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.
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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