newsletter august september 2013

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SHA L E J U S T I C E NOW

Shale J ustice Coalition Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 2August-September 2013

FIRST STEP: PA DEMOCRATIC PARTY PASSES

FRACKING MORATORIUM RESOLUTION

THE PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATICPARTY STANDS UP FOR THE PEOPLEOF PENNSYLVANIA with the passage ofa resolution for a Statewide Moratorium onHydraulic Fracturing. The standing vote tallywas 115 in favor and 81 opposed.

The resolution, drafted by Susan Lyons, amember of the Monroe County delegation,

calls for a moratorium until fracking can beproven safe. A version of the resolution of-fered at the committees last meeting wasblocked from making it to thefloor for a vote,so Berks Gas Truth, a grassroots communitygroup, organized an action with co-sponsorsClean Water Action, Food & Water Watch,Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Lehigh Valley Gas Truth, Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens Group,Protecting Our Waters, Shale J ustice and the United Sludge-Free Alliance to move the resolutionforward.

We really wanted the full committee to have an opportunity to weigh in on the resolution, but I dontthink any of us expected to get it passed this time, said Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truths founder.

Members of Berks Gas Truth started planning to take action in May when they learned that the reso-lution would be up for consideration again in J une. We were discussing what wed like to do for Stopthe Frack Attacks National Month of Action when our Patti Rose realized that the Dems meeting wasbeing held mid-month. The timing was perfect, said Feridun.

Reacting to the moratorium resolution, US Congresswoman Allyson Swartz and former DEP Secre-tary Kathleen McGinty called it misguided, Former DEP Secretary J ohn Hanger is only in favor of amoratorium in state forest and parks. All three are running for Governor in 2014.

Former Governor Ed Rendell stated the moratorium is ill-advised. Recent polls show over 63% ofPennsylvanians support a moratorium on natural gas industrialization of our communities.


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Shale J ustice Now August-September 2013

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SHALE JUSTICE WEBSITE HAS GONE LIVE!

We are excited to announce the launcing of SHALEJ USTICE.ORG. Our website went live at the endof J une and has been well received.

SHALEJ USTICE.org features numerous resources, including a Daily News Roundup, a Library, ourNewsletters and those of our member organizations, links to books, movies, and more.

Our Event Calendar will let you know what is happening.

Looking for an organization in your area? Check out our Members listing tofind one near you!

Well keep you up to date on Projects each of our members are doing.

More features will be added in the coming months - Come and visit us atshalejustice.org


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THANK-YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS!

We Couldnt Do It Without YOU!


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Tire Burners, Shale Gas, You and Me: Were All Connectedby The Rev. Leah Schade

This op-ed appeared in the Milton Standard Journal on July 2, 2013. It was written in response to the

proposed tire incinerator planned for National Gypsum by En-Tire Logistics in White Deer Township,

Union County, Pa.

Something is fundamentally wrong with our democracy when businesses are de facto given morevoice, clout, protection and ultimately more power under the law than citizens and communities seek-ing to protect themselves from harm. With the tire incinerator proposed by En-Tire Logistics for Na-tional Gypsum, regardless of the threat this businessposes to the health of their local community, the WhiteDeer Township Supervisors hands are tied by the lawthat requires them to approve a conditional use permitas long as it complies with the provisions of localordinances. This raises an important question as ournation celebrates Independence Day this coming week.

How did the law which has evolved in this country overmore than two centuries devolve to this point wherecapitalistic interests supersede human interests of safety? Could the founders of this nation haveintended this when they risked their lives to commit to thecause of freedom and democracy? Certainly not. Andyet the steady, insidious (some would say demonic) hand of Mammon has chipped away at our hu-manity and quietly shaped the law for so long, and largely without significant challenge, that we havelocked ourselves into a system of our own making and allowance.

As a nation we see how distorted and corrupt the system has become when the highest courtin the land actually grants personhood status to economic entities and corporate interests (CitizensUnited, 2010). On the state level we see how Act 13, which grants favored status to the shale gasindustry under the law, has paved the way for the violation of citizen and community rights acrossPennsylvania. And right in our backyard with this proposed tire incinerator, we are faced with theconfounding conundrum of how to prevent a clear threat to our areas beauty and public health whenevery governmental and democratic avenue appears to be closed to us.

