily invested in shale gas development and mountaintop removal), Governor Tom Corbett’s office (for a statewide moratorium and to stop polluting our communities and environment) and the PA Chamber of Commerce (which has opposed regulating greenhouse gas emissions and aggressively promotes shale gas exports overseas).

Speakers included Josh Fox, Bill McKibben, Maya van Rossum, Sandra Steingraber, Stephen Cleghorn, Stewart Acuff, Wes Gillingham, John Scorsone, Wenonah Hauter and Doug Shields. Members of Pennsylvania communities impacted by gas extraction and development also had the chance to speak at the rally, including Tammy Manning and her granddaughter Madison from Susquehanna County; farmers Carol French and Carolyn Knapp from Bradford County; Craig Stevens of Susquehanna County; Mary Rodriguez, a nurse from Luzerne County, and Kevin Heatley, an ecologist from Lycoming County also spoke at the rally. Musical talent contributed to the day, including Rhetta Morgan, singer from Philadelphia; Spiritchild from Brooklyn; singer song writer Zach Freidhof, and Pennsylvania guitarist Freebo.

Two of the speakers verged on tears as they described the hardships and losses their families have suffered due to the rush to drill. Bradford County dairy farmer Carol French explained in her talk about her daughter who experienced abdominal pain and an enlarged spleen and liver after their water was fouled by shale gas drilling.

“The nearest wellpad was 4,000 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],” said Tammy Manning, one of many speakers whose lives have been turned upside down by gas drilling.

On Friday, September 21, participants attended the Health Impacts Symposium at College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19. S. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA.

Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.

“Stop the Frack Attack” Rally in D.C.

Over 5,000 People Unite in DC to Protest Fracking 

Stefanie Spear, www.ecowatch.org            

Date: July 28, 2012

More than 5,000 people from all over the nation, and various parts of the world including Australia, united today on the West lawn of the U.S. Capitol demanding Congress take immediate action to stop fracking. After the rally that began at 2 p.m., rally participants marched for more than one hour, stopping at the headquarters of the America’s Natural Gas Alliance and American Petroleum Institute.

People impacted by fracking in their communities joined forces with 136 local and national organizations to call on Congress to Stop the Frack Attack and protect Americans from the dangerous impacts of fracking.

Rally speakers included, Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org; Josh Fox, producer of Gasland; Calvin Tillman, former mayor of Dish, Texas; Allison Chin, board president of the Sierra Club, and community members from swing states affected by fracking.

“As the increasingly bizarre weather across the planet and melting ice on Greenland makes clear, at this point we’ve got no choice but to keep fossil fuels underground. Fracking to find more is the worst possible idea,” said McKibben. “The amazing thing about this problem is that there’s a solution… We know that we can run the world on renewable energy. We know that we can run the world on the wind. And today, we have a reminder that we can run the world on the sun,” said Fox.

Today’s rally was part of the first national event to stop the frack attack. The rally is the culmination of three days of training to further escalate the movement to stop abuse by the fossil fuel industry. Large groups from swing states including Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Carolina attended the training and rally to make sure that fracking is a key part of the upcoming election.

“Just weeks ago in North Carolina, our legislature ripped up decades of groundwater protections for rural drinking water, in order to allow fracking and invite in dirty industry campaign dollars. So we add our voices to the national movement calling on Congress to protect our homes, our drinking water and our health by repealing the 2005 oil and gas exemptions,” said Hope Taylor, a farmer near Durham and executive director of Clean Water for NC.

Rally participants have three key demands: an end to dirty and dangerous fracking, closure of the seven legal loopholes that let frackers in the oil and gas industry ignore the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and full enforcement of existing laws to protect families and communities from the effects of fracking.

“It is time for us to come together as a people and let the law makers that work for us know that we are tired of being run over by the out-of-control oil and gas industry,” said Tillman.

While at the headquarters of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, rally organizers delivered six jugs of contaminated water in hazmat suits and then headed to the American Petroleum Institute where a 20-foot-high mock oil rig was smashed to the ground.

This event was a launching point for the movement, and will be followed by events in Albany, NY on Aug. 25, Philadelphia on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, and subsequent events in other states and regions affected by fracking.

Note Added: The WV Sierra Club provided motor coach (bus) transportation from Morgantown, used by 41 marchers for this event.  A number of other West Virginians were in attendance including many from the Doddridge County Watershed Association.

To see additional photos from the Stop the Frack Attack rally and march, visit EcoWatch’s Facebook page.