Fracking Call to Action
There are a bunch of grassroots groups endorsing and planning a late July series of actions in Washington DC aimed at countering the surge of fracking going on nationwide. The decentralized nature of the thing reflects the origins of the movement itself – one born inside the gas fields, not the Beltway. This is a good thing. The downside is that none of these groups have the kinds of budgets that allow them to go out and book fleets of buses or floors of hotels on spec. Nevertheless, they're trying to make it easy and cheap for you to do-it-yourself online with advice and listing and a checklist for booking buses and connecting you with housing opportunities in DC. You don't have to be a college kid with a sleeping bag. You can be a middle-aged couple with kids. They'll find spaces with real beds. Here's the FAQ page that can get you started.
The event is more than a rally. Its a four-day extravaganza in which you'll be able to meet your peers from all over the country and receive new ideas and information you can bring home to use in your own fight. Although it's not a Carribbean cruise, you'll more than get your money's worth. Here's the schedule
Wednesday- July 25th
Trainings
6:30pm-8:00pm Evening Lobbying and Marshall Trainings
Location: TBA
These trainings are not required for people who are lobbying, but we highly recommend that you attend. We will discuss how to lobby, what our asks to members are, what to expect from lobbying meetings and more importantly how to get around the Hill! We will also be having a Marshall Training where we will go over conflict resolution and the plan for the march and fracking water drop-off. We’ll also give out some other roles that we need filled to make sure STFA goes off without a hitch.
Thursday- July 26th
Lobby Day
9:00am-5:00pm Lobbying at the US Capitol
Location: US Capitol Visitor Center (we will have a space there all day)
After being trained the night before, we will hit the pavement of Capitol Hill and bring our message to our members of Congress. Lobbying is a tactic that is as old as government itself, and is a great way to create the pressure needed to close the loopholes in the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. We will also take a group photo at noon on the steps of the Capitol!
More questions? Concerns? Shoot us an email: info@stopthefrackattack.org
Friday- July 27th
Stop the Frack Attack Gathering
10:00am- Noon: Trainings
Location: St. Stephens Church, 1525 Newton St. NW Washington, DC 20006
You’ve told us you want training before our day of action. Please fill out this survey to help us decide the topic of our fourth training! Check out the survey here!
1:00pm- 5:00pm: Strategy Session
Fracktivists from far and wide are coming to DC, and it’s time to figure out how we are actually going to win. We will break up by geographic regions, with a separate youth group, and talk strategy. What’s working? What’s not? What can we do better? These are the questions we hope to answer.
6:30-8:30: Town hall
We are working hard to get this event off the ground and we are gaining some traction, consider this the pre-rally. Our goal is to get someone from the Obama Administration here to talk to us about fracking and then have an open Q&A session… word on the street is it might be someone big, we’ll keep you posted!
Saturday- July 28th
Rally and March
2:00pm Rally
Location: The West Lawn of the Capitol
This is the big day, we are organizing to get as many people as possible! We have people coming from Texas, West Virginia, New York, Vermont, and even Australia. If you want to help get people there you can organize a bus! This rally will give us the energy needed to take our demands to the corporate powers pushing fracking onto our communities.
3:30 pm March
Location: The Streets of DC
After getting pumped up by our awesome speakers, it’s time to hit the streets. We will make a special delivery to the American Petroleum Institute and American Natural Gas Association. They say fracking is good for our water, we say nay and have the water to prove it!
And here's the mission statement for the action:
A rush to drill is sweeping the United States. Across the country, the oil and gas industry is surging into new areas as quickly and cheaply as possible.
And they have been using techniques like hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) long before we fully understand the extent of the negative impacts on the health of the local people, communities, water, air, climate, and other critical resources.
Landowners and communities are struggling to cope: Existing laws are outdated and loophole-riddled, and enforcement is universally inadequate and underfunded. We battle a persistent myth that gas is a “clean” energy – which is not only false, but keeps us from moving towards truly clean energy and ending our reliance on fossil fuels.
The result: as industry rakes in record profits from fracking-enabled drilling, it passes on drilling’s heaviest costs to landowners, local communities and future generations. That’s because elected leaders (sometimes influenced by dirty energy money) too often refuse to hold the industry accountable for the damage they cause, or require them to prevent it.
The rush to drill, and the tragic consequences that follow, has made fracking a household word. In the process it has made “fracktivists” out of thousands of ordinary citizens — including some who regard “environmentalist” as a dirty word. Some are working to prevent fracking in their communities. Those already affected are fighting to protect their air, water, and health.
We all want to STOP THE FRACK ATTACK – the out-of-control rush to drill that is putting oil and gas industry profits over our health, our families, our property, our communities, and our futures.
Now is the time for us all to unite and demand that decisionmakers inside the Beltway hear our voice and take action to change the way the oil and gas industry operates in this country.
On July 28th, 2012, we invite community members and organizations everywhere to join us in Washington, D.C. for a rally at the Capitol to demand no more drilling that harms public health, water, and air. Instead of pushing for the increased use of oil and gas, elected officials and public agencies must insist that the industry stop all drilling that is dirty and dangerous, and put communities and the environment first, starting by removing special exemptions and subsidies for the oil and gas industry.
Join community leaders, celebrities and policymakers and add your voice to the call for a clean, fossil fuel free energy future.
Won’t you join us?
Signed,
Advisory Council:
Julie Archer, West Virginia
Stephen Cleghorn, Pennsylvania
John Fenton, Wyoming
Robert Finne, Arkansas
Rick Humphreys, West Virginia
Jenny Lisak, Pennsylvania
Kari Matsko, Ohio
Jill Morrison, Wyoming
Calvin Tillman, Texas
Matia Vanderbilt, Maryland
Jill Wiener, New York