Marcellus Outreach Butler
Connect with us
  • Home
  • Get Involved
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Write Letters to the Editor
    • Contact Elected Officials
    • Track Permit Activity
    • Local Groups
    • PAF Farmers Letter to Governor Wolf
  • Concerned?
    • Krendale Neighbors
    • Emergency Contacts for Gasfield Residents
    • File a Complaint or Report an Incident
    • Property Values
    • Before You Sign a Lease
    • Water Testing
  • Fracking Impacts
    • Toxic Chemicals
    • Human Health Impacts
    • First Person Experiences
    • The Impact of Act 13 (HB 1950)
  • Resources
    • MOB Generated Info >
      • Butler Water Supply at Risk
      • Bat Signal
      • Spill Baby Spill
    • Books >
      • Fracking
      • Climate Change
    • Films
    • Websites
  • Membership & Giving
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Blog

Do Butler County and Love Canal Have Anything in Common?

11/13/2012

 
The answer is yes!  Lois Gibbs, director of the Center for Health, Environment, spoke at the Day’s Inn in Butler, October 28, and suggested that hundreds of Love Canals are getting created in Butler County with the unconventional drilling for natural gas.  For the younger generation, Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, NY, was a community built on top of a toxic waste dump.  After increased health problems in children and adults, one brave young mother began a movement to uncover the causes and solutions.  Lois was that young mother. 

Lois drew parallels between the battles she has fought and what we are facing here in Butler County and throughout Pennsylvania.

·         The chemicals used in fracking are some of the same that were found migrating out of the 20,000 ton dumpsite at Love Canal.

·         The primary exposure root in Love Canal was evaporated chemicals in the air.   With fracking there are two main exposure routes, air and water, which is much worse.

·         The health impacts are similar to those being reported in homes near fracking operations:  skin rashes, reproductive problems, neurological problems, cancer and children with asthma and other diseases.

·         The belief that once the government learned the facts, they would step in and correct the problem and provide relief.  And that just was not so, at least at the beginning.

The community of Love Canal did their own health survey to find out how many of their neighbors were being affected.  They discovered  that 56% had experienced health impacts.  And most startling was that in a 2 year period, 22 women had become pregnant.  Only 4 delivered normal babies.   These findings were confirmed by the NY State Health Department.  However, they concluded that the birth defects  were not due to exposures to Love Canal, but a random clustering of genetically defected people.   The community quickly realized that although scientific research is critical, that research alone was not the answer to getting relief.

Another difficult truth was that in America it is legal to poison people with chemicals.  Corporations are given permits to release chemicals into the air, water and soils.  By exposing families to a little bit of chemicals from different points of discharge, corporations increase the risk of cancer and other diseases.   No one is looking at the cumulative impact of having all these chemicals released from different points of discharge, just as no one is looking at the cumulative impact of numerous wells and compression stations, plus gas processing plants, in a relatively small area.

Although Lois shared the shocking truth about what happened in Love Canal, she inspired those in attendance by sharing what she and her neighbors did to become part of the solution.   The way to win is go get enough people actively involved and focus the collective energy on a decision maker.  In their case they targeted the governor and made his life uncomfortable.  They let the public know that the Governor of NY was allowing good taxpaying citizens to suffer by dogging him with signs and protestors wherever he was speaking.   At every fundraiser he attended they  stood outside and handed flyers to the Governor’s largest donors, held prayer vigils, traveled in motorcades to the state capital with a symbolic coffin representing the death of their community and taking on a media campaign that focused on human interest stories to educate the public and put pressure on the Governor.

The one thing they did not do was say, “there is nothing we can do.  This industry is too powerful.”  They were victorious because the government paid to move 833 families out of Love Canal and started the Superfund to clean up toxic dump sites.  Gibbs’ emphatically stated that no one is going to protect you if they do not have to.  Her advice is to use the science and legal channels, but most importantly turn up the heat politically.  Education is important but action is what will turn the tide in favor of protecting health and wellbeing of communities. 

The following is a summary of some actions she suggested.

