Regarding the full-length editorial by Dave Spigelmyer in the Earth Day weekend edition of the Butler Eagle:
It should be noted that Spigelmyer's job as president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition is to be a spokesman for the shale gas industry, and therefore he does his best to tell the public what said industry wants the public to hear about shale gas.

It should also be noted that time and again the Butler Eagle has shown itself to be exceedingly friendly to the shale gas industry, and thus is a fitting megaphone for this mouthpiece of the industry to utilize.
​
Meanwhile, back in the real world, anyone who lives near a frack site or compressor station knows how terrible the air at such sites can be, ranging from simply nauseating to illness-inducing.  So much for Spigelmyer's claims of "cleaner air."  Fracking and compression are integral parts of the natural gas production process, and with much more fracking proposed for Butler County, how clean will our air be?

It is also known that the fracking process can and has contaminated domestic groundwater sources.  Even the federal Environmental Protection Agency reluctantly admitted that, before it was totally taken over by the legion of science deniers under Trump.

Speaking of science, even the most casual reading of the scientific literature on the matter reveals that methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas which, in the short term (20-50 yrs.) is even more destructive to the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide.  Research also shows that methane leaking, sometimes copiously, into the atmosphere is present at every step in the natural gas production process.

Ultimately, the only truly "clean" sources of energy are sustainable and renewable sources such as sun, wind, hydropower and geothermal.

Spigelmyer mentions none of this in his lengthy Earth Day editorial.  Of course not.  These facts would make the industry he speaks for look bad.  I'm sure that's not in his job description.  

P.S.: Will full-length editorials by members of organizations such as Marcellus Outreach Butler and Pennsylvanians Against Fracking be accepted for publication in the Butler Eagle?

On January 25th, five days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, seven Greenpeace activists climbed a crane and unfurled a massive banner emblazoned with the word “RESIST” in full view of the White House. That brave action sparked newfound audacity in the environmental movement, and that word, resist, became our new rallying cry. We will not allow this administration to destroy our planet for profit.

We will resist when the Denier-in-Chief and his cronies continuously deny the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change and fail to take action to stop it. We will resist if the new regime tries to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which China, India, and Russia have all signed, and jeopardize the greatest chance this planet has ever had for global climate action. We will resist when Trump tries to ram dangerous, polluting pipelines down the throats of the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota, farmers in Nebraska, and everyday people right here in Pennsylvania. We will resist when the goons running the Departments of the Interior, Energy, and Agriculture try to turn our precious public lands into extraction colonies or sell them off for destruction by the highest bidder. We will resist when the EPA under Pruitt begins to value profits over people and land. We will resist when species on the brink of extinction are kept off the Endangered Species List because of political or corporate opposition. We will resist when Congress tries to gut the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Antiquities Act, and a whole host of other environmental laws because they know they’ll have a rubber stamp from the Oval Office. And we will resist right here on the ground in Butler County, when the frackers try to poison our air and water, destroy our landscape, and put people in harm’s way.
​
I hope Trump likes a good fight, because he’s in for a long one. The environmental movement is here, we are angry, we are getting stronger, and we are not backing down. We won’t stop fighting.

Sam Hoszwa

I hear from people all the time who want to leave Butler County. A few have tried to convince me to do the same. Some are life-long residents like myself, while others are originally from elsewhere but have lived here for a significant amount of time, for 25 or 30 years. They have many different reasons for wanting to leave, to move on to somewhere different and better. The reason I hear most often is fracking, and its associated infrastructure such as pipelines, compressor stations, and processing plants. Many people simply don’t know what to do in the face of this onslaught.

When well pads move into your neighborhood, pipelines crisscross the countryside, and massive trucks rumble past your house, it is easy to fall into despair. When invaders come to your home, it seems like your whole world has turned upside down. Even if you don’t live near a well pad, many in this county are starting to feel the overwhelming despair of endless losing battles. So I certainly understand why one’s “fight or flight” response would start screaming “Flight!” So far, we’ve lost the fight to stop the Geyer well pad near the Mars schools. We’ve lost the fight to stop the well pad in Connoquenessing borough, near the elementary school and park. We’ve lost the fight to protect the kids at Summit Elementary from the well pad that’s 700 feet from their school. It’s difficult to acknowledge this, but all of these well pads are there, the wells have been fracked, and they’re not going away now.

