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Both major political parties support fossil fuels and fracking -- it's time to change that. Click here to call on the DNC and RNC to ban fracking and fossil fuels in their party platforms.
Friend,
The facts are clear: fracking uses toxic chemicals that are harmful to our health.1 Fracking wells take up to 9.6 million gallons of water away from farmers and communities that need safe drinking water, especially during droughts, which are becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change.2 And speaking of climate change, methane leakage from every part of the fracking system - from wells to pipelines and more - is 80 times more damaging to our climate than carbon dioxide, and is a major source of global warming pollution.3 Finally, we also know that fracking disproportionately impacts low-wealth and communities of color, including indigenous communities, because fracking wells are more likely to be situated in their communities.4
There's only one way to stop this: A National Ban on Fracking. And we have an opportunity to make it an issue for both major parties and their respective nominees. We're teaming up with friends like 350.org, Climate Hawks Vote, Food and Water Watch and others to demand the DNC and RNC both include a national ban on fracking in their official party platforms. Click here to tell the DNC and RNC: Don't Frack This Up.
The longer we allow this practice to continue, the more places Big Oil will fecklessly try to frack. Last month, we learned that the National Park Service granted a permit allowing seismic testing, and eventual fracking, in the Big Cypress preserve near the Everglades.5 And even more recently, the Department of Interior said it was fine to frack off the California coast!6 We've achieved fracking bans in New York, Vermont and numerous local communities7 -- but those bans are under attack, as a recent decisions to bar community fracking bans in Colorado and Texas have shown. Now is the time to achieve the ultimate prize, a national fracking ban.
Fracking is no longer a partisan issue: a majority of U.S. citizens oppose fracking, largely due to decreased support among those who identify as Republicans -- an 11 point difference since 2015.8 And we're seeing this opposition grow nationwide as brave fracktivists from North Dakota, New York, Massachusetts and Florida are literally risking their safety to stand up for their communities and the planet.
I'm proud of and inspired by these activists, but I also know that they'll never be truly safe from fracking until all major political parties support a ban. That's why I am asking you to add your voice to the growing chorus calling for both the RNC and DNC to write a ban on fracking into their national platforms. Click here to make sure the DNC and RNC get the message.
Thanks for sounding off,
Anthony and the Environmental Acton "Get the Frack Out" Committee
1. Greenwood, Michael. Toxins Found in Wastewater and Fracking Fluid, Study Shows. Yale News. January 6, 2016.
2. Magill, Bobby. Water Use Rises as Fracking Expands. Scientific American. July 1, 2015.
3. McKibben, Bill. Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry. The Nation. March 23, 2016
4. Rakia, Raven. Fracking Waste More Likely to be Located in Poor Communities and Neighborhoods of Color. Grist.org. February 3, 2016.
5. Rapenshek, Kurt. National Park Service Approves Seismic Testing for Oil in Big Cypress National Preserve. National Parks Traveller. May 6, 2016.
6. Geiling, Natasha. Federal Agencies Find That Fracking In The Pacific Would Have No ‘Significant’ Environmental Impacts. Think Progress. June 1, 2016
7. Henry, Devin. Sanders Injects Fracking into Battle for NY. The Hill. April 13, 2016.
8. Gallup: Opposition to Fracking Mounts in the U.S.
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