A letter from THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, and a bunch of her anti-fossil fuel (wacko) pals to America's most liberal governor, PA Gov. Tom Wolf, asking him to immediately suspend all further Marcellus drilling in the state and while he's at it, stop building any new pipelines.
Letter to PA Gov. Wolf from Anti-Fossil Fuel Organizations Asking Him to Stop All Fracking/Pipeline Construction
1. The Honorable Tom Wolf
Governor
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
Dear Governor Wolf,
We, the undersigned, are representatives of communities and organizations
fighting and harmed by the massive expansion of gas infrastructure throughout
the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States being driven by shale
gas extraction in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Our homes,
neighborhoods, water, air, land, precious environment and the health and safety
of our families are threatened by each new shale gas well drilled and fracked,
each new mile of pipeline or pipeline expansion, each new compressor station,
natural gas power plant, storage facility, LNG facility, or processing facility
currently being proposed and built throughout the East Coast. Drilling and
fracking operations in Pennsylvania and throughout the Marcellus Shale are
driving that build-out of gas infrastructure. Conversely, every completed
infrastructure project demands and advances more wells, more drilling and
fracking and all of the public health impacts, damage to local economies, and
environmental degradation it brings.
We are writing to demand that you immediately shut down Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force,
stop the drilling and fracking that is poisoning the people of Pennsylvania by
enacting an immediate moratorium, help the people of Pennsylvania who are
suffering the negative health impacts from drilling and fracking operations, and
lead Pennsylvania in charting a path to a dependence on clean and renewable
energy options rather than continuing the state’s legacy of dirty fossil fuels.
In addition to all of the damage drilling, fracking and increased gas infrastructure
will do to our homes, communities and states, increasing and supporting this
industrial expansion will significantly exacerbate climate change given increased
carbon pollution including methane leaks, thereby threatening present and future
generations with catastrophic weather events, floods and drought. According to
the International Panel on Climate Change, methane is a particularly potent form
of carbon, 86 times worse for the climate than carbon dioxide over 20 years and
34 times worse over 100 years. Climate scientists agree that approximately
eighty percent of fossil fuels in the ground today need to stay there. Our planet
cannot take another decade of rampant and increasing drilling and shale gas
extraction.
In spite of all this, you, Governor Wolf, have assembled a Pipeline Infrastructure
Task Force intended to, in Secretary Quigley’s words, “build public acceptance”
2. of increased drilling, fracking and pipelines in Pennsylvania and throughout the
Eastern United States. It is somehow your belief that having representatives of
EQT, Rice Energy, Shell, Southwestern, Talisman Energy/Repsol, Range
Resources, Sunoco Logistics, CONE Midstream Partners, Kinder Morgan,
MarkWest, and Williams sit down with local, county, and state officials will serve
the public good, when in fact we know the opposite is true - the public will be
damaged by your Administration’s concerted effort to drive the expansion of
more pipelines and increase drilling and fracking in Pennsylvania.
Supporting ongoing and increased shale gas extraction and all of its
infrastructure puts the needs of the industry over the needs of the people. People
have lost their homes and loved ones to natural gas explosions; have lost their
own health to the damage brought by drilling and fracking; have lost the clean
water, air, forests and lands they need to live healthy lives; have lost value in
their properties to such a degree that they have no option but to stay and suffer;
and whose quality of life is all but gone.
Governor Wolf, your actions have ramifications far beyond your state’s borders.
We are calling on you to shut down the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force
immediately, to enact a moratorium on the drilling and fracking in Pennsylvania
that is driving the massive proliferation of pipelines, compressors and other
infrastructure in other states, help the people of Pennsylvania who are suffering
negative health impacts from years of drilling and fracking operations, and lead
Pennsylvania in charting a new course to clean and renewable energy.
