“I thought you all would be taking long vacations this summer!” exclaimed a CCAN supporter, when I called to invite her to an organizing meeting happening this July in her community regarding the future of fracking in Maryland.
She was referring to the big news coming from Annapolis this April, when concerned citizens across the state pushed elected officials to pass the first legislative moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the country. But this significant win will only last for two years, which means every Marylander — parents, students, business owners, concerned citizens — has two years to organize and secure permanent, statewide protections against fracking.
The passage of a legislative moratorium was a huge testament to the power of public participation in government. As WBAL reported on the Friday that the bill first passed the Maryland Senate, “opponents of fracking seem to have out-demonstrated, out-lobbied and outdone those who support the controversial process.” Indeed, the “Don’t Frack Maryland” coalition, comprised of over 200 groups across the state, turned out more calls and emails than legislative offices had ever seen on the fracking issue. And nearly 400 constituents came to Annapolis over the course of 3 months for lobby meetings, rallies, press conferences, and to deliver information to legislators.
While the moratorium guarantees that no fracking permits can be issued in Maryland for two years, it was drastically altered from the bill our advocates wrote. A provision establishing a new panel to review health and economic studies was cut. The final version also requires the Maryland Department of the Environment to adopt regulations for hydraulic fracturing by October 2016, which would then be effective as soon as the moratorium expires in October 2017. Simply stated: the next two years is not a time to wait and see what happens. It is a hard deadline on a frack-free Maryland. By the end of 2017, our state could open for business in the eyes of the gas industry.
That’s why CCAN is building a groundswell of support across the state, engaging Maryland residents in campaigns to enact permanent measures to ban fracking in their own communities.
In Prince George’s County, CCAN and our allies are working with Councilwoman Mary Lehman to introduce a county ordinance to ban fracking. Southern Prince George’s County sits on top of the Taylorsville gas basin. A Texas-based company has already leased land for fracking just across the Potomac River in the Virginia portion of this same basin, making Prince George’s one of the most vulnerable counties outside of Western Maryland to potential gas extraction. More than 70 county residents packed the Greenbelt Public Library last Tuesday night to learn about the threat fracking poses to Prince George’s County. Hundreds have already signed a petition to the council, and CCAN volunteers are hitting the streets to secure support from small businesses and other community leaders. Meanwhile, in Baltimore City, Councilman James Kraft has introduced a resolution endorsing a statewide ban.
This is our game plan: Where there’s gas, we’ll pass local laws to keep it in the ground. Where there isn’t gas, we’ll pass resolutions telling our state legislators they need to prohibit drilling statewide and KEEP IT IN THE GROUND, all building momentum toward passing a permanent statewide ban.
We know that fracking poses dangerous threats to public health, with more damning scientific evidence coming out every passing month. Fracking causes real estate values to plummet and puts an enormous strain on rural infrastructure like roads and bridges. Idyllic, pastoral communities all over the United States have been scarred and abandoned in fracking’s wake. The drilling process takes hundreds of millions of gallons of fresh water and leaves behind irrevocably polluted land, air, and waterways. There is no proven way to regulate this process to protect humans and the environment from these harms.
We also know that the gas industry has shown time and again that it does not care about the havoc it wreaks.
We have a powerful movement putting wind in the sails for a permanently frack-free Maryland. But we’re going to need to keep educating, inspiring, and bringing new voices and communities into this movement to ultimately win.
Want to get the latest updates, and learn how you can get involved this fall? Join us on September 9th at 7:00pm for the Maryland activist conference call. CCAN organizers and volunteers across the state will come together to discuss our big campaign plans this fall — including building the movement for clean energy alternatives to fracking — and how you can get involved!