ANTI-FRACKING PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE

The Anti-Fracking Pledge of Resistance
By adding my name to the list below, I publicly pledge to take part in a diversity of effective acts of resistance to stop the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, to extract oil and gas according to the following points of unity. We define "Resistance" as a shared commitment to fight fracking by means that do not cause physical injury.

Shalefield Justice Action Camp!

Shalefield Justice Action Camp!
November 10-12, Bessemer, PA



Register Now! http://shadbushcollective.org/action-camp/register/
 
Join us for a weekend of trainings and workshops as we build the movement against fossil fuel extraction in Pennsylvania.

Over the past several months we’ve seen an incredible mobilization across the country aimed at stopping fracking, mountaintop removal, tar sands, and other forms of harmful resource extraction. People everywhere are standing up to the fossil fuel industry to protect their communities and slow the climate crisis.

In the spirit of this national uprising, we hope to build and strengthen grassroots organizing in western Pennsylvania.   SJAC will include trainings on traditional non-violent direct action tactics, as well as workshops and discussions on the impacts of fracking and coal production in our region, monitoring and media work, community organizing, and movement building. This is also an opportunity to have fun and build community and solidarity among organizers throughout our region and beyond.

We are grateful to be hosted by the Henry family at their farm in Bessemer, PA.  The Henry's have been fighting a fracking well operated by Shell Oil on a neighboring property.  You can learn more about their struggle here http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/shaky-ground-farmer-fears-for-future-as-gas-drilling-begins-near-scores-of-abandoned-well-sites/Content?oid=1567222 

The camp will start mid-day on Saturday, November 10 and conclude late afternoon on Monday, November 12 (Veteran’s Day). Food and indoor housing (or camping if you prefer) will be provided. Registration, program, and logistical information are available at shadbushcollective.org.  For more information or to volunteer e-mail info@shadbushcollective.org.

Cross posted from Earth First! Newswire

Larry Gibson 1946 – 2012

Larry Gibson, long-time environmental activist, died of a heart attack Sunday, September 10, while working on Kayford Mountain, the family home in Raleigh County which he spent the last decades of his life protecting from the coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal.

Kayford was the site of Larry’s birth, the final resting place of 300 ancestors stretching back to the 18th century, and the site of Larry’s annual 4th of July festival celebrating life in the mountains. As part of his effort to preserve the mountains, Larry traveled across the country, to schools, churches and a wide range of public gatherings where he spread his simple gospel about the mountains:  “Love em or leave em; just don’t destroy em.”

A private funeral is planned, and Larry’s family has requested that persons wishing to express condolences make donations to Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, which Larry founded in 2004 to support mountain communities.  A public memorial service will be announced at a later time.  Larry is survived by his wife, Carol, two sons Cameron and Larry, Jr. and his daughter, Victoria.  He was sixty-six years old.

http://mountainkeeper.blogspot.com/

Cross Posted:
http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/roadblock-blockaders-stop-marcellus-pipeline-trucks-in-susquehanna-county/

ROADBLOCK! Blockaders Stop Marcellus Pipeline Trucks in Susquehanna County

JULY 20, 2012

by Iris Marie Bloom

The fourth known blockade of fracking industry trucks in Pennsylvania this year took place on Tuesday in Brooklyn, PA. The Susquehanna County spontaneous blockaders confronted and successfully turned away the “illegal and unpermitted construction of the beginning of the Constitution Pipeline,” according to a statement.

Susquehanna County’s water, air, roads, forests, and peace has been assaulted by the fracking industry ever since the water first went bad in Dimock in 2008; other, less well-known cases of water with high to explosive levels of methane, along with health-harming chemicals, have occurred in Susquehanna County, for example in Lenox. Residents have endured a compressor station fire, health-harming compressor station emissions, multiple chemical spills, dangerous and road-destroying truck traffic, and the spreading of toxic Marcellus brine on roads. They appear to have had enough:

Contact: Shaleshock Media, William A Huston: 607-321-7846  WilliamAHuston@gmail.com

Contact: Rebecca Roter, Susquehanna County Resident: 267-733-5211  Aludra@aol.com

ROADBLOCK!

