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For Immediate Release
October, 16 2012, 05:31pm EDT
Contact:
Sam Schabacker, sschabacker@fwwatch.org, 720-449-7505
Celebrities, Business Leaders and Non-profits Unite to Demand A Frack-Free Colorado
Concert & Rally features Jakob Dylan, Mariel Hemingway and Darryl Hannah
DENVER, Colo.
A rapidly growing list of business and environmental leaders, non-profits and entertainers are joining forces to fight against hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" in Colorado. On October 23, at Civic Park on Capitol Hill in Denver, a coalition called "Frack Free Colorado" will draw attention to the dangers of fracking and call for a concrete plan to move the state of Colorado away from natural gas and other dirty extractive industries and toward a renewable energy economy.
"As Coloradans, we feel that it's imperative to assess the environmental and health impacts of the fracking process," says Allison Wolff, CEO of Vibrant Planet and co-organizer of Frack Free CO. "The collective goal of everyone involved in Frack Free Colorado is to open up a dialogue regarding the effects of fracking on our communities, families and environment. We want to educate the public on the dangers of this process and accelerate clean energy alternatives."
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique used to extract gas and oil from rocks that are 2,000 to 10,000 feet below the earth's surface. Deep wells are drilled through the aquifer to reach shale rock formations and then millions of gallons of chemicals, sand and water are injected at high pressure into the soft, sedimentary rock, breaking it apart and releasing stores of methane and oil. The natural gas industry enjoys special exemption from The Safe Drinking Water Act, The Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act, , and the National Environmental Policy Act for this dangerous fracking process. A single fracked well requires an access road, 2-8 million gallons of fresh water, between 10,000 and 40,000 gallons of chemicals, many of them known carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, and at least 1,000 diesel truck trips. There are over 45,000 fracked wells in Colorado, with plans to triple that number in the next decade. The enduring effects of fracking are unknown.
The Frack Free Colorado event on October 23rd, is modeled after the successful New York event "Songs Against Drilling" earlier this year blending education with entertainment as celebrities and experts take the stage to voice their concerns about fracking and celebrate our opportunity to move to renewable energy today. Celebrities in attendance will include Daryl Hannah, Mariel Hemmingway and Leilani Munter (car racing's Carbon Free Girl). Jakob Dylan and Rami Jaffee of the Wallflowers and Colorado band, Elephant Revival will perform along with other to be announced musicians. Fracking experts like acclaimed ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber and Sam Schabacker from Food & Water Watch will help educate the public about fracking.
"The natural gas industry, which has been mistakenly touted as a clean energy provider, is polluting our rivers, aquifers, wildlife and citizens," explains Tara Sheahan, Founder of Global Conscious Leadership. "In addition, oil and gas companies estimate that they will use approximately 6.5 billion gallons of water in Colorado this year. Our state does not have enough water to support this growing industry. Frack Free Colorado's goal is to help people take action to lessen their dependence on natural gas and move everything from their consumer spending to investments to businesses that support a sustainable future--we need to start living like First Nation people who view the earth as a relative versus a resource to exploit. Post event, we are organizing a number of meetings with leaders across government, business, and nonprofit sectors to design a plan for speeding Colorado's economy toward one based on renewable energy and sustainable food systems."
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, explains, "clean water is the most important element on the planet. According to environmental futurists such as Lester Brown, we will run out of water well before we run out of oil or topsoil. Hydraulic fracturing is a process that further accelerates the decline of our clean water supplies."
Frack Free Colorado is sponsored by Patagonia, Prana, Black Diamond, New Belgium Brewing Company, Backpacker's Pantry, Vibrant Planet, Conscious Global Leadership, The Invisible Spark, 1% for the Planet and Backbone Media. The event's co-organizers include actor Mark Ruffalo's Water Defense, Food & Water Watch, Clean Water Action, CREDO, Sierra Club, etown, Fractivist, Rock the Earth, East Boulder County United, Wilderness Workshop, Erie Rising, The Mothers Project, Adams County Unite Now, Boulder County Citizens for Community Rights, Our Health Our Future Our Longmont and What the Frack?! Arapahoe.
For more information, visit www.frackfreeco.com on Facebook at www.facebook.com/frackfreeco and Twitter @FrackFreeCo.
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.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Rural New Jersey Town Moves to Ban All Data Centers After Community Revolts
"This community came together in a way I never would've imagined to fight this thing," said one critic of the data center plan.
May 12, 2026
Leaders in the rural township of Andover, New Jersey are reversing course on a plan to allow for data center construction in their community after local residents angrily revolted against the project.
According to a Tuesday report from NJ.com, Andover Township Mayor Thomas Walsh Jr. has announced that the township council this week will hold votes on repealing two data center-related ordinances and on a proposed ban on the construction of data centers inside town borders.
While officials in Andover had initially been supportive of the data center project due to the revenue it would have brought into local government, furious opposition from residents convinced them to change course.
"We’ve had some discourse over a project that we were considering for the township that may have brought in quite a bit of revenue," Walsh said. "But we also agree that no project, no money is worth tearing it down at its seams."