Even our victories are minor and not permanent. Save Lake Arthur Watershed has thwarted the construction of the Cratty well pad in the watershed of Lake Arthur in Franklin Township for over two years, and have shut it down no less than three times. XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, still has not reapplied after the last defeat, but the door is always open for them to do so and they likely will, but SLAW will be on the watch to stop them again. In Butler Township, for reasons unknown to Section 27 Alliance, the monstrous and terrifying Krendale well pad has been dead in the water for over two years, as has the cleverly named “AK Steel A” well pad, despite both receiving township approval for construction in residential-zoned areas. The last action the DEP took on the Krendale permit occurred on October 23, 2014. With Rex Energy in its financial death throes, it is unclear if Krendale will ever materialize. These too are hard truths, but they're simple facts that we must acknowledge.

But even in the face of these major defeats and minor victories, I have never felt the urge to leave. I look at it this way: if all of us who are fighting against fracking throw our hands up in defeat and desperation, pack our bags, and leave, we are letting the frackers win. We are giving them exactly what they want. They don’t want any voices of opposition in the crowd. While Butler County may be full of pro-frackers and anti-environmentalists, it is my home too. I live here too. It’s the only home I’ve ever known. And I feel like I’m watching it burn down.

I have as much right to live here as anyone else, and I also have as much right to try to save my home. This is our home too, everybody. Don’t let them chase us away. If they do, then they win. Stand strong in the face of adversity, and, to quote an old song, we shall overcome. After all, there’s no place like home.      

Sam Hoszwa

Preliminary thoughts on yesterday: In this country, we are told that "we" are represented by the people we select. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The "one man" who was arrested is from Butler County, where a community (50 families) has been getting 20 - 25 gallons of water every Monday at White Oaks Springs Presbyterian Church to replace a tiny percentage of the potable water they used to get from their own wells - wells that the best science that's been done to date points to contamination done at the hands of Rex Energy. The water is not provided by the industry or any arm of the government. The water is provided though the good works of people like you and me. The water bank came about because Rex was exonerated by Don't Expect Protection on the basis of a faulty hydrology report and were going to leave the community with badly tainted water. The "one man" and others have worked with the people in this community to help them be made whole. There have been millions of dollars in impact fees filter into Butler County. Impact fees were to be used to pay for impacts of shale extraction. Not a penny of the money in Butler County has been expended for ANY impact of shale extraction. There have been lobby days, rallies, lawful protests, meetings, hearings, and a court case. NOT A SINGLE FAMILY in the Woodlands has been made whole.

The "one man" who was arrested is from Butler County, where 17 schools are within 1 mile of an active fracking site (some of these are within one mile of several sites - as is the Woodlands, mentioned above). In the past couple years, research from respected institutions have linked proximity to fracking (1 mile) to low birth weight, problem pregnancies, emergency cardiac admissions, migraines, asthma, and a host of other maladies. There have also been studies linking proximity to fracking and water contamination, air contamination, and lower property values. There have been lobby days, rallies, lawful protests, meetings, hearings, and several court cases - including a SLAPP suit - and this is still allowed to go forward.

But why on earth would "one man" decide to "crash" a Trump fundraiser? Isn't this the same as setting a fire or looting?

After close consultation with the "one man," I think I understand.Trump came to Pittsburgh to extol the virtues of shale extraction (and coal, and other fossil fuels). And after that event, he went to a private club where folks were granted some special favors. If they paid $50,000, they got a private audience with Donald Trump. If they raised $25,000, they got to eat lunch with him. And if they raised $2,700, they could "get on the Trump Train."

If the "one man" paid for a special audience with the judge that was about to hear his case, I'm pretty certain that we could all agree that he was trying to curry favors, get a more favorable outcome for his trial. And, I think, we'd all agree that was highly suspect behavior. In fact, I think we'd call it illegal.

The shale industry, the rich and powerful, are able to buy access to politicians - Donald Trump even brags about how he did it - but the average Joe cannot. $50 or 25,0000 dollars is a hell of a lot of money; to people (like the folks in the Woodlands) who have nothing, $2,500 is a hell of a lot of money.

The "one man" thought about doing a Go Fund Me campaign to get access - but that just seemed stupid. Asking people like him, a retired school teacher living on a pension, to kick in money to buy what should be guaranteed seemed sinful to his Catholic heart.

So, the "one man" went to engage in a lawful protest and found, when he got to the Duquesne Club, that the door to the fundraiser was open, that people were coming and going. that there was no one telling him he had to pay to get in. So he went inside.

