Tell Congress to Block Bailout of Fracking Industry

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

Fracking is dirty and dangerous — but the administration is proposing to give fracking companies a massive taxpayer bailout.¹

Our taxpayer dollars shouldn’t fuel fracking that harms our environment and communities, so we’re calling on Congress to block this bailout. Add your name at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=37253.

The White House is worried that economic instability surrounding the coronavirus is going to impact these companies’ ability to continue to produce fossil fuels — but harvesting more oil and gas that harms the planet should be far from our top priority right now.

Numerous research studies have shown that fracking is dangerous to our land, air and water. One study found more than 6,600 spills from fracking sites in just four states.²

Fracking also releases massive amounts of methane, an extremely powerful greenhouse gas responsible for at least 25 percent of global warming. Methane levels in our atmosphere had once started to level off — but when fracking began to surge, scientists saw methane begin to rise again.³

And even as fracking spills toxic chemicals and releases potent greenhouse gases, it’s also fueling our plastic waste crisis. More and more, plastic is being manufactured using ethane, a byproduct of fracking. A single facility under construction here in Pennsylvania will produce more than 1.6 million tons of plastic every single year from fracking.⁴

It’s bad for our environment and the climate. Why should we bail out the companies responsible for this environmental destruction?

Send a message to Congress to let your elected officials know that you oppose bailing out fracking companies.

Between the risk of explosions and spills, the toxic threat to our groundwater, the damage drilling operations do to wildlife habitat, and the devastating impact of methane on the climate — there are countless reasons we should quit fracking as soon as possible.

That’s why we can’t let this administration bailout become a reality.

Take action today.

1. Jeff Stein, Will Englund, Steven Mufson and Robert Costa, “White House likely to pursue federal aid for shale companies hit by oil shock, coronavirus downturn,” The Washington Post, March 10, 2020.
   2. “Study finds 6,600 spills from fracking in just four states,” Phys.org, February 21, 2017.
   3. Johnathan Watts, “Oil and gas firms ‘have had far worse climate impact than thought’,” The Guardian, February 19, 2020.
   4. Beth Gardiner, “The Plastics Pipeline: A Surge of New Production Is on the Way,” Yale 360, December 19, 2019.