Andover resident Ken Collins, an opponent of the data center, celebrated Walsh's decision to back down in an interview with News 10 New Jersey.
"I'm really astounded," Collins said. "I really can't believe this is happening. This community came together in a way I never would've imagined to fight this thing."
The township's reversal on data centers came days after a heated meeting in which one resident was forcibly removed by police after profanely berating local officials over their support for data center construction.
Andover police drew criticism after video showed the resident being body slammed to the ground while being removed, but Walsh said the officers' actions were completely defensible.
"[The police] showed great restraint all night, especially there,” Walsh said, according to News 12 New Jersey. “Those police officers, don’t forget, they don’t know what they’re in danger of. They think they’re in danger and they have to protect themselves."
Data centers have become political lightning rods in recent months, as residents across the country object to their massive resource consumption, which is leading to a major spike in utilities bills, as well as the noise pollution they generate.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) earlier this year introduced a bill that would impose a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction “until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and civil rights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our environment."
At the same time, Silicon Valley elites are planning to spend huge sums of money in this year’s midterm elections to prevent candidates who support AI regulation from winning public office.
Leading the Future—a super political action committee backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and other AI heavyweights—is spending at least $100 million to elect lawmakers who aim to pass legislation that would set a single set of AI regulations across the US, overriding any restrictions placed on the technology by state governments.
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AFL-CIO to FIFA: 'Keep ICE Out of World Cup Host Cities' to Protect Workers
"The tactics of discrimination, violence, and intimidation used by immigration agencies to target working people across the country cause fear and chaos in our communities."
May 12, 2026
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler on Monday urged leaders of the International Federation of Association Football, world soccer's governing body, to protect workers by keeping federal immigration enforcement agents away from cities and venues hosting the upcoming FIFA Men's World Cup tournament.
"As we approach the final preparations for the World Cup and workers begin readying stadiums and communities for an influx of visitors, several of our affiliate unions have raised grave concerns over FIFA’s engagement with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)," Shuler wrote in a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and 2026 World Cup chief strategy and planning officer Amy Hopfinger.
"Chief among those concerns is the potential for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other DHS agents to be present at and around the World Cup matches," Shuler continued. "As the AFL-CIO is a founding member of Dignity 2026, a national coalition of labor and grassroots community groups, we know concerns around the possibility of immigration enforcement are wide-reaching."
America’s unions are calling on FIFA leadership to keep ICE out of World Cup host cities during the games.The Trump administration's immigration enforcement poses a serious risk to the thousands of World Cup workers. https://bit.ly/3Pb9lI2
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— AFL-CIO (@aflcio.org) May 11, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Noting that acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has called his agency—and specifically its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division—"a key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup," Shuler lamented that "FIFA has largely remained silent about the role ICE will play in the games."
"Given the racial profiling, warrantless arrests, and other unconstitutional tactics the Trump administration is using to detain and deport people with no regard for due process, our affiliate unions are deeply concerned about ICE being engaged for any purpose during the World Cup," she said. "Indeed, some unions have signaled that this would create an unsafe work environment that may require them to take collective action to ensure that no members are put at risk."
Shuler continued:
The tactics of discrimination, violence, and intimidation used by immigration agencies to target working people across the country cause fear and chaos in our communities, and directly affect workers, business operations, and local economies. Consequently, ICE presence in host cities during the games could cause severe disruptions and negatively affect the success of the tournament. We urge FIFA to consider the financial and human impact that collaborating with DHS could have on the working people who make these games possible, not to mention on local businesses, host cities and communities, and FIFA itself. The games should be a welcoming and celebratory event for spectators, workers, and soccer enthusiasts of all backgrounds.
The AFL-CIO president is calling on FIFA leaders to:
- Publicly call on the Trump administration to commit to keeping immigration enforcement agents, particularly ICE, out of host cities;
- Clarify what role DHS will play, with the expectation that any DHS presence at FIFA events be strictly limited to providing operational security; and
- Confirm that the administration will not launch immigration enforcement operations targeting workers, spectators, or the general public anywhere in the host cities.
"Additionally, unions have raised concerns over the accreditation and background check process that FIFA will be using to credential workers during the games," Shuler wrote. "It is our understanding that FIFA will be submitting worker information through an FBI database. We call on FIFA to ensure that unions representing members at World Cup stadiums receive clear answers and open dialogue to all questions about this process."
"Given the ways in which federal agencies are violating workers’ privacy rights to build datasets to support unconstitutional immigration enforcement activity, and FIFA’s relative silence on the scope and implications of these checks, we are asking you to commit to working with unions so that they can fully understand the process to which their members will be subjected and ensure that workers’ privacy and safety are respected," she continued. "Specifically, we seek assurances from FIFA that no information reported in these checks will be shared with any constituent part of DHS that engages in immigration enforcement or used for immigration enforcement purposes."
"Union members working in stadiums, hotels, event production, transportation, and many other industries will be critical to the success of these games. They deserve respect, dignity, and safety on the job so they in turn can provide a safe and welcoming environment for all players and fans," Shuler concluded. "FIFA must be transparent about its plans for engaging with DHS and the administration so that workers can do their jobs without fear and provide the best possible World Cup experience for neighbors and visitors alike."