·         Pick the person in power who can give you what you want and create a campaign to dog this person with signs and protestors wherever he shows up.

·         Groups across the region, city and state need to come together to share resources and support actions wherever there is need.

·         Establish rules about not arguing if fracking should be banned, placed on a moratorium or better regulated.  The industry loves it when we get divided over this battle.   Agree that we want to prevent harm from fracking.

·         Decide which groups of people you want to bring on board.  Find out what they value by listening and create the strategies to bring them into the movement.

This workshop was co-sponsored by Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ)  and Marcellus Outreach Butler (MOB).

Website for CHEJ:  www.chej.org

Website for MOB:  www.marcellusoutreachbutler.org
natural gas royalty link
4/1/2013 07:49:36 pm

In many cases, natural gas is the ideal fossil fuel because it's pretty clean, easy to transport and convenient to use. Cleaner than oil and coal, and increasingly mentioned as a solution to the climate change and the problems with poor air quality.

hydroheelfeet.com link
5/6/2013 07:32:15 pm

But when I read the heading, I thought both the subjects are different. But when I read the whole article, I understand that there is a close relation between Butler County and Love Canal Have. Thank you for sharing this wonderful information.


Comments are closed.

    Authors

    Blog posts written by members of Marcellus Outreach Butler.

    Archives

    April 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    13
    Act
    Act 13
    Action
    Activism
    Air Pollution
    Alternative Energy
    Aquifer
    Banking
    Birth Defects
    Butler Township
    Cement Casings
    Chainsaw
    Challenge
    Chemicals Used
    Children
    Children's Health
    Civil Disobedience
    Civil Rights
    Clean Air Act
    Clean Air Council
    Clean Energy
    Clean Water Act
    Climate Change
    Commomwealth Court
    Concerned Health Professionals Of New York
    Constitution
    Constitution Pipeline
    Contaminated Water
    County Commissioners
    Court
    Cutting Trees For Pipelines
    Deception
    Definition
    Delaware Riverkeeper Network
    Dep
    Doctor
    Drilling Ban
    EMA
    Emergency Management
    Eminent Domain
    Energy Revolution
    Environment
    Environmental Impacts
    Environmental Regulations
    Evacuation
    Farmers
    Farmers Against Fracking
    Farms
    Farm Show
    Flaring
    Flowback
    Forest Stewardship Program
    Fracking
    Franklin Township
    Gas Industry Lies
    Gas Lease
    Gerhart
    Geyer Wellpad
    Governor Tom Wolf
    Grandparents
    Groundwater Contamination Cases
    Halliburtan Loophole
    Health
    Health & Safety
    Health Study
    Holleran
    Holleran-Zeffer
    Hormone-disrupting
    House Bill 1950
    Impact Fees
    Jackson Township
    James Cromwell
    Lake Arthur
    Law
    Law Suit
    Lawyer
    Legislation
    Long Term Effects
    Long-term Effects
    Maggie Henry
    Maple Farm
    Maple Sugaring
    Margaret Flower
    Mars Parent Group
    Mars School Board
    Mars Schools
    M.D.
    Middlesex Planning Commission
    Middlesex Township
    Moraine State Park
    Mortgage
    Municipal Water
    Nonviolent Direct Action
    Pa Constitution
    Pediatrician
    Pennsylvanians Against Fracking
    Pipeline
    Property Value
    Proposed Processing Plant
    Protest
    Radiation
    Rally
    Real Estate
    Renewable Energy
    Rep. Brian Ellis
    Residential Drilling
    Resist
    Rex Energy
    Rights Of The People
    Sacrifice Zone
    Safety
    School
    Seneca Valley School
    Sen. White
    Solar
    Stephen Cleghorn
    Stop The Frack Attack
    Supreme Court Ruling
    Sustainable
    Tar Sands
    Tourism
    Unconventional
    Vehicle Acidents
    Violations
    Water
    Water Testing
    Well Casings
    Well Integrity
    Wendell Berry
    Woodlands
    XTO
    Zoning

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.