The fact that this was a Trump event was just a nice coincidence. If this had been one of the high roller Clinton fundraisers, I'm pretty certain the "one man" would have gone in there, too.

The "one man" takes solace in the fact that what he did was not a violent expression of dissent. No one was hurt, though his wrists hurt from the handcuffs. No property was damaged. There were no riots or fires set.

However, "the one" man doesn't condemn riots out of hand. Riots are the cry of the unheard. I love this quote by Dr. King:

"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?...It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity."

What was happening in the Duquesne Club was an exercise of corruption - money buying influence. That some think that what the "one man" did is akin to riots and setting fires is one of the slaps that the "one man" is willing to absorb because my friends in the Woodlands, my friends in Summit Township, my friends in Mars, my friends in all the shalefields are oppressed and the status quo in unjust and inhumane.
One man's opinion.

Michael Bagdes-Canning

The recent devastating natural gas pipeline explosion in Westmoreland County is another example of why we need to make a swift and just transition away from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy.

Research has shown that the need for a fossil-fuel "bridge" to a clean renewable energy future is a myth.  The technology and methodology exists, right now, to initiate a rapid shift to renewable energy.  Scientists and researchers have laid out the blueprint; what is needed now is for governmental leaders to aggressively implement the plan, and for "we the people" to demand that they do so.
 
Here in western Pennsylvania we have been an integral part of the proud history of the Age of Fossil Fuels. We are and have been a major component of the bedrock upon which modern civilization has been built. Unfortunately, whether or not we wish to acknowledge it, it has been discovered that the "bedrock" is toxic on many levels.  Beneath its shining veneer, our civilization has been built upon and powered by toxic substances, toxic processes, toxic employment and increasingly toxic consequences.  We have come to a place where blind pride in our past achievements and blind insistence on "the way it's always been" for the past 100 years will not see us safely into the future.
 
We can no longer accept the toxic trade-off of water, air and soil contamination and the compromising of our health, our communities and our environment in exchange for energy.  We must be willing to move beyond fossil fuels and the increasingly extreme and costly (in terms of both money and health) methods of extracting them, and turn all our considerable manpower and intellectual resources toward allowing the sun, the wind and the tides to propel us forward into a clean renewable energy future.

Just as Pennsylvania played a major part in the fossil-fuel energy revolution, it can now become a leader in transforming the way we energize our lives in the future.  On Sunday, July 24, a March for a Clean Energy Revolution (cleanenergymarch.org) will be held in Philadelphia on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.  Marchers will demand action from our current and future national leaders on making the swift and just transition to clean energy.  Buses will be leaving for the march from western PA.  Contact Michael Bagdes-Canning (mbagdes@gmail.com) for details on transportation from Butler County to the march.
 
Demanding swift and comprehensive action from our national, state and local leaders regarding clean energy implementation will help us to avert or at least diminish climate catastrophes, and secure a sustainable future for ourselves, our children and generations to come. 

Joseph P. McMurry

Last month MOB hosted a screening of Naomi Klein's film This Changes Everything.  I thought the movie was powerful and compelling in encouraging people to take action against climate-disrupting attitudes and activities.  As dire as our situation is regarding the mammoth changes in our climate and environment, Klein poses that our one hope for turning this around is the moral action of people standing up to the corporations that continue to extract fossil fuels and mine minerals from the Earth for profit with total disregard for all the life in the directly impacted area and all the life on the planet impacted by climate change.  In many cases people are literally putting their bodies between the machines poised to mine, drill, etc. and the land or water to be protected.  

One of the more indelible images etched on my mind from that movie is the stark landscape of the tar sands of Alberta, Canada.  After exposing this terribly huge expanse of ugliness, the scene shifts to that of workers drinking, partying and bragging about how much money they make.  This reveals that such planet- altering industries are highly profitable, but at what cost to the Earth and both its human and non-human inhabitants?

The film is a call for all of us to get out of our comfort zones, to wake up to the realities of what is happening to the Earth that sustains all life, and to make a decision to have our voices be heard, despite the fact that such action may seem too inconvenient or  risky.  One certainty that Naomi Klein has left with me: the risk of maintaining the status quo is way too high.

​d. a.

(Note: Michael wrote this blog before the "violence" actually took place.  The tree-cutting began on March 1.  According to Ted Glick [tedglick.com]: "The Constitution Pipeline Company, aka Williams Partners, came in force onto the Holleran family land in New Milford, Pa. yesterday. Federal marshals armed with assault rifles accompanied workers armed with chain saws across the open field up to where the woods began. Talk about overkill. Talk about exposing the ugly truth of how things really work in the gas industry...")

