Natural Resources Defense Council
Sign this petition to tell the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to issue strong rules for federal fracking leases on public lands.
Signing this petition sends an email to Mike Pool, acting director of the BLM, and the Department of Interior. The BLM’s draft rule on fracking is a start and long overdue, but as long as fracking is occurring on public, Indian or split estate lands, the oil and gas industry should be held to the highest standards. The BLM’s rules should be a model for the nation that protects communities and the environment.
This petition unites the voices of Americans who demand our leaders take seriously the threats posed by fracking by establishing rules that protect our communities, water, air, wildlife and biodiversity.
Endorsing Organizations: Natural Resources Defense Council, Buckeye Forest Council, People’s Oil & Gas Collaborative—Ohio, American Rivers, EcoFlight, Heartwood, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sustainable Obtainable Solutions, Arkansans for Responsible Gas Development, Community for Sustainable Energy, Oil Change International, Frack Files Greeley, Women’s International for Peace & Freedom Greeley, Occupy Greeley, 350 Greeley, Interfaith Power and Light, Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley, Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community, Riverkeeper, Wilderness Workshop, Earthworks, Wild Virginia, Denver Community Rights, TEDX, Citizens for a Healthy Community, Allegheny Defense Project, Denver Community Rights, Grassroots Coalition for Environmental and Economic Justice
Actually would prefer to ban fracking, period!
I agree, thank you!
I agree
The problem is that no one that I know of is working on a ban on fracking on public lands, so we better, at the very least, get stronger regulations. But I agree a ban would be the best. Do you know of anyone that can put effort into working to ban fracking on public lands? The BLM has already come out with draft rules for fracking on our lands, so now is the time to start rallying for a complete ban on fracking on our public lands! Your land and my land.
I couldn’t possibly agree more. Fracking is putting us on the road to ruin; Americans are at extreme risk. Instead, we need more emphasis on renewable energy and we need it immediately!!
Now they’re fracking volcanoes to spin turbines with steam. Notice the volcanic eruptions all over the world the last few years?
Spear,
Here is a link to a facebook page and discussion of groups working in CA, and perhaps those listed that are national groups have nationwide efforts http://www.facebook.com/events/116904371805382/
I agree. Since the development of unconventional drilling has begun, there is less incentive and less money for development of safe, renewable energy, like wind and solar. Natural gas is not a bridge to safer, cleaner energy; it’s a WALL.
Ditto on that Colette!
I can’t believe this is even an issue, people need to wake up and see that these self serving people are out to destroy everything because they DON’T CARE. There are alternative energy sources availabe that are not allowed to happen. wondering what the epa actually does??? Anything for the big buck…
Yes, but there is some good in fracking.
What????!!!!
How can there be good on fracking, their just ruining the land underneath and all around. SHEESH wake up
Methane is already leaking from unstable seabed deposits of methane hydrate. We should go capture that before we frack any more. Those seabed deposits contain more carbon than all remaining conventional fossil fuel reserves. If they escape, it is game over for agriculture and thus civilization. Methane captured from those unstable seabed deposits MUST displace coal and gas from fracked wells, with much leftover that will need to be stored in old oil or gas wells.
Most likely replacement for petroleum is Global Thermostat capturing CO2 from air to feed to algae by Algae Systems to make bio-diesel with bio-char (soil amendment and CARBON STORE) as a byproduct. Algae Systems need 6 to 10 years more engineering R&D to get algae bio-diesel cost-competitive with petroleum.
natural gas is just a nice name for METHANE!!
I agree 100%
I agree with Colette. Stricter rules won’t keep our water clean. Fracking uses tons of fresh water and contaminates ground water for miles. No Fracking on my Public Lands, period.
Hard to believe we’re even having this conversation….Regardless of how stringent the regulations, there’s absolutely no iron clad guarantee that eventually somebody’s drinking water somehwere will not be contaminated. And what about the escaped methane and the carbon pollution from the 24/7 operation of heavy equipment and trucks? We’re already in something of a climate crisis, and need to get serious about phasing out fossil fuels, not looking for new sourcess of them….
