February, 08 2012, 01:46pm EDT
Protestors Walk Red Carpet in Trenton for "Fracky Awards"
As Legislature Ponders Ban Bill, Activists Protest Oil and Gas Industry Pow Wow Across from Statehouse
TRENTON, NJ
Today activists protested one of several planned regional workshops by the American Petroleum Institute in Trenton, NJ, countering the oil and gas industry association's event discussing the development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) with a recommendation of their own: ban fracking entirely. Protestors handed media and passersby "swag bags" filled with information on the risks associated with fracking and staged an award ceremony for the Frackies.
"It's awards season, and what better way to protest this elite gathering than with a riff off of another elite event--the Oscars," said Jim Walsh, Eastern Region Director of Food & Water Watch. "If there were an award for destroying rural communities and endangering drinking water supplies, it would certainly go to the American Petroleum Institute, which uses its clout to spread disinformation about the dirty, polluting practice."
The event took place near the New Jersey Statehouse, where tomorrow the Senate Environment Committee is expected to vote on a bill to permanently ban fracking in New Jersey before the temporary moratorium is lifted in January 2013.
"These petroleum industry representatives should know that New Jersey has prevented fracking because of grave concerns about the pollution to our drinking water and communities, so they may as well go home. We regret that we cannot give out awards for clean and sustainable energy today and that we must recognize the American Petroleum Institute for its disgraceful failure in making drillers publicly accountable and law-abiding. In Pennsylvania alone, the State reports that as fracking races ahead drillers commit 12 violations per day of environmental permits, adding up to thousands of pollution incidents each year," said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
The nominees for the Fracky were New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, El Paso Pipeline Company, Cabot Oil & Gas, Representative Andy Harris (R-MD), and the American Petroleum Institute. Each nominee was chosen because of some practice that protesters found seriously objectionable.
"We are here especially to announce the Fracky nomination for El Paso, the parent company of Tenneco Natural Gas and surviving part of Enron. Their proposed pipeline will be supporting and encouraging fracking that will threaten our water supply. They will be running a pipeline through the most environmentally sensitive area of New Jersey. The pipeline will go through the Delaware Water Gap, Wallkill, Newark and Pequannock water shed and drilling right through the Monksville Reservoir. Along the way it will be cutting an ugly scar through the Highlands and dozens of parks and open space areas. They are attacking our water supply through both fracking and this pipeline," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
The eventual winner of the Fracky was the American Petroleum Institute for what activists referred to as "spinning the benefits of fracking so hard that some people actually believe that gas is a bridge fuel to renewables." Governor Christie was nominated for a Fracky for saving the fracking industry from the first statewide attempt to ban fracking when he issued a conditional veto last August.
Organizations participating in the 2012 Fracky Awards include Food & Water Watch, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Sierra Club, New Jersey Environmental Federation and 350.org.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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