The US, Canada, and Mexico are jointly hosting the tournament—the first time three nations are doing so—which is set to kick off with group stage matches in Mexico City and Guadalajara on June 11 and Los Angeles and Toronto the following day.
A coalition of more than 120 US-based civil society groups last month issued a travel advisory ahead the tournament over what the ACLU called the “deteriorating human rights situation” in the United States amid the Trump administration’s deadly anti-immigrant crackdown, suppression of free speech, and more.
Citing the “absence of meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA”—world soccer’s governing body—“host cities, or the US government,” the coalition urged “fans, players, journalists, and other visitors traveling to and within the United States” for the tournament to “have an emergency contingency plan.”
The presence of HSI agents, who provided security services for US diplomats during February's Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina Italy, sparked multiple protests in which thousands of people took to the streets of the Lombardian capital to denounce what Milano Mayor Giuseppe Sala called "a militia that kills."
As the tournament kickoff nears, there are also multiple unresolved labor disputes that could lead to strikes. In Inglewood, California, roughly 2,000 UNITE HERE Local 11 food service and hospitality workers at SoFi Stadium are threatening to strike before or during the tournament unless FIFA and venue operators address concerns about working conditions and the ICE threat.
Sheraton Hotel workers in Center City Philadelphia are ready to strike during the World Cup for a fair contract.The hotel is completely booked and workers have been without a contract for over two years now.
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— Sean Kitchen (@seankitchen.bsky.social) May 2, 2026 at 3:55 PM
In Mexico City, transport unions are pushing for improved worker protections ahead of the tournament. Using their leverage ahead of one of the world's premier sporting events, workers have recently secured commitments from the city to raise overtime pay, negotiate permanent contracts, enact anti-harassment protections, and boost workplace safety.
In addition to concerns about workers, some capitalists have warned that the Trump administration's draconian immigration policies and generally unwelcoming vibes could affect their bottom line.
“When you have visitors asking legitimate questions about what their experience will be coming through customs and immigration... those are big impediments to optimizing what should be a home run opportunity for the lodging industry," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said earlier this year.
There has also been considerable controversy surrounding FIFA's much-ridiculed awarding of its inaugural Peace Prize to President Donald Trump amid his administration’s illegal high-seas boat-bombing spree, and just ahead of his Christmas bombing of Nigeria, kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, launch of the US-Israeli war of choice against tournament qualifier Iran, and threats to attack several other countries.
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No Kings Movement and 'All Roads Lead to the South' to Protest GOP Voting Rights Attacks
"The politicians attacking voting rights today are clinging to a shrinking vision of America rooted in fear, exclusion, and minority rule."
May 12, 2026
Republican state lawmakers are seizing on the US Supreme Court's recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act to continue President Donald Trump's gerrymandering spree, including in Alabama, where "All Roads Lead to the South," the No Kings coalition, community members, faith leaders, and other organizations plan to come together on Saturday, May 16, in protest.
They are set to start at 9:00 am CT at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a former Ku Klux Klan grand dragon and the site of Bloody Sunday, "for prayer and remembrance—on sacred ground, in reverence for those who marched in 1965, in gratitude for the moral courage they showed the nation, and in faith that the same spirit that moved them still moves in us."
The organizers then intend to hold a rally at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery from 1:00-5:00 pm. People across the United States outraged by GOP attacks on voting rights are also planning solidarity actions throughout the day.
"Sixty years after Bloody Sunday, we are once again being called to meet this moment with collective action. The attacks on voting rights across the South are not isolated incidents, they are part of a coordinated effort to weaken Black political power," said Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown, co-founders of Black Voters Matter Fund, a leading partner organization of All Roads Lead to the South, in a Tuesday statement.
"But we have faced these challenges before, and we know our power," the pair continued. "Alabama has always been sacred ground in the fight for freedom, and this moment demands that we rise together once again. We are proud to stand with the No Kings coalition and people across the nation to make clear that our communities will not be pushed backward, our voices will not be silenced, and our power will not be denied."
Since Trump returned to office last year, the No Kings movement has organized three national days of action—in June, October, and March. Americans also held thousands of protests nationwide on May Day, or International Workers' Day, earlier this month.
"What is happening right now is deliberate, coordinated, and being driven by Republican politicians committed to abusing power and rigging the system to hold control for themselves and silence Black voters," the No Kings Steering Committee said Tuesday. "They plan on overturning every protection available for Black voters and will not be satisfied until they reinstate every Jim Crow-era law."
"That's why the No Kings coalition is joining in solidarity with All Roads Lead to the South this Saturday in Alabama and across the country for an emergency national protest against the attacks on voting rights by the Supreme Court and the swift effort by Republican-controlled states to disenfranchise millions of Black voters," the committee continued.
On May 16th, join civil and voting rights groups in a National day of Action in Montgomery, Alabama. Go to allroadsleadtothesouth.com for more details