TAKE ACTION THIS APRIL IN PENNSYLVANIA!
Organizations across the state are planning actions this month to call on the DEP to put the “public” back in “public agency” and to demand a moratorium on drilling in PA! Be a part of the movement to take PA back from the drillers! Here’s how you can get involved!
APRIL 10th – RALLY TO CHALLENGE DEP ON WATER AND FRACKING
Join Clean Water Action, Gas Truth of Central PA, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Mountain Watershed Association, Earthworks, Lehigh Valley Gas Truth, Sierra Club-PA Chapter, PennEnvironment, and Berks Gas Truth at DEP headquarters in Harrisburg to tell the DEP we’re tired of waiting for answers to our questions on fracking and water. The citizens of Pennsylvania deserve better than they’ve gotten from the DEP! We’ll rally outside the DEP’s main office in Harrisburg at 11:30 and then head inside with thousands of letters from people around the state calling for answers to ask why they’ve been ignored!
APRIL 22nd – EARTH DAY PROTEST AT REGIONAL DEP OFFICES CALLING ON DEP TO FULFILL ITS MISSION AND STOP FRACKING
In what has become an Earth Day tradition, rallies are planned for regional DEP offices across the state and you’re invited! The Green Party of PA, Mountain Watershed Association, and more than 40 other groups are coordinating the rallies to make the following demands:
• Appoint an environmental expert without industry ties as DEP Secretary to ensure DEP’s mission is fulfilled;
• Place a moratorium on permits for gas wells, compressor stations, pipelines, water withdrawals, coal mines, and other infrastructure related to fossil fuel extraction;
• Allow no more toxic secrets and full disclosure of water tests and other studies by DEP;
• Provide justice for those harmed by the oil and gas industry; and
• Reopen the DEP Office of Energy and Technology Deployment to develop solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies.
APRIL 30th – HELP US DELIVER 100,000 PETITION SIGNATURES TO CORBETT DEMANDING A MORATORIUM ON DRILLING!
PennEnvironment is closing in on their target of 100,000 signatures from Pennsylvanians on a petition calling for a moratorium in PA. Many organizations and individuals have been helping PennEnvironment reach their goal. We’ll all be in the rotunda at the Capitol at 12:30 on April 30th for a rally before we head to Corbett’s office to deliver the petitions! If you haven’t signed the petition yet, click on the link above! Then, please share it with your friends! And check back for more details about the rally as they’re announced! We’d love to see you there!
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution
At Issue
Natural gas drilling of shale formations threatens Pennsylvania’s natural resources, the health and well-being of its citizens, and its scenic beauty. Berks Gas Truth is a grassroots citizens’ group fighting to bring an end to unconventional natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. On our site, you’ll find news and information on the many issues surrounding natural gas drilling, details of upcoming events, and suggestions of actions YOU can take!
Holly says:
Looking forward to checking your new site out often! Way to go!
Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper says:
Great to have such a good source of information; Berks needs you as do the rest of us working so hard together to protect ourselves from the ravages of gas drilling.
david fischer says:
the greed of these people is beyond belief
Sarah Caspar says:
I agree with Maya
Michael Shaw says:
Doing the right thing feels good. When it involves children and their future, it is a no-brainer, right? Here is your chance. Everything you need to do something meaningful for someone you know is right in front of you. it doesn’t cost anything but a few minutes of your time. And lest you think it can wait, it can’t. Twenty four hours a day, eight days a week, gas driller are pumping millions or carcinogenic chemicals into the land that is your water source and hoping they don’t come back up. Guess what?
Kathy L. Roland says:
I would like to get involved. I have already written various agencies, but I would like to be involved with a local organization.
My husband and I recently installed a solar system and hot water system
and I am very afraid for our future as a state and the distruction this
mining brings with it.
Thanks
Denise Lee Anson County Water, Air, Land and Lives says:
May we use the Mother Earth Logo?
admin says:
Hi Denise!
Sorry to be so slow to respond. I remembered seeing your message somewhere, but I was in Phila all weekend to do a talk and couldn’t remember where I’d seen when I got back online. Would it be possible to put a gastruth.org link with it? Let me know if that doesn’t make sense. We’re definitely more interested in getting the word out about the issues than anything else.
Dona Pickard says:
Hi guys,
I’m writing from Bulgaria (Europe) where we just got a ban on fracking but the gas lobbies have upped their act and are pushing the government really hard to withdraw the ban. We are getting together with Romanian, German and British activists to organize an international anti-fracking pressure group. If you think we can help each other in our common fight, as well as coordinate simultaneous events, please get in touch! Not sure if I can publish a link or an email address here, so I’ll be keeping an eye on the responses here!
admin says:
Hi Dona!
We all need to work together on this and, in fact, we here in Pennsylvania hear from lots of groups here and in other countries who want to avoid becoming Pennsylvania. The situation is very bad here.
Dona Pickard says:
Thanks a lot for the response! Yes, we are trying to avoid the danger – but are faced with very powerful lobbies, who say that accidents are very rare and exaggerated and that Americans are all very happy that the price of gas has gone down since the beginning of shale gas extraction and that we (the activists) are Russian agents, who want to preserve the gas dependence on Russia…
So, anyway, we’ll soon ask groups around the world to sign a support letter for our actions and a petition as well, I’ll let you know about that! If we can do anything specific for you, send an email!!
