Delaware River Basin Victory Prepares Us For The Next Fight
By Jennifer Prediger
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) may have cancelled their meeting in Trenton, NJ on Monday to vote to approve fracking, but that didn’t stop anti-fracking activists from rallying and marching at the garden state’s Capitol.
Ten thousand people originally signed up to attend and disrupt the meeting that was cancelled last Thursday due to public attention. Even though the meeting was called off, nearly a thousand people from New York, Philadelphia and neighboring areas schlepped to Trenton, NJ on an overcast workday to rally and to take a stand against fracking.
The crowd, made up of students, senior citizens and many in between, cheered on Gasland director Josh Fox. “You shut them down! By swarming them with calls and emails, with the threat that you were going to show up here today and shut them down,” Fox said, whipping up the throng shouting, “Are you ready to keep winning?”
What’s a rally without a few good-looking celebrities in the mix? Debra Winger and Mark Ruffalo attended and spoke to the
enthusiastic mass of people.
With a winsome smile, Ruffalo declared, “There’s no doubt that we’re standing here today after they cancelled their vote because of the 50,000 phone calls that we made to Governor Markell (NJ) to turn his “yes” vote to a “no” vote. There’s no doubt that they cancelled this vote today because you promised to throw your bodies on the wheels and gears of this machine that is promising to destroy our children’s health and future.”
Debra Winger encouraged the cluster to get the word out about fracking to those who don’t know about it. “Public health is essential to our well-being, and it’s apolitical,” she said.
Adding to the star power were scientists and citizens who also spoke at the gathering.
Ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., said, “The scientific evidence on fracking’s impact on public health is incomplete. It’s uncertain. It is still emerging. But the data that do exist are troubling. These data argue for a moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River, the source of drinking water for millions. The wheels of science grind very slowly and scientific inquiry into public health of fracking urgently needs to go on. But in the meantime, while it does, let’s keep people out of harm’s way. Benefit of the doubt goes to our children, not to the things that threaten our children.”
Having celebrated this little victory, those with concerns about fracking say they are not stopping here. “The beauty of winning a fight is that it prepares you for the next one,” commented Joshua Kahn Russell, organizer and extraction action trainer.
In this vein, organizers from SavetheDelawareRiver.com and other fracktivists plan to continue their work around the Delaware basin hearings to make sure new regulations that would allow for hydraulic fracturing are not passed. They also hope to support anti-fracking movements across the country. “There’s no doubt that we’re changing the way our country thinks about energy and the way we look at extraction because of the coalitions being built between all of the groups in New York state, all of the groups in
Delaware, New Jersey, New York State, California, West Virginia. It’s time to stop extreme, carbon-based extraction,” said Ruffalo.
New Yorkers had another chance to speak out against fracking on Wednesday, November 30th when Governor Cuomo’s Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a public hearing concerning parts of New York being considered for opening up to fracking. To find out more about the meeting, go here.
Here’s Fox and Debra Winger discussing the issue on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”:
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