Roland Micklem
I completely agree- how about NO FRACKING on public lands,! Don’yt have to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure out how dangerous and destructive fracking is and will be if allowed in our previous national parks! Once again our government not caring, our Bureau of land management becoming bureau of land mangling…
http://thenation.com/article/171504/fracking-our-food-supply
California farming and wilderness areas are going to be raped if this isn’t stopped.
Fracking is destroying our world!
the sicknes’s caused is to profitable for the corp.med.industry
I’d prefer no fracking at all,this is all the water we have and we need to STOP polluting it NOW.
ban fracking all together! should be illegal.
I think the most disturbing part of this issue is the fact that when the bad effects are discovered there is no turning back from the damage or repairing the damage.
I was shocked during the second presidential debate to see Romney and Pres. Obama arguing over who would open more public lands to drilling and other forms of dirty energy exploitation. We need to remind the President that those of us in the environmental movement are an important part of his party’s base!
Obama does not care that we are a large part of his base. He has been a traitor on environmental issues from the outset. I can see no substantial difference between him and Bush when it comes to energy matters. And, the Democratic Party does not have the intestinal fortitude to take a strong stand for the environment. It merely pays lip service to get our votes.
I fully agree with your comment. We need to remember President Roosevelt’s statement to those who were pressuring him to do something for the good of all. It was, “Make me do it”. We need to put pressure on President Obama to “Make him do it”.
Fracking should be banned on all public lands. The government and industry want to make that seem an impossible target. Greatly increased grassroots pressure from local communities will bring increased attention and more stringent regulation to this highly destructive process .
Water being used for fracking comes from the rivers,small streams large injection wells it takes 2 million gallons of water to drill one well that water after fracking is put into injection wells with rediactive fluids still in it even if they recycle it thier is no getting ride of these chemicals they can be in ground water.
ban fracking! if not possible now begin by enforcing the demands of this petition. pressure politicians if possible. make wishes known. educate other members of the public. alert news media: demand coverage of this dangerous and destructive process.
I have somewhat mixed feelings about this. I understand that having stronger rules in place is better than weak or no rules. But I also feel that there is no truly safe way to carry out fracking and that letting it continue at all keeps us dependent on fossil fuels. I think the more important thing is to keep fighting for fracking to be completely banned. There have been small victories on this front and hopefully they will keep growing. Asking for stronger rules feels like starting with a compromise. (And quite honestly, this doesn’t surprise me as NRDC is part of “Big Green”: Those eco charities which accept funding from corporate polluters in exchange for toning down actions against same, and even for providing a stamp of approval to questionably eco-friendly products, thus aiding and abetting corporate “greenwashing”.) With the climate reaching the tipping point, compromise is no longer feasible, if it ever really was; we’ve said, “let future generations do it” for too many decades now.
Giving communities the right to ban fracking will take a big bite out of the frackers, and will, I think, eventually lead to a total ban as public awareness increases.
Of course, environmental organizations should starve rather than compromise and take money from the enemy, and those that have should be singled out and required to explain their actions to their grassroots supporters in no uncertain terms.
These politicians need to be reminded who their bosses are from time to time.
I agree. I live in NY above the Marcellus and Utica Shales, and I have been following the fracking issue very closely for more than four years; I have visited PA to see fracking there firsthand. I do not think there is any way to frack for oil or gas reasonably safely. Regulations (even if they are properly enforced which does not seem to happen that often if at all) are just going to give the illusion of safety and facilitate fracking. So I have decided not to sign this petition. But I did sign the petition asking Pres. Obama for a nationwide moratorium on fracking. (Really, we should have a nationwide ban on fracking, but I’ll settle for starting with a moratorium.)
Only an outright BAN is enough protection. What part of poison don’t they understand?!
There are plenty of folks who would argue that the environmental cost of fracking is necessary… But then these are the clowns who are likely to piss in the pool.