Yet these challenges have caused neither dismay nor acquiescence among the citizens I havebeen privileged to work alongside in groups such as Organizations United for the Environment, ShaleJ ustice and the Interfaith Sacred Earth Coalition. I have witnessed the coming together of some ofthe most incredible minds and committed citizens I have ever met. We are all bringing our varied

talents and skills to the table for the cause of protecting our land, water and communities, while ad-vocating for an economically just system fueled by clean energy and supported by a system of truedemocracy. Of this, I believe our countrys founders would swell with pride.

Rev. Schade is the pastor of United in Christ Lutheran Church in Lewisburg, a PhD Candidate at the

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and founder of the Interfaith Sacred Earth Coalition.


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SPOT LIGHT ON OUR MEMBERS

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Organizations United for

the Environment


Organizations United for the Environment (OUE), a grassroots organization now in its third decade,had its earliest roots in the spring of 1942 when, through a particularly crude form of eminent domain,the United States government seized 8,500 acres of land in the Central Susquehanna Valley. Thisarea, located in adjoining Lycoming and Union Counties, included the entire community of Alvira, andthe government seized it to build a massive plant for producing and storing TNT.

After the disaster of Alvira took place OUE kept a very watchful eye of anything that would ruin ourenvironment and then in 1972 there were rumors about a landfill near the White Deer Valley. Thislead to the formation of The White Deer Valley Citizens Committee (WDCC) which was the seed that

would become OUE as we know it today. Aside from monitoring landfill operations, OUE kept a lowprofile after the landfill was fully developed. And, perhaps it would have maintained that stance hadnot another threat to the valley environment lifted its ugly head above the horizon. From the momentthis threat became known to valley citizens, OUE was up and running, full tilt in opposition.

This issue or battle, if you will, appeared in 1990, as OUE began to lead a Ban the Burner battleto stop a Union Pacific subsidiary from building a huge hazardous waste incinerator on Rt. 15. Thisstruggle ended in 1994 when the companys CEO, Drew Lewis, canceled the project, and, likely,returned to the dark cave where corporate polluters gather to plot against the rest of us. Since 1994,OUEs activity has mostly been to join citizen groups to contest such looming threats as a nuclearwaste dump, tire burning incinerators, animal factories for most of the 2000s, a sludge factory, and atank farm.

Last year we joined citizens in Watsontown to resist would-be mogul, J ohn Moran, who has calledthe gas industry a blessing from God, and who wants to convert their town into a gas drilling servicecenter. Also, for the past two years we have become more involved with groups contesting the spreadof natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Many Pennsylvanians have already suffered its assaultson their health and welfare, and, as bad, no one yet knows its long term dangers to the air, water,forests, and to living creatures of the hydrofracking that the drillers use. Scientific data and simplereason cry out that this gas drilling should be stopped or strictly regulated, until its potential effects areclearly determined. Most recently we have been battling another incinerator in our area. Again in the

White Deer Valley a very toxic Tire Burner has been proposed to be built next to the National Gypsumplant to provide them with electricity. No one else will benefit from this burner, however, EVERYONEwill feel the detrimental effects of its toxic outpouring of chemicals from its stacks if it is built. This is along and ongoing battle.

OUE has entered a new chapter in its illustrious life and is very excited about entering into a new ven-ture with the exceptionally talented environmental groups from the area and from across the countryand the world. From here forward our organization will appropriately be recognized as: Shale J usticeA Coalition of Organizations United for the Environment. (continued page 6)


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SPOTLIGHT on OUE continued:For many years OUE has acted as the citizens environmental watch dog against the destroyers ofour environment and civil liberties. But now, it is a common opinion within this coalition that there isan urgent need for increased resistance against the corporate intruders who lobbied, lied and paid tohave all the rules relaxed and/or removed in their favor. As a consequence of these actions the localpoliticians and government entities have been handicapped at being effective and fair for all of us.

As Shale J ustice moves forward please feel confident that we will work passionately to take back thedecision making and ownership of our land as well as of the environmental standards for future gen-erations. While OUE segues into Shale J ustice: A Coalition of Organizations United for the Environ-ment, we hope you can support our move because we are all involved in improving and protectingthe environment which is being destroyed by corporate polluters and compromised by politicians.

EN-TIRE INCINERATOR

WHITE DEER ENERGY PROJECT (WDEP)

The Shale J ustice Website is now the place to go for information and updates on the TIRE BURNINGINCINERATOR headed for WHITE DEER TOWNSHIP, UNION COUNTY.

We have dedicated an entire section to this issue. Simply go to our home page atshalejustice.org,and click on EN-TIRE INCINERATOR, from there select the topic item for more information.