Roscoe McCloskey says:
We are ready to help and be helped here in Lycoming County. We are getting hit pretty hard by the gas industry here, but I was in West Virginia a few months ago and what I saw there puts me in a panic for our future here! Please contact me if you have any ideas that I can help with.
admin says:
Hi Roscoe!
Thanks for your message! There’s PLENTY you can do!! If you’re not already planning on it, you may want to join us in Washington, D.C. on July 28th for Stop the Frack Attack, a rally at the Capitol. There are buses leaving from many areas of PA and I just saw that there are 14 people from Williamsport looking to get on a bus, so there may be something arranged very near you. There’s also a big rally in September in Philadelphia when the industry has its convention there. The event is called Shale Gas Outrage 2 and I’ll be posting much more on it as we have more details to share, but save the date September 20th if you’re interested in attending.
We always need help getting the word out. Right now, many around the state are fighting the new law, Act 13, that takes our local control away. I can give you a crash course in how to approach your municipality if you’re interested. Of course, we always need people writing to their legislators, submitting public comments to the EPA and DEP, and writing Letters to the Editor. You have an excellent organization in your area called Responsible Drilling Alliance. You should definitely check them out! http://responsibledrillingalliance.org/
I’m so glad you’re interested in getting involved. The best thing you can do is to tell everyone you know about truth behind all the hype!
Karen Feridun
Founder, Berks Gas Truth
Elizabeth Donohoe says:
PLEASE GET THIS ON YOUR BLOGS AND OUT TO YOUR MEMBERS!
Hello farming friends and those who want clean, safe food:
I created a petition at Change.org: Farm Aid Concert artists Willie Nelson, Neil Young and others: Speak AGAINST FRACKING at the FARM AID Concert in Hershey, PA, on Sept.22.
I need you to sign it and send it on to all of your members and friends.
Here’s what it says:
We, family farmers and those of us who who eat their food, are deeply concerned about fracking for natural gas. We want safe water and air for our families, animals and crops. We don’t want toxins whose names we can’t pronounce, whose ill effects are being minimized, and whose early victims are already silenced by legal gag orders.
We appeal to the very soul of Farm Aid — an organization dedicated to keeping the family farm alive — to founder Willie Nelson, to Neil Young, to John Mellencamp and to Dave Matthews: On September 22nd, from the stage at the Farm Aid Concert in Hershey, PA, denounce the fracking of farmlands across the country, where the food that grows a strong America comes from. Say loudly and clearly what we all know to be true: Fracking threatens the American heartland, farmers livelihoods, and ultimately our lives.
I’m trying to collect thousands of signatures VERY QUICKLY, and I could really use your help.
To sign my petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/farm-aid-concert-artists-willie-nelson-neil-young-and-others-speak-loudly-against-fracking-at-farm-aid-concert-on-sept-22?share_id=PgcfApCFyJ&utm_campaign=petition_creator_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
Or: http://http//www.change.org/petitions/willie-nelson-and-friends-speak-against-fracking-at-the-farm-aid-concert-on-sept-22
Send it on to your friends and family, please.
Thank you, friends!
Elizabeth
Mark Grinstead says:
This is great, everyone knows water is the most precious resource in the entire world and is becoming even more so every single day sooo let’s poison it all so we can get some more energy some more of dhem kilowatts and so some greedy SOB’s can have another car and mayba another house somewhere, a bit more green in the pockets yo. So I guess we can all lay down and let these guys run us over us run this country over poison it OR mayba we can get up and put up a fight to save this awesome land of The United States of America and it’s resources most especially the water for the children and for the future people to come. This can’t be allowed to happen! This isn’t right! Fracking is a monumental and unspeakable disastrous tragedy. Anyone with any common sense knows this! How can such a thing happen in an modern age of science and intelligent people. Subjugate the Environmental Agency, they aren’t important they just look after the earth oh and get in way. How does this happen? I know how, it’s got to be either pure stupidity or just plain greed. Is greed really that strong? Answer, hell yes it is and it always has been. It’s sad, so sad, but more so it is evil – and against that we must fight. Ready, set, … – - – BRING IT.
Mary Kane says:
Where can we see a map of the proposed route?
admin says:
Hi Mary!
I’ve added the map from the Commonwealth Pipeline website to our Pipelines page. The direct link to their site is: http://www.commonwealthpipeline.com/Pipeline/Default.aspx. The only other map I’ve seen is a map of the route through Warwick Township that isn’t terribly detailed either. We used it as the background of the invitation to the public meeting you can find in the posts under the category “The Latest” on the right column above.
Thanks!
Karen
Dana Diefenbach says:
HI,
There will be a meeting at the Warwick Township Blgd on Rte 23 Wed., January 9th at 7pm. regarding the Commonwealth Pipeline. As a resident of East Nantmeal we are extremely worried about this project and what it will do to all of our neighboring townships. We are working to educate residents in our area with the hopes that as a collective we can fight this pipeline project. Our communities have worked too hard to preserve our open spaces and waterways to see this happen.
Thank you and thank you for all of your hard work and passion to want to save our land and waterways.
Best,
Dana
john heckman says:
Rally for clean water and the calling out of Mike Krancen, April 10 at 11:30. meet at 400 Market St. Harrisburg, PADEP Headquarters. lets call out Krancen on withholding information from landowners water test reports.