Sincerely,
350 Bucks County PA
Jasmine Spence, Co-Leader
Pennsylvania
350 CT
Diane Lentakis, Steering Committee
Connecticut
350NJ
Rosemary Carey, Organizer
New Jersey
Advocates for Cherry Valley
Lynn Ellen Marsh, President
New York
Alliance for a Green Economy
Jessica Azulay
New York
BCMAC
Bob Schmetzer
Pennsylvania
Berks Gas Truth
Karen Feridun, Founder
Pennsylvania
Berkshire Environmental Action
Team
Jane Winn, Executive Director
Massachusetts
3. Breathe Easy Susquehanna
County
Rebecca Roter, Chairperson
Pennsylvania
Bucks Concerned Citizens Against
the Pipeline
Arianne Elinich
Pennsylvania
Bus For Progress
Kathy Maher, Treasurer
New Jersey
Calvert Citizens for a Healthy
Community
Tracey Eno, Spokesperson
Maryland
Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy
Bruce Ferguson
New York
Citizens for Clean Water
Vera Scroggins
Pennsylvania
Citizens for Water
Joe Levine
New York
Citizens United for Renewable
Energy (CURE)
Georgina Shanley, Co-Founder
New Jersey
Clean Water Action – MA
Joel Wool, Advocate: Energy and
Environment
Massachusetts
Clean Water Action – National
John Noel, Oil & Gas Campaigns
Coordinator
Washington, D.C.
Clean Water Action – NJ
David Pringle, Campaign Director
New Jersey
Clean Water Action – PA
Steve Hvozdovich, Campaign
Coordinator
Pennsylvania
Climate Action Now Western
Massachusetts
Susan Theberge, Steering Committee
Massachusetts
ClimateMama
Harriet Shugarman, Executive
Director
New Jersey
Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline
Maureen Brodt, Northern Group
Leader
New Jersey
Coastal Monmouth Democratic
Club
Kathy Maher, President
New Jersey
Compressor Free Franklin
Donald Hebbard, President
New York
Concerned Burlington Neighbors
Suzy Winkler, Co-founder
New York
Concerned Residents of Oxford
Dan Taylor, Co-founder
New York
Damascus Citizens for
Sustainability
B. Arrindell
Pennsylvania
4. Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware
Riverkeeper
Pennsylvania
Dryden Resource Awareness
Coalition (DRAC)
Judy Pierpont, Founding Member
New York
DTCAP
Tullis C. Onstott
New Jersey
Durham CCAP
Ann Marshall
Pennsylvania
Elk County C.A.R.E.S.
Mike Kamandulis, President
Pennsylvania
Energy Justice Network
Alex Lotorto, Shale Gas Program
Coordinator
Pennsylvania
Food & Water Watch
Sam Bernhardt, Senior Pennsylvania
Organizer
Pennsylvania
Food & Water Watch of Gloucester
County
Michael DeLozier, Co-Organizer
New Jersey
Food & Water Watch of Gloucester
County
Suzan Preiksat, Co-Organizer
New Jersey
Fossil Free & Green NY
Stacey Smith, Director
New York
Frack Action
Julia Walsh, Campaign Director
New York
Gandhi Earth Keepers International
George Payne, Director
New York
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez, MD, President
Pennsylvania
Gas Free Seneca
Yvonne Taylor, Vice President
New York
Gas Truth of Central Pennsylvania
Susan Norris, Founding Member
Pennsylvania
Grassroots Environmental
Education
Patricia J Wood, Executive Director
New York
Green Sanctuary Committee,
CCNY,UU
Gusti Bogok, Chair
New York
Hilltown Community Rights
Jim Cutler, Founder
Massachusetts
Howard County Climate Change
Elisabeth Hoffman, Advocacy Team
Member
Maryland
Lebanon Pipeline Awareness
Ann Pinca, President
Pennsylvania
5. Mamaki
Tara Gallagher, CEO
New York
Marcellus Outreach Butler
Diane Sipe, President
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts Pipeline Awareness
Network
Kathryn Eiseman, Director
Massachusetts
Milford Doers
Otto Butz, President
New York
Millers River Watershed Council
Ivan Ussach, Watershed Coordinator
Massachusetts
Minisink Matters
Asha Canalos, Co-Founder
New York
Mohawk Valley Keeper
John Valentine, Founder
New York
Myersville Citizens for a Rural
Community
Ann Nau, Vice President
Maryland
New Hampshire Pipeline
Awareness Network (NHPLAN)
David J. Moloney, Chairperson
New Hampshire
New Jersey Highlands Coalition
Elliott Ruga, Policy Director
New Jersey
New Jersey Sierra Club
Jeff Tittel, Director
New Jersey
New Jersey Tenants Organization
Matt Shapiro, President
New Jersey
New Yorkers for Sustainable
Energy Solutions Statewide
Michael Lebron, Principal
New York
NJ Industrial Union Council
Carol Gay, President
New Jersey
No Fracked Gas in Mass
Rosemary Wessel, Founder
Massachusetts
No Gas Pipeline
Dale Hardman
New Jersey
Northern NJ Chapter, National
Organization for Women
Bonnie Shapiro, President
New Jersey
North Jersey Pipeline Walkers
Diane Wexler, Co-Founder
New Jersey
Nuclear Information & Resource
Service
Timothy Judson, Executive Director
Maryland
NY State Council of Churches
The Rev. Brooke Newell, Director of
Social Witness
New York
6. NYH2O
Buck Moorhead
New York
Otsego 2000, Inc.
