Marcellus Earth First!
Activists from Marcellus Earth First! have erected a slash pile blockade and two tree sits blocking an access road to an EQT hydro-fracking site in Moshannon State Forest in Clearfield Co., Pa., halting drilling operations set to begin this week.
The blockade is trying to stop the further destruction of Pennsylvania’s state forests—more than half of which have already been leased for drilling—and call attention to the devastating effects of hydrofracking on communities. The sitters’ anchor lines are blocking the road by crossing each other and the road, and if an anchor line is cut a sitter will fall.
Today’s blockade is the latest in a series of escalating actions of resistance to the destructive impacts of hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale. For the latest updates on this action, click here.
Last May, residents of Butler County occupied the office of State Representative Brian Ellis, demanding accountability for widespread contamination caused by horizontal drilling.
In June, seven families, along with dozens of supporters, blocked the entrance to the Riverdale Mobile Home Community to prevent their imminent eviction at the hands of Aqua America PVR. Aqua America sought to destroy their homes and construct a water withdrawal facility permitted to extract up to three million gallons of water from the Susquehanna River daily for use in fracking. Residents were able to maintain the blockade for 12 days.
On June 17, more than 1,000 Ohioans stormed the statehouse in Columbus and passed a “people’s resolution” banning hydrofracking.
Most recently, a 31-year-old landowner from Athens County, Ohio chained herself to concrete barrels and shut down operations at one of Ohio’s 170 injection wells, which contain about 95 percent of the toxic and radioactive fracking waste generated from Pennsylvania drilling.
Momentum in the anti-fracking battle will continue to build across the Marcellus and Utica shale regions throughout July. Next weekend, residents from Ohio and beyond will gather at an anti-fracking action camp in Youngstown and prepare to enforce the “people’s resolution” against fracking.
The upcoming months show the beginnings of a national rebellion against extractive industry across the board. On July 28, anti-frackers from across the nation will gather in Washington D.C. for “Stop the Frack Attack,” the largest mobilization against fracking ever.
In West Virginia, Appalachians and allies will stand together at the “Mountain Mobilization” and shut down an active strip mine the last week of July.
In Montana,the “Coal Export Action,” a ten-day campaign of civil disobedience at the beginning of August will target coal shipments from strip mines in the Powder River Basin, overseas. And later in the month, Texas residents have called for the “Tar Sands Blockade” to block the recently approved southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Where the government has failed to act to protect communities and the earth from the ravages of an out-of-control energy industry, the people are rising up to resist. No matter where you live, you have the opportunity to join the fight for our future. Find your place, stand your ground, and in the words of Mother Jones, “Boogie Chilluns.”
Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.
This is what it has come to and the only way it seems to slow down the devastation. Ohioans better wake up and get busy taking action in whatever way is possible as this devastation is coming our way and it will take an enormous effort to stop it. The Alleghany National Forest is now an industrial disaster area that will not get better unless fracking is removed from the forest. Kudos to the ingenuity and courage of these people who truly care about our planet!
Found clearfield on a map..where is the action? Do they have needs?
Just got this message from them “rig shut down”
Yay!
Spike, it’s an EQT hydro-fracking site in Moshannon State Forest in Clearfield County, don’t have more specifics on location.
Moshannon State Forest is about 90 min. NE of New Castle, PA, which is 20 miles east of Youngstown. I’ve been to this forest in the fall. So sad what they are doing. PA has lost this fall tourist. Not going to visit the toxic frack pits.
It has begun …… Let the people revolt and govern in order to protect
Educate yourselves…
I know locals that work on that rig. First of all… They are not fracking at the moment.
You all have no idea of the global and political impact of drilling on domestic land. Be safe in whatever you do and abide by the law
“Be safe in whatever you do and abide by the law” do have any idea how many violations the industry has been guilty of? We are not the ones who aren’t being safe and following the law.
We were there from 8am until the evening and we saw many workers – the ones on the rig were all from Alaska, the other work trucks passing the blockade at the end of the access road were all out of state as well, mostly with plates from West Virginia. If there are as many locals working on this site as you say, they did not show up to work on Sunday.
stay strong people , do all you can to stop the distruction of your mountains,rivers land and sea , the warnings are coming from across the globe to stop this attack on the planet , it is the water they these oil giants will distroy , it is the water and water as we know is the giver of life to sustain our bodys. dont give in as we the people of aotearoa new zealand turn to face the full force of these oil giants along with our out of control nz goverment .we want our future generations to have a future so we must fight for there future.
Does anybody remember Kurt Vonnegut’s invention, the Consies? Eco-terrorists and protesters, written in the 60′s. Or endemic unemployment? Irreversible environmental destruction? In Player Piano and Cat’s Cradle.
good job ya’ll, becareful and be wary; don’t let anybody talk you into violence or property destruction. If they do, they should be suspected of being moles and special interest informants.
Just the beginning, we will stop this, but need news media and livestream, anyone can go, go, it is just the beginning. Aren’t people wonderful, those that have the courage to stand up and fight. Love these guys and gals. Real democracy at work.
The big question at the moment is whether or not the powers that be will move to use Pennsylvania’s Patriot Act against the tree sitters. Laws such as this and in other states were passed in the initial panic over 9/11 and extractive industries lost no time in inserting provisions in the laws that were clearly aimed at monkey wrenching, redefining it from trespassing and vandalism to an act of terrorism. This has been a big existential spectre haunting many activists since 1991. Are they willing to use it, and if they chose to use it will it blow up in their faces because of the controversial nature of fracking. I know some civil liberties lawyers have been waiting for a test case. So far neither party has wanted to go there. This question is liable to be a very important one on the limits of dissent post 9/11.
We are all with you in mind and good thoughts as we face the same thing here in Ireland soon with few people really knowing what fracking is about here. We had an art show last week and music to raise awareness of these evil people set to ruin the earth.
We are one against this where ever we are on earth,
Ambrose, west of Ireland