From Clean Water Action (http://www.cleanwateraction.org/):
We all stand with Ukraine and agree that the tragedy is cause to reexamine our reliance on foreign energy. However, our energy freedom should come from greater investments in renewable energy sources. Yet some state legislators are seizing on the crisis to push bills (House Bills 2450, 2451, 2458 and 2461) that expand fracking. Sadly, these bills already passed the State House. But there’s still time to urge your state senator and the governor to oppose them – contact your elected officials today at https://cleanwater.salsalabs.org/pa-stop-fracking-expansion-2022/index.html!
HB 2461 reopens our state parks and forests to fracking from well pads outside their borders. Even just proximity to fracking activities puts them at risk. Additional fracking results in noise and light disturbance from heavy machinery, construction of new roads and pipelines, and increased truck traffic which can disturb wildlife. Then there’s contamination from spills of toxic wastewater, ground water contamination, and air pollution. Pollution knows no boundaries and when they escape from a site they have the potential to impact portions of our state forests and parks.
HB 2450 and 2451 seek to create situations to overturn the fracking ban within the Delaware River Basin. This would put at risk the more than 13 million people who rely upon the Basin’s waters for their drinking water. This river is also a tourist destination and economic lifeblood for many surrounding communities and local businesses.
HB 2458 sets the stage to make Philadelphia a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. It’s unwise to invest further resources (financial, time or people power) into efforts that will take us away from our climate goals by locking us into fracking. In additional, there are potential issues associated with the transportation of the gas. When considering the build out of pipelines for transport, just look at the Mariner East Pipeline project which caused spills into wetlands and waterways, led to dangerous sinkholes, polluted drinking water supplies and resulted in 48 criminal charges being levied by the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Alternative transportation options, like rail cars whose routes go through our neighborhoods can be equally reckless by exposing residents to the potentially catastrophic public safety effects if a container is punctured or explodes during an accident, derailment or other incident.
These bills not only set a wrong direction when it comes to our energy future but they revive policies that could have negative consequences on our health and environment. Tell your state senator and the governor to oppose these bills.
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