Nicole A. Dillingham, Board President
New York
PASNAP
Patricia Eakin, RN, President
Pennsylvania
Patriots From the Marcellus Shale
Craig Stevens, Founder
Pennsylvania
Peace Action Staten Island
Richard Greve, Co-Chair
New York
Peacemakers of Schoharie County,
NY
Wayne Stinson
New York
Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens
Group
Maria Payan, Executive Director
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean
Water and Air
Jenny Lisak, Co-Director
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Rev. Sandra L. Strauss
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvanians Against Fracking
Karen Feridun, Steering Committee
Member
Pennsylvania
Plymouth Friends of Clean Water
Peter Hudiburg, Founder
New York
Pro Se
Dr. Arnold Piacentini
Massachusetts
Pro Se
Maura Stephens
New York
QUENCHNJ
Diane Burke
New Jersey
R-CAUSE
Anna Sears, Co-Founder
New York
Reach Out America
Patricia Katz, Green Committee Chair
New York
Reynolds Hills, Inc.
Nancy Vann, President
New York
Riegelsville CCAP
Elizabeth Balogh, Associate Director
Pennsylvania
Rising Tide Philadelphia
Sam Koplinka-Loehr
Pennsylvania
Roseland Against the Compressor
Station (RACS)
Mary Kushner, Founding Member
New Jersey
SAPE
Susan McDonnell, Co-Founder
New York
7. Save Lake Arthur Watershed
Connie L Fleeger, Organizer
Pennsylvania
SEnRG
Courtney M. Williams, PhD
New York
Shale Justice Coalition
John A. Trallo, Executive Vice-
Chairman
Pennsylvania
Sierra Club Atlantic (NYS) Chapter
Carl Arnold, Chair
New York
Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
Thomas Au, Conservation Chair
Pennsylvania
Sisters of St. Francis of
Philadelphia
Nora M. Nash, Director
Pennsylvania
Southeast Communities Against
Pollution (SECAP)
Russell S. Donnelly, Chairman
Maryland
Southern African Faith
Communities' Environment
Institute
Dr Stefan Cramer, Science Advisor
South Africa
Southern Cayuga Anti-Fracking
Alliance
Michael Gorr, Co-Coordinator
New York
Stop New York Fracked Gas
Pipeline
Becky Meier, Co-Founder
New York
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline
Expansion
Susan Van Dolsen
New York
Stop the Pipeline
Allegra Schecter, Steering Committee
New York
StopNED
Cathy Kristofferson, Co-Founder
Massachusetts
Sustainable Otsego
Adrian Kuzminski, Moderator
New York
The Mothers Project
Angela Monti Fox, Founder
New York
Transition Newton & Northwest NJ
Kim Latham, Co-Initiator
New Jersey
Upper Burrell CAMP, Citizens
Against Marcellus Pollution
Ron Slabe, Spokesperson
Pennsylvania
UUPLAN
Anita Mentzer, Director
Pennsylvania
WDRP - West Dryden Residents
Against the Pipeline
Linda Parks, Founding Member
New York
We Are Cove Point
Tracey Eno, Member
Maryland
8. We The People Matter
Asha Canalos, Co-Founder
New York
Weaving Wholeness
Ellen Weaver, Director
Pennsylvania
Williams Township Concerned
Citizens Against the Pipeline
Laura Pritchard, Member
Pennsylvania
Women of the Earth
Eurhi Jones, Co-Founder
Pennsylvania