Committee advances resolution urging permanent ban on dangerous drilling; full Council hearing scheduled for August 17
Statement of ‘Don’t Frack Maryland’ Coalition Members Mitch Jones, Shilpa Joshi and Andy Galli
Baltimore, MD – On Tuesday, the Baltimore City Council took its first step toward urging a statewide ban on the dangerous practice of fracking in Maryland. After hearing public testimony, the Council’s Judiciary Committee voted 3-0 to advance a resolution calling on the state to place an outright ban on fracking due to its harmful health, environmental and economic impacts. The resolution currently has 13 co-sponsors and is scheduled for a vote by the full Council on August 17.
Earlier this year, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill that prohibits the state from issuing fracking permits through October 2017. The bill became law this May. The resolution, introduced by Councilmember James Kraft last week, calls on the state to enact permanent protections for Maryland communities, noting, “There is no scientific research supporting claims that [fracking] can be carried out in a way that reduces health and environmental risks to an acceptable level.”
In response, several representatives of the “Don’t Frack Maryland” coalition issued the following statements:
“Just since the General Assembly approved a two-year moratorium important new public health studies have confirmed the risks fracking poses to our state,” said Mitch Jones, Senior Policy Advocate at Food & Water Watch. “Studies showing increased hospitalizations in heavily fracked areas, correlations between lowered birth weights for newborns and proximity to fracked wells, and the distance that air pollution from fracking can travel are just the latest in the mountain of research that shows fracking is dangerous to our health. Fracking’s impacts are widespread and don’t just affect people living next to fracked wells – which is what Baltimore realizes.”
“The Baltimore City Council is taking the right step for both communities and our climate,” said Shilpa Joshi, Maryland Campaign Coordinator at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Studies show that fracked gas could be worse for the climate than coal because the fracking process leaks methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. With so much of Maryland’s economic activity at risk due to rising sea levels and growing flooding, we can’t afford to take steps backward toward another dirty fossil fuel.”
“Just as the City Council lead in 2013 with legislation to ban the treatment of fracking wastewater, they are leading again with a resolution to ask for a statewide fracking ban. Council members certainly understand the best way to protect Baltimore’s water and the public’s health from fracking is not to frack at all. We applaud their decision,” said Andy Galli of Clean Water Action.
Contact:
Kelly Trout, (240) 396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
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Background: More than 100 groups came together and worked tirelessly to empower Marylanders to form the Don’t Frack Maryland Campaign and fight for a long-term moratorium on fracking. During the 2015 General Assembly, more than 100 Western Maryland business owners joined this call, and Marylanders sent over 25,000 messages to legislators supporting a moratorium. Letters signed by more than 100 health professionals, and more than 50 restaurant owners, chefs, winemakers and farmers from across the state were also delivered to the legislature. Even actor and Maryland native Edward Norton helped the effort, providing a radio ad appealing to the Governor to sign the bill. Two commissioners of the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative,” released a letter in January outlining the commission’s study did not incorporate a great deal of the recently-released studies exploring the health effects of fracking.