"Each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few, to the detriment of the good of all, the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, bringing suffering...”  --  Pope Francis in Mexico, February, 2016

I had the privilege of spending a couple days in New Milford, Pennsylvania on the Holleran-Zeffer property - home to North Harford Maple, a family owned business, owned by the Holleran-Zeffer family, that produces maple products including syrup and maple sugar. On the days that I was there, sap was running and they were making syrup. I was there to help protect the trees.

New Milford is in Susquehanna County, northeastern Pennsylvania.  It is heavily fracked and there are a number of wells near the sugar bush, which is a stand of maple trees used for making syrup. On March 17th of 2015, a federal judge condemned a 150 foot wide swath of land across the property via eminent domain so that Cabot Oil & Gas and Williams Partners, LLC could build the Constitution Pipeline.  This swath is home to most of the trees tapped by North Harford Maple.

Sap runs when nighttime temperatures are below freezing and daytime temperatures are above freezing.  This usually happens between February and April. A tree has to be, at a minimum, twelve inches in diameter before it can be safely tapped; a tree this large is usually 40 to 50 years old.
FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, gave permission for Williams to begin clearing trees but stipulated that it had to be done by March 31 to protect migratory birds and bats. This coincides with prime syrup making season. If the trees are cut, North Harford Maple will not be able to survive. 

This whole process is problematic.

The idea that a private company can take land via eminent domain so it can make a profit while, at the same time, running roughshod over a landowner, ruining their business, and cutting productive trees during the prime season seems to run counter to our Constitution, which states that private property will only be taken for public use and, even then, only after just compensation (5th Amendment). The Holleran-Zeffer family has received no compensation, yet chainsaws are at the ready and it's unlikely that any public use of the right of way will ever happen - the right of way is for the use of Williams Partners.

The Constitution Pipeline hasn't even been approved yet - it's been awaiting permitting from the State of New York for over 2 years. Therefore, the cutting of the trees seems a bit premature, not to mention the irreparable harm such action will cause.

Worst of all, the judge recently ordered the Holleran-Zeffer family not to get closer than 300 feet to the cut zone or face an $11,000 fine for contempt of court. The family's home is just outside that zone so, effectively, they are not even permitted to be in their own backyard.
​
I spoke with Megan Holleran. She asked us to contact our local representatives to complain about this taking. She asked us to contact Governor Wolf and Attorney General Kane. She also asked us to contact Governor Cuomo of New York. Ask them to halt the madness, stop the Constitution Pipeline, honor and protect the property rights of local people.  Today it is the Holleran-Zeffers; tomorrow, it might be you...

-- Michael Bagdes-Canning

MOB joins Pennsylvanians Against Fracking coalition partners, noted Actor James Cromwell, rally in solidarity

Harrisburg, PA– Today, Jan. 9, farmers from around Pennsylvania took to the Pennsylvania Farm Show to deliver a letter signed by over 140 Pennsylvania farmers to Governor Tom Wolf, urging him to protect farms by stopping hydraulic fracturing (“fracking.”).

Several farmers ventured inside the Farm Show arena as Gov. Wolf spoke at the Farm Show opening ceremony, unfurling a banner reading “Farms Not Fracking” to ensure the Governor heard their call to protect farmland from fracking.

The farmers were joined by dozens from around the state converging for a rally hosted by the statewide coalition Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, which took place directly outside the Farm Show Complex. Over 100 attendees participated in the rally, which celebrated farming and mourned the lives lost and damage done to the agricultural industry by fracking in Pennsylvania. Attendees were joined by actor James Cromwell, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a farmer in the 1995 film Babe.

“This letter outlines serious concerns from Pennsylvania’s agricultural community that cannot continue to be ignored,” said Jenny Lisak a leader of Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air, which is a member of the Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Steering Committee. “[Gov.] Wolf must not only protect Pennsylvania farmland and farmers, he must lead us into a renewable energy economy. I vehemently protest my farm being contaminated by toxic industrialization, and I share those sentiments with farmers across Pennsylvania.”

“Fracking destroyed my business and my life,” said Maggie Henry, who has been forced to abandon her organic pig farm. “Fracking and related industries made it impossible to call my produce organic. Fracking-related earthquakes destroyed the integrity of my basement foundation and cracked my chimney flute pipe. I can’t farm on my land- I can’t even live on my land.”