(Brooklyn PA) On Tuesday, July 17th, near the illegal and unpermitted construction of the beginning of the Constitution Pipeline, a group of people spontaneously blocked a road for 30 minutes after a 45 ton crane on a 9 ton trailer went up a gravel road where they were gathering.

When asked, the driver of the escort vehicle and the driver of the truck pulling the crane both refused to present the road-use permit.

While the driver of the crane got away with his load, it was not before photographic evidence was obtained of the crime.
(See below for the DOT number of the truck).

The driver of the escort vehicle initially spoke with reps of the group, then spent much of the time on his cell phone with the tinted windows rolled up.

Apparently, both sides called the police for help.

After about 30 mins, and with the illegal vehicle gone, the police nowhere in sight, the group decided to cease the roadblock.

“It was a positive & powerful action” said one of those who carried out the roadblock. 

One of the activists gave this statement:

The operations up the road are illegal and immoral. 

The government is colluding with industry and is not enforcing its own law.With mass-scale destruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the destruction and segmentation of some of the last and largest forests left on planet earth, 

With the poisoning and the destruction of massive quantities of our water precious and scarce water,

It now seems time that we put our bodies on the line to stop this insanity, to preserve this place for future generations.

BACKGROUND:

Below is information about the equipment which was blocked; more information may become available on a Facebook link provided in the statement.

Another Facebook page asks all to TAKE ACTION by submitting comments to FERC opposing the Constitution Pipeline, which will use Eminent Domain. The Facebook page includes information from workers and testimony by pipeline expert and lawyer Deborah Goldberg.

The crane was a Manitowoc 8000,  weight is 90,000 lbs (45 tons):
Here is a similar one:

The trailer was a 4-axle Trail King HG series detachable lowboy trailer

* 26′ deck
* 102″ width
* 12″ extenders
* GVWR 130,160 lbs (This is consistant with a 90,000 lb load)
* GAWR 20,280 lbs (* see note below)
* Weight 17,640 lbs empty (9 tons)

Here is a stock photo:

* Note about GAWR from Wikipedia:

=> Vehicles over 6,000 pounds are restricted from some city roadways. 
=> Vehicles over the 8,500 pound threshold are required to have insurance
under Section 387.303 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980.
Escort Vehicle:
License Plate: Ohio PHQ 3910, Ford

Crane Truck:
PUCO 79794
ICC MC 239904
USDOT 327069
KYU 054022
TFPN 097020

Rich’s Towing
-440-234-3435
www.richstowing.net
Middleburg Hts. Oh

Trailer License:
TNK 4598 : Ohio

Earth First! blockade shuts down frack site in PA state forest

Cross Posted:
http://marcellusearthfirst.org/2012/07/10/historic-fracking-drilling-operation-blockade-taken-down/

EF! BLOCKADE SHUTS DOWN FRACK SITE IN PA STATE FOREST

Posted by fingerlakesef on July 10, 2012 · 5 Comments 

Photo slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82273234@N03/
Watch the Video: http://vimeo.com/45859531

 

Nearly 100 Earth First! activists, friends and allies forced a 70-foot-tall EQT hydrofracking drill rig to suspend operations for 12 hours yesterday in Pennsylvania’s Moshannon State Forest. This is the first time that protesters have shut down a hydrofrack drilling operation in the US. A tree sitter hung above the access road, with their anchor ropes blocking it. A second person was also in a tree to support the sitter while dozens of supporters guarded ten large debris piles that were across the road. Another group of 50 activists blockaded the entrance to the access road. The State Police, with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, dispersed the blockade around nine p.m. And removed the tree sitters with a ladder truck. Three arrests were made for disorderly conduct, but protesters were cited and released on-site.

