At Food and Water Watch, we have been working with U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) to craft a national bill to ban fracking on all public lands.
It would be the strongest piece of federal legislation against fracking to date. Rep. Pocan and co-sponsor Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the bill. We couldn't have achieved this victory without all the emails, letters, calls, office visits and contributions from Food & Water Watch supporters, so thank you!
Fracking on public lands means clear-cutting forests for well pads, air pollution, potential water contamination and thousands of trucks carrying water, toxic chemicals and waste. Our U.S. parks and national forests are irreplaceable. Not only do they provide beautiful recreational areas and essential wildlife habitat, they also protect critical drinking water sources.
The oil and gas industry is already fracking on public lands in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest and along the border of Glacier National Park. The industry is pushing to access new land for fracking, including Virginia's George Washington National Forest, where fracking was approved just weeks ago. It's time we protected America's national treasures from fracking. Ask your Representative to support a ban on fracking on public lands.
It's clear that Americans don't want to see fracking in our national forests, national wilderness areas or on any other public lands.
When the Obama administration proposed rules in August 2013 for fracking on public lands across the country, more than 650,000 of you submitted public comments asking for an outright ban on fracking on public lands. The Obama administration still is sorting through the comments, but could come out with new rules any day now.
The oil and gas industry is fed up with waiting on rules to frack our public lands, and they are calling in favors from members of Congress to open even more land to fracking. People across the country want our public lands protected.
This bill is the strongest piece of anti-fracking legislation yet introduced in Congress, so it's crucial that we demonstrate the strength of our opposition to fracking by adding more sponsors to Rep. Pocan's bill.
Thanks for taking action,
Ms. Byrnes, Online Campaign Organizer for Food & Water Watch, may be contacted at act@fwwatch.org
