Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Time to Fight: The Scarnatti Fracking Bill

If you want your tap water to KEEP looking like this, it's time to FIGHT.

Posted by: Noël Jones


In the most recent episode of Pennsylvania citizens' fight to protect our tap water from contamination by carcinogens, neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors, radioactive material and methane due to hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for natural gas, there are some new twists. These drillers are sociopaths, they do not care how many residents get sick to fatten their profit margin, and they have the best lawyers and lobbyists that money can buy, which means they are forever coming up with new ways to screw The People and buy off our elected officials on both sides of the aisle so that they can continue to drill free of regulation, poisoning our drinking water while they get rich.


Below is a message from Tracy Carluccio of the The Delaware Riverkeeper with specific action we can take to fight these bastards (oh, I'm sorry--did that sound "unbalanced?"):





Joint message from DRN and Earthworks
No trading local rights for drilling fees!


Pennsylvania’s elected officials are finally considering legislation to make gas companies pay something for the pollution, infrastructure damage, and accidents they cause.

But a bill by Senate President Joe Scarnati would force municipalities to trade their zoning rights for revenues by promoting a “model” ordinance. The ordinance would force communities to allow more drilling and less restrictions on those activities.

Now out of committee, SB1100 could get to the Senate floor for a vote at any moment.  If the Bill passes, local zoning authority will be gutted.  Knowing how ineffective state and federal regulations are, this will mean communities will be even more vulnerable than they are today.

Opposition to the bill is growing among citizens and legislators who understand that local zoning rights are part of a democratic society and critical to protect health and the environment. (Read a letter to the General Assembly signed by 30 organizations detailing the reasons why they oppose the bill at 
http://earthworksaction.org/publications.cfm?pubID=511)

But the State Legislature is expected to act before June 30. The Scarnati Bill must be stopped! Voice your opposition to the Scarnati impact fee bill!

This petition is automatically sent to your elected representatives.  

For a copy of the Petition to circulate in your town go to: http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/Factsheets/Petition_to_PA_Leg.pdf  


Call or email elected officials TODAY to tell them you’re against any drilling fee legislation that weakens local zoning control and that you oppose SB1100.
·      Go to “Who’s my legislator” at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ Then click on the name to get to that legislator’s website with contact information.
·      It’s especially important that Sen. Scarnati hears from residents in his district (map at http://www.senatorscarnati.com/district.htm): 717-787-7084or jscarnati@pasen.gov
·      Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi717-787-4712 or dpileggi@pasen.gov
·      Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa: 717-787-7683 or costa@pasenate.com
·      Assembly Majority Leader Mike Turzai717-772-9943 or mturzai@pahousegop.com
·      Assembly Minority Leader Frank Dermody717-787-3566 or fdermody@pahouse.net

Ask your town to send a letter to your legislator standing up for municipal rights! Send a letter to the editor of your local paper.  Take action today to stop the attack on municipal controls.

Thanks!

Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Nadia Steinzor, Marcellus Organizer, Earthworks Oil & Gas Accountability Project

2 comments:

noel jones said...

Please note that Tracy provides various options here, i.e. calling elected officials, writing letters to the editor of local papers, etc.

noel jones said...

Please see my latest "Shell Game" post on this topic--now evidence is coming out that fracking is not even profitable long term, and could cause a deeper economic crash due to inflated reserve estimates and speculation...