Google “SAND MINING WISCONSIN” or MN, Iowa, and Illinois for the REST of the story. Our 500 MILLION YEAR old SAND HILLS and historic bluffs are being strip mined to feed FRACKING operations all over the country/world. Left unchecked, the oil and gas industry will destroy our fertile land, destroy our aquifers and flatten this part of the country. “Save The Hills Alliance,” “Fracsandfrisbee.com,” “Preserve Trempealeau County FB page,” “www.greatriverroadrevival.com,” “Save Our Knapp Hills Alliance FB” are just a few sites full of information.
“The Price of Sand” documentary by Jim Tittle is in production. Jim also has many youtube videos and arial photos of the devastation. The upper midwest is the new Appalachia. They have MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL…we have SAND HILL REMOVAL (our mountains). If you’ve never visited the midwest, do it NOW before the beauty is gone. Thank you for reading this.
I would rather see fracking banned all together, but until then we need stronger regulations. And I suggest that everyone take an active role in making their own environmentally friendly power by putting a solar panel or two on their home and demand that solar panels be part of new home construction (what new home doesn’t come complete with a dishwasher, clothes dryer, etc). If we don’t offer realistic alternatives, what can we expect. (Our entire ranch runs on solar and wind power, so I know it can be done.)
Shows the fight of a 911 lung damaged EMT trying to keep our even more pollution from a compressor… https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yrex8gsBwHI
Fracking should be banned altogether, but until it is, stronger regulations are in order. And in the meantime, everyone of us need to be putting a solar panel on our homes, and demand that new construction require solar panels on every home (what home doesn’t have dishwashers, clothes dryers, etc – so why not a solar panel or two? We run our entire ranch on solar and wind, so I know it can be done.) ). Nowhere is the saying “if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem” more true than in the use of energy.
Anybody in the Bradford County area interested in information,updates or willing to take action contact us through the email or facebook provided.
Also follow on twitter @ThusFarNoMore #fracking #naturalgas
No Compromise In Defense Of Mother Earth
One thing is sorely missing from the directive to BLM. In places like Desolation and Grey Canyons on the Green River in Utah BLM restricts the number of permits and people allowed to canoe, kayak and raft the river each day in order to sustain the natural character of that sensitive area. Yet, BLM is, RIGHT NOW, allowing frac’ing for natural gas in that very same area where the truck traffic, chemical injection and fracturing process do FAR more damage than all paddlers combined will do in a lifetime.
The BLM is hypocritical and completely out of touch with reality when it restricts paddlers but simultaneously allows frac’ing near the Green River, or any other sensitive place under its auspices.
I’ll tell you what’s missing from the rules governing fracking: a waiting period of 20 or 30 years. We have to make it impossible for these unconscionable people to do business. And, every municipality should have the opportunity to vote on whether or not they want fracking…a vote that supersedes what the Governor or state governments mandate. And, while I’m ruminating on it, a panel of scientists such as the Union of Concerned Scientists should also be consulted. We the People need to be represented. We can no longer be ignored.
telling the greedy BLM to establish strong regulations on fracking is a joke, considering the fox is guarding the chicken coop. did anyone ask citizens if they want their national parks fracked? read Wollin, Inverse Totalitarianism. corporations are taking over the country through lobbying and spreading cash among politicians. and the public is mostly ignorant and apathetic. democracy is long gone.
p.s. there is no safe way to frack. it must be banned.
I have been fighting against fracking since the fracking companies invaided Pennsylvainia, especailly Elk county, where we have a camp in the not so pristine forest. The fracking is now moving into our area, Indiana county. We were offered to lease our land,we declined but so many people around us are all for it! GREED!! No cares about the enviroment when the all mighty dollar is waved in their face! Wait until they realize that by signing the lease it gives the fracking company the rights to do what ever they please to the land regardless if they find gas or not. This country side use to be beautiful now it’s ” Pa. Wasteland” DON’T FRACK WITH OUR FUTURE!