About WHITE DEER ENERGY PROJECT (WDEP):

THE PLAN

To burn thousands of shredded used tires each day in a combus-tion boiler to produce steam to produce electric power for NationalGypsums production of wall board and related products.

The process would increase National Gypsums energy efficiencyand reduce its use of other fuels.

Tire burning produces tons of toxic ashes which have to be recycled or disposed of, usually in a land-fill. There are clearly potential dangers from the hundreds of thousands of pounds of emissions fromthe burner stacks each year into our ambient air.

Early on we asked Are you able to guarantee that people living downwind from the incinerator wouldnot suffer harm, either from its operations or emissions?

No clear answers were forthcoming.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WDEP at SHALEJUSTICE.ORG


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DEP: Natural gas driller wi ll plug well involved in methane inves-

tigation | by Laura Legere | Republican Hearald

DIMOCK - A natural gas well in Dimock Township that is a focus of astate investigation into leaking methane has been deemed unviableand will be plugged after the investigation isfinished, a Department ofEnvironmental Protection spokeswoman said Friday.

Regulators have been studying the source of methane in two water

Josh Fox on Gasland Part 2, the Fracking-Earthquake Link & the Natural Gas Industrys Use of

PSYOPs | Democracy NOW

Scientists are warning that the controversial practice of natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,may lead to far more powerful earthquakes than previously thought. Fracking injects millions of gal-lons of water, sand and chemicals deep into the earth in order to break up shale rock and releasenatural gas. A new study published Thursday in the journal Science by a leading seismology labwarns that pumping water underground can induce dangerous earthquakes, even in regions not oth-erwise prone to tremors. The new report comes as Academy Award-nominated director J osh Fox hasreleased the sequel to his highly acclaimed documentary Gasland, which sparked a national discus-sion on fracking.

The newfilm, Gasland Part II, exposes how the gas in-dustry and the governments portrayal of natural gas as aclean and safe alternative to oil is highly suspect. He alsodiscusses how drilling companies have admitted to hav-ing several former military psychological operations, or

PSYOPs, specialists on staff, applying their skills in Penn-sylvania to counter opponents of drilling. Whats reallydisappointing about this is that this is a moment when anAmerican president has come forward and spoken aboutclimate change and exhibited his obvious and earnest de-sire to take on the problem; however, the emphasis on

fracked gas makes this plan entirely the wrong plan, says Fox, noting that methane released fromfracking sites is more potent than other greenhouse gases. Moving from coal to fracked gas doesntgive you any climate benefit at all. So the plan should be about how were moving off of fossil fuelsand onto alternate energy.

wells in the Susquehanna County community since February, when the water for one home becameturbid and saturated with gas.

A spokesman for Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., the primary Marcellus Shale operator in the surroundingarea, said in February that the problem appeared to be a small and localized event associated witha methane vent line that had frozen on the gas well during cold weather.

Regulators said the frozen vent helped them to identify the suspect gas well Cabots Costello 1

but they concluded that opening the vent is not the answer to the problem. Instead, during monthsof remediation on the well one of the first vertical Marcellus wells drilled in the township regulatorsdetermined that the well is unviable and will have to be plugged, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Con-nolly said.


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Shale J ustice Coalition shalejustice.org PO Box 1, Lewisburg, PA 17837 [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter and any information contained herein is intended for informational purposes only andshould not be construed as legal advice. The publisher goes to great lengths to ensure the accuracy of information con-tained in this newsletter. However, we will not be responsible for errors or omissions or any damages, howsoever caused,which result from its use. Any commentary contained in this newsletter is opinion only, and should be considered as such.We respect each persons right to personal privacy. To that end, we do not under any circumstance, rent, sell or exchangeyour email address. We have collected and stored your name and email address for the sole purpose of sending you thisnewsletter. Should your email address change, we invite you to let us know so you can continue to receive the newsletter.

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Address:__________________________________________________

Email address: _____________________________________________

PhoneNumber:______________________________________________

Here is my tax deductible donation! I appreciate all the hard work Shale J ustice is doing to keep myenvironment safe for me, my children, and generations yet to come!

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Shale J ustice is a coalition of organizations whose aim is to coordinate ourefforts, our regionally specific issues, our visions, our talents, and our hardwork to end extreme forms of industrialized which poses serious threats toour air, our land and our water.

If you or your organization is interested in becoming part of a growing andactive coalition, contact us TODAY! Visit our website and click the BE-COME A MEMBER button

OR CLICK THE DONATE BUTTON at shalejus tice.org to make a secure on-line donation

newsletter august september 2013

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