There are a limited number of actual drill rigs in operation in the state which are ferried around from site to site on a tight schedule. By halting operations for a day on this site, the blockade has likely created a costly disruption for a handful of wells in the area which EQT apparently planned to drill in succession.

The activists reported that the police were at times reckless with the sitters’ safety, such as being quick to cut their anchor ropes.  The supporting sitter’s safety and descent ropes were cut by the police as he climbed higher in the tree.  The police in the ladder truck had no radios and communication to the ground was difficult over the noise of the diesel engine; at one point the ladder hit one of the sitter’s support lines. Police were seen taunting the sitter by waving around one of their anchor lines and making jokes at them while shaking the hammock.

The site is part of a high concentration of wells in Moshannon State Forest, one of the most heavily drilled state forests in Pennsylvania. Over half of the forest’s 190,000 acres have been leased for Marcellus drilling using hydraulic fracturing. Despite widespread public opposition, the former PA secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources predicts 12,000 Marcellus wells will be drilled in state forests in the coming decade. A recent poll showed that the majority of Pennsylvanians are opposed to fracking on public lands.

Local farmer Jenny Lisak, whose own property has been impacted by fracking, describes the devastation she has seen in the Moshannon, “Having grown up enjoying Moshannon State Forest in so many ways, I am absolutely appalled at the ongoing destruction. The once narrow and inviting oak-shaded lanes are now being replaced by dust and traffic choked roads for chemical laden trucks – there are no words to describe the injustice of taking public land, meant to provide a source of beauty and wilderness for all and turning it into an industrial zone.”

Drilling in the area has a troubled history. In June 2010, a major blowout at another well in Clearfield County spewed 35,000 gallons of toxic drilling waste into the Little Laurel Run watershed and caused the evacuation of Moshannon State Forest. Since 2008, only 24 of EQT’s 198 Marcellus wells in the state have been inspected and violations were found at every single inspection. When they have been cited, they’ve refused to change their practices. On May 9, 2012, in Duncan Township, Tioga County, EQT was cited for faulty construction on a flowback water impoundment; three weeks later the pit failed, contaminating a nearby spring.

“This is part of an escalating direct action campaign against fracking in the Marcellus Shale region,” said Danielle Dietterick, an activist affiliated with Marcellus Earth First! from Benton, Pa. “People from all around the country have joined with Pennsylvania residents to put their bodies on the line to stop fracking.”

The action comes on the heels of a 12-day blockade to stop the displacement of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park, in Lycoming County, and the shutdown of a fracking wastewater injection well near Athens, Ohio. Groups across the country are planning more anti-extraction interventions like RAMPS in West Virginia and the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas, later this month. All these independent, grassroots-led actions show perhaps a coalescing national uprising against exploitative extraction.

Susan Riley, another supporter, cheered on the bold action, “The state government has sold off our public lands and, with Act 13, stripped us of our rights to local self-governance. The fracking industry has free reign in this state and no one’s gonna stop them unless we do.”

"Help us keep the River in Riverdale": Day of Action for Riverdale, Monday, June 4

From the campaign to Save the Riverdale Mobile Home Park.  Come join the encampment!
*Please forward widely to media contacts*

For Immediate Release: June 2, 2012
Contact: savermhc@gmail.com; Alex Lotorto: 570-269-9589, alotorto@gmail.com; Deb Eck (Resident): 570-772-3335; Kelly Finan: 570-877-2417, Kelly@kellyfinan.com

"Help Us Keep the River in Riverdale": International Day of Solidarity with the Riverdale Community on Monday, June 4

Riverdale residents and supporters are calling for an international day of solidarity action in support of the Riverdale community this Monday, June 4.  As relocation resister Deb Eck has put it, you are invited to come down and “help us keep the River in Riverdale.”