I truely fear what is going to happen if all this fracking is allowed. The damage that they do just preparing for a drill site let alone the actual fracking. What is going to happen to the wildlife. We have spent years and millions of dollars trying to protect our environment and endangered species to throw it all away now for some gas. Why is everyone that can stop this turning thier heads??? Not to mention our dairy that will be poisoned because they want to drill on the farm lands.
How much longer do you think we can continue to contaminate our water and our land and still exist? When you destroy the land that sustains you can no longer exist.
In my view fracking is genocidal, and I do mean that literally. People have been pointing out the top few percent want to remove ninety percent of the world’s population by 2050, and they have been at it for a few decades and are gaining momentum. Wars are part of it, bad food and health policies, causing people to lose their homes, chemtrails, bad environmental practices, reduction of education –all that is said to be deliberate — and at ground level, as you are pointing out, FRACKING IS TERMINAL. Free energy systems have been known about for decades, scientists who point out biotech is used to kill people are killed, etc. So there are larger unpleasant patterns which are noticeable and which must be counteracted.
The interesting thing about the big Oil & Gas industry, along with all other wealthy corporations (Monsanto ring a bell?), is that there is NO sense of “responsible” development in their approach. The citizen must PROVE that their ill health, their loss of clean, drinkable water, their increasing incidence of respiratory, cancer, and endocrine illnesses is due to the Fracking rig that moved in just months before. In the days of Mayberry, RFD (anyone old enough to remember that TV series?), everyone would have been aghast at the RUDENESS, let alone recklessness of installing a Fracking rig within less than a mile (it’s now 150-350′ of someone’s home), subjecting the public, the neighborhood, to dangerous air, water, ground, noise & light pollution, and not being hauled into court for WRECKLESS endangerment would be unheard of!!! Where have we come to in the past 30 years? I sympathized with the towns in VA, WVA where whole mountaintops were stripped off in the US’s all-consuming thirst for coal. Entire towns were buried-but now I am encountering that same monster-just another disguise-and I know that helplessness. These corporations are taking what they want-now including our health and essentially the value of our property-and telling us to sit down and shut up because they have government paid off. EcoWatch-it is time that you & other environmental groups actually ban together, form a coordinated strategy that includes marches scheduled across the US on the same day, coordinated & targeted letter-writing and e-mailing that stuffs our representative’s boxes, etc., demanding that Fracking be banned and GMOs labelled, demanding that our civil rights be protected, and that the US return to its constitutional foundation of WE THE PEOPLE, not we the corporations. The only time in American history when civil rights were defended and written into law came about because people took to the streets in such masses that the injustice could no longer be ignored. We cannot be worried that our image be ruined or fear job loss. The very root of those fears is evidence that we no longer have a true democracy. The endangerment to life itself, that Fracking poses, is obvious. Here in Colorado:
“South Park’s unique combination of world-class fishing and wildlife opportunities, plus its role as the source for much of the (Denver) metro area’s drinking water, underscores the need for a careful planning process to ensure energy development is done responsibly,” Colorado Wildlife Federation director Suzanne O’Neill said. Who will make the corporations care about this?
Public lands were set aside for wildlife not to be used for profits from oil and gas companies!! these public lands are our state parks paid for by our taxes… Please sign to Keep them Safe!!
I am full of toxic carcinogenic petro chemicals and solvents from inhaling Methane gas. Consumers Energy/CMS has given me a Death Sentence because of their lies. I have all my medical records and test results and pictures showing and identifying all the toxins in my lungs, brain, blood, organs etc. BAN FRACKING, or toooooo many people are going to end up like me. Natural Gas is made up of Methane and other gasses, Fracking retrieves Methane Gas and in the process, explodes hundreds of toxic chemicals in the earth that gets in the water table. When the toxic water bubbles to the surface, it is put in trucks and spread on the roads, causing MORE toxicity to humans and animals, to the soil and water. The State of Michigan Governmental Departments ALL REFUSE to demand that CE/CMS change their employee teacing manual and is letting CE/CMS continue to lie to their customers putting them in danger of inahling these deadly toxins, or having their homes, or business blow up from the gas leak. Michigan is also allowing Fracking and we are the State with the largest amount of clean water in the world. Michigan Government is trying to destroy our state. Just like when the US Government brought in Asian Carp which is now threatening the 7 Billion Dollar Fish Industry in Michigan. When are our Politicians going to care about the health, safety, well being of US Citizens and our planet. All they seem to care about is MONEY, GREED and their superiority attitude and they have sold their souls to the BIG Oil and Gas Corporations and to other Corporations who do NOT want it known how toxic their products are.