"Fracking cannot be made safe,” said Stephen Cleghorn, PhD, a farmer from Jefferson County who helped draft and deliver the letter. “Regulations simply enable the industry to proceed with an industrial experiment that could forever ruin the aquifers critical to the life of my organic farm. The industry cannot prove that they will not ruin my water source. That is why I implore Governor Wolf to stop it. In addition to the farmers signed on to this letter, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture representing 6,000 farmers has called for a moratorium on fracking. Why does Governor Wolf ignore the voices of farmers?"

About Pennsylvanians Against Fracking
Pennsylvanians Against Fracking is a statewide coalition of organizations, institutions, and businesses calling for a halt to fracking in the Commonwealth. Learn more about Pennsylvanians Against Fracking.

Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.”  -- Wendell Berry, from What Are People For?: Essays

On Monday, December 21, 2015, six grandparents sat in six rocking chairs on the access road to the Geyer well in Adams and Middlesex townships. We had no intention of allowing any Rex traffic to pass; most of us were prepared to be arrested if it came to that.

This was, as far as I know, the very first instance of nonviolent direct action with a civil disobedience component carried out by fracktivists in Butler County. This was not a Marcellus Outreach Butler action, though many of the participants are affiliated with MOB.

Why did we do it?

As the action was wrapping up I engaged one of the other grandparents in conversation and she said something that is very powerful: "We don't do this because we think this one action will stop the well. We do it because we are obligated to say no."

While I'm pretty certain that many of the other grandparents, like me, hoped that our action would make Rex reconsider drilling near Mars Area schools, I am absolutely certain that none of us thought that this was even a remote possibility. But, as Berry suggests in the quote above, our "own hearts and spirits would be destroyed by acquiescence" if we didn't do it.

As research evidence piles up, it becomes clearer and clearer that fracking doesn't belong anywhere near people, other living things, water, air, or soil. In the months and weeks leading up to our action, a number of powerful studies were released that linked proximity to fracked wells and low birth weights (Pitt), problem pregnancies (Johns Hopkins), and cardiac visits to emergency rooms (Penn). Duke University released a study linking proximity to a fracked well and decreased property value. Low sperm counts have also been linked to proximity to fracking sites (U. of Missouri).

I applaud the powerful work done by the Mars Parent Group, who have bravely waged a tireless effort to organize and educate the residents of Adams and Middlesex. I am grateful to the residents of Middlesex Twp., the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and Clean Air Council, who are fighting the Geyer well with the only state sanctioned tools at our disposal: the legal justice system. I am in awe of the people who have been hit with a SLAPP suit but are still speaking out against drilling near Mars Area schools, still exercising their rights guaranteed by our Constitution.
 
As an elected official, a former teacher of delinquent boys, a father, a grandfather, a person of faith and someone who appreciates and values the ideals of the founding principles of our country, I believe in playing by the rules. But still... rules are made by people, and people make mistakes.  When rules allow unspeakable harm or make it more likely to continue to happen, people must not acquiesce.
 
I think that civil disobedience is a tool that we are going to have to use skillfully to win this fight, but it's only one of the tools.  We need the entire toolbox and we need people to stretch from where they are to areas where they are less comfortable. Many have already done some remarkable stretching -- it was a big stretch by many to advocate for your community in front of your supervisors, commissioners and council people;  to knock on doors; to show up at rallies and hold signs.
 
Stretching is what MOB needs to encourage. We've been talking about it for quite some time. We've got some very educated "members" of MOB. They come to every meeting. They are engaged. They have their hearts in the right place but, maybe, some don't stretch. We need to get the folks who are educated to stretch -- e.g., to do file reviews, to monitor streams or air quality. We need folks who attend our rallies to stretch -- maybe to plan a rally. I love it when people say, "Can you think of something creative we could do about (for example) the trucks on Cliff St. in Butler?"  I'd love it even more if they'd stretch and say, "I'd like to organize something around Cliff St., could you help me pull that together?" Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone who attended our meetings said, "You know, that program on pipelines was really good. Can I contact my friend Tim DeChristopher about doing a presentation on..."   (Alternate: "You know, this presentation on pipelines was really good.  I know a guy who could do a presentation on... (fill in the blank); shall I contact him and see when he's available?")
 
 
The fracktivist toolbox in Butler County was opened just a bit wider on December 21st. Let's hope that it's just the beginning.