Yesterday, residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park and supporters set up barricades at the entrance of Riverdale to stop the community from being displaced by Aqua America's plans to construct a fracking water withdrawal facility and send a powerful message to perpetrators of environmental and economic injustice.  And so far, it is working.  Though Aqua America had announced that it would begin construction on June 1, company representatives were unseen around Riverdale yesterday, and no construction has yet begun.
Now, we need your help.

Residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park are going into negotiation with Aqua America PVR[1]on Tuesday.  They are demanding the Aqua America PVR allow them to remain in their homes, compensate those residents who have been displaced, and acknowledge the right of return to those who have left but wish to come back.  We are calling on you to support Riverdale residents over the next several days and help them hold onto their homes and enter negotiations strong.  If you would like to participate in Monday's day of action, this is what we need:

• More people.  An Aqua America representative stated in today’s newspaper that construction is scheduled to begin soon, possibly on Monday.  While about 30 supporters converged on Riverdale yetserday, unfortunately some have had to leave.  Our strength is in numbers, and we need you here on Monday to ensure that Riverdale residents can continue to remain in their homes.  The encampment is located at 7 Riverdale Lane, Jersey Shore, PA.  We can arrange rides to pick up supporters in Danville, Bloomsburg, or Williamsport.  Please call (510) 318-1549 if you need to be picked up, and email savermhc@gmail.com if you need or can offer a ride.
• If you can’t make it to Riverdale, we are calling for solidarity actions against Aqua America PVR and it stakeholders and financiers across the world, as well as the governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and President Obama, all of which are represented on the SRBC and voted to authorize permission for this water withdrawal site.  Please take action to hold these corporations and politicians accountable on Monday.  As a first step (but not a substitute for your own autonomous actions), we encourage folks to call-in to Aqua America corporate headquarters on Monday at (610) 527-8000 and let them know that you think displacing the residents of Riverdale is unacceptable.  You can also pay Aqua CEO Nick DeBenedictis a visit at his mansion at 231 Golfview Rd., Ardmore, PA.  Click here for more information about PVR shareholders (see bottom of page).  Please email savermhc@gmail.com if you would like to organize an action in your community.
• Money.  Though our encampment is not luxurious, we do need to provide food to those supporters who are giving their time and putting their bodies on the line to stop construction.  We also need bail money so that we can support Riverdale residents as well as supporters if and when human blockades become necessary.  Other expenditures will include art supplies, paper and ink for flyers, and a wi-fi hotspot so that we can keep the world updated about resistance in Riverdale without driving to Sheetz.  We also accept in-kind donations.  Click here to donate to the Save Riverdale general fund and here for the Occupy Well Street bail fund, and email savermhc@gmail.com if you can donate supplies (see wishlist here).
• Resist extraction, displacement, and other forms of environmental and economic injustice in your own community.  The attempted displacement of Riverdale is one more example of the sheer brutality and inhumanity of extractive industries from natural gas to coal to oil to uranium across the globe.  We urge everybody to engage in your local community struggle against these and other forms of injustice.

Riverdale residents and allies have received an outpouring of local support; even fracking brine trucks honk as they drive by the park, and local television and newspaper coverage has been outstanding.  Both residents and supporters have been emboldened by this experience (see a short set of images from yesterday).

Stopping construction of this water withdrawal facility will not only allow Riverdale residents to remain in their homes, but will also hinder the fracking industry’s ability to access the water sources necessary to operate additional drilling rigs in the surrounding area.

Thank you for your support.

P.S.: Shout-out to those Ohioans rallying in Tuscarawas today to stop the sale of our water to the frackers!

http://youtu.be/IrdJhNxJWro

---

[1] Aqua America is the parent company

PLEASE WATCH: WWW.SAVERIVERDALE.COM

Day 1, 7:30am: barricades constructed as residents and volunteers gather for breakfast and coffee.  Have successfully kept out the frackers thus far.  NEEDED: More people!  Camp chairs, pop-up tents, music, board games.