I feel so bad for anyone like you who is suffering from the result of what they’re doing to our earth. I, too, am a resident of “PURE” Michigan…aka the country’s water wonderland. I wish politicians would read these posts and heed the warnings. Way too much is at stake.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/repeal-legislation-making-oil-and-natural-gas-companies-exempt-safe-drinking-water-act/d9SB9kfw
Ban Fracking NOw…this is in essence a petition that says we are okay with Fracking on our public lands …we need to make it impossible to use public lands for any kind of rape and pillage by the oil gas and coal industry…heck any industry…we are the owners of the land…who are they to lease it at all???
YESS! Well put!
Poisoning our country for the profit of a very few is, at best, doing the terrorists work for them.
Fracking is an environmental disaster. Stop frackers from poisoning our air and water.
Humans have been blessed with the essentials for life on this planet. We are rapidly sliding down a slippery slope – we are poisoning the three essential needs: soil, water, and air – at a rapid pace. NONE of these can be made, ordered from a store, found on a handy nearby planet.
Fracking is just one example of toxic pollution of all three essentials for life. PLEASE turn the corner and make wiser choices to maintain life on this planet. This is the generation that MUST take on this effort.
OMG we need to stop it so much!!!!
we need to do something now before it is to late
I will not barter nor compromise .. forget it fracking of all sorts be it verticle or horizontal has to halt and not occure
I can not believe they are even allowing fracking, our planet is damaged enough. But greed always prevails even at the cost of our health which we have proven over and over again. I am not sure how they intend to make injecting toxic chemicals into the earth safe? But, hopefully the committee that is in charge of it is not involved in any way with the companys profiting from it that would just be a disaster waiting to happen.
Fracking for natural gas is not safe. PERIOD
Fracking = Death.
We outnumber them, we have the power! All across the world people are making a stand.
Together we can STOP this madness.
The implementation and ENFORCEMENT of these regulations would likely make fracking extremely difficult, if not, impossible to do. I am totally against fracking. It’s not safe. It is the continuation of a rape and pillage mentality. Look back at the technology of the sixties and realize that it only took 10 years to put a man on the moon. With today’s technology where would we be 10 years from now if the same commitment was made to develop alternative energies. President Carter made that commitment, but President Reagan shut it down and no President since has restarted it.
What about the EARTHQUAKES FRACKING HAS CAUSED???
IT HAPPENED IN YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO LAST YEAR AND IT WILL CONTINUE FOR YEARS TO COME!!
It also drains into our Rivers, Creeks, our drinking water too! But FRACKING PAYS BIG AND NOTHING MATTERS BUT THE $$$$$$$$ AT OUR EXPENSE AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LAND.
There were Earthquakes from the Fracking in Youngstown, Ohio last year.
What about our waterwasy and the water we drink and our animals??
This is TOXIC Stuff! Nothing matters but the $$$$ and everythimg else doesn’t matter???
Common Sense would tell us when we force this stuff into the ground somethigns is going to happen.
Ban Fracking Now, your approach is so light handed, while these companies are running over you, US, our public spaces, the aquifers.
We both feel that fracking should proceed only with great caution and transparency at best, only where it is established to be in the general public interest ( not based merely on the profit motive), and especially not in our National Parks. Our great heritage parks should not be up for sale to the highest bidder!