If any of you want to see pipeline madness at its finest, I recommend a drive on Mushrush Road in north Penn Township, Butler County, especially driving west to east.

This used to be one of my favorite roads to drive on.  I take it when my job takes me down to Saxonburg.  I always loved driving past the beautiful rolling farm country...  This view began to be marred in June, when a drilling rig sprang up in the midst of that farmland, on property leased to the industry by the monks of Holy Trinity Monastery.  (For me, personally, that makes it even MORE of a travesty, that "holy" men were accomplices to this assault.  A throwback to my Catholic upbringing, no doubt...)  But that wellpad was just in one location along the road.  Today, Aug. 22, I saw that this ENTIRE STRETCH of farmland had a hideous bare strip down its ENTIRE LENGTH, and that strip was littered with long pieces of pipe...
This is going to happen to each of us at some point, where some special place that feeds our soul with its beauty is going to be decimated, raped, assaulted and pillaged by this soul-killing industry.

Yes, we are fighting for the air and water that we need to live, but we are fighting also for that which makes life worth living: the beauty and wonder of our native planet, our "soul connection" with the earth.  All of that is steadily being taken away from us by this out-of-control industry...

Some of you may remember the song "Out in the Country" by Three Dog Night: "Before the breathing air is gone, before the sun is just a bright spot in the nighttime... I stand alone, and take back something worth remembering..."  I've been singing that song a lot lately.  I feel that those dark days are rapidly approaching, that this industry is accelerating that process more than anything that has ever been created. 

But I feel that there is something within us, and within the earth itself, that is more powerful than all the corporate political might being brought to bear at this pivotal time in our history.  Because of that, we WILL overcome...

"Don't be so proud of this technological terror you've constructed.  The power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force..."

j.p.m.

STOP THE FRACK ATTACK Event -- THE MARCH

We knew Jason Bell, Mike Badges-Canning and the other members of Tour de Frack had reached D.C. a few days earlier, had done some lobbying at the Department of Energy, and we figured they were either resting (not likely) or (more likely) pitching in with preparations for STOP THE FRACK ATTACK.

So when I noticed the program schedule had changed a little from the original version, and that the event would end with a “march,” I thought oh, Jason and Mike do like them a march, and I figured that meant a leisurely stroll from the Capitol lawn across the street and down a block or two to a little gas company office near our hotel. I was WRONG, by a mile. Probably more like a mile and a half.

Event organizers had obtained the permits, arranged for police escort and traffic blocking, water and ice “drops” along the route, and all that goes with enabling a throng of thousands of very purposeful, but very peaceful citizens to exercise their right to demonstrate. Tour de Frack led the parade on their bikes, blocks and blocks full of us followed, filling the avenues and boulevards chanting, laughing, cavorting and having a wonderful time. A double-decker bus and a van with a canoe from the Delaware strapped to its top, closed ranks at the “end” of the parade.

Our ranks seemed to swell as we went along, perhaps with people who hadn’t wanted to be out in the sun earlier, but in some cases, by people who joined ranks from the sidewalk. People in stopped cars honked and waved their solidarity with our cause. Even a few of the police officers stationed along the route expressed gratitude for what we were doing.

We saw a lot of DC, and a lot of people in DC that Saturday saw and heard us.

Too bad none of the major networks saw fit to air any footage of this massive example of democracy in action. Too busy covering the Olympics perhaps, but you know what? Those athletes run on water just like the rest of us. And if people don’t wake up soon and start demanding protection of our water and air, athletic competition will be the last thing on anyone’s mind.

k.e.

Wowza, what a day!!!

The organizers, endorsing organizations, and volunteers behind last Saturday’s STOP THE FRACK ATTACK Event in Washington, D.C. did an absolutely amazing job.

Hours before things officially got underway at 2 pm, they were out on the West Lawn of the Capitol, in the full hot sun (temps stayed in the 90s all day), setting up mock fracking rigs, a soundstage, all kinds of collateral materials, and so forth. By the way, and I don’t know if selling merchandise on government property is prohibited, or if the donors for the event wanted it this way, but none of the tee shirts, signs and posters, pins, bottled water, noise-makers, newspapers, stickers, pamphlets, printouts of maps and chants for the march and so forth were for sale … everything was just “would-you-like-one?” free.

We went over from our nearby hotel around noon, found a shady spot outside the wall of the actual lawn and settled in there. We met several interesting people, and made some new fb friends, including Joetta and Ward Hartman from, if I recall correctly, Lycoming County in eastern PA. At one point I turned to my left and standing right beside me was GASLAND producer, Josh Fox! It was a real privilege to get to thank him for his work and share a bit of conversation with him.

This little grotto was a few steps into the park from what turned out to be the bus drop-off. All of a sudden the place started filling up as every 10 or 20 minutes another bus from another state or region arrived. When Marcellus Protest and the Southwestern PA region contingent entered the grounds, it was with typical ratchet-it-up style, leading with the FRACKING DRILLING SPILLING KILLING banner, and chanting HEY HEY HO HO, HYDRO-FRACKING’S GOTTA GO! Loved seeing everyone, so many familiar faces, and waves!

The rally began right on time with an interfaith program of music and prayers, followed by individual speakers talking about what fracking has done in their backyard, their state (e.g., New York, Colorado, Montana, California, Texas, West Virginia, and of course Pennsylvania) or their country (e.g., Belgium and Australia). Josh Fox spoke about Power and Democracy, saying: “We need to take back our power in the form of renewable energy. We need to take back our power in the form of democracy … and justice.”

Although it was awful hot, everybody stayed tuned in to the messages. Medics circulated among the crowd (one sweet pixie visited me every so often … she even popped up here and there along the path through the city, later!) to see if anyone needed water, assistance of any kind, etc. Attendees walked around taking pictures of each other, and of each other’s signs. Media folks and videographers circulated capturing quotes and messages. Pittsburgh former city councilman Doug Shields was the last speaker; no one better to rev things up and get folks ready for the next part of the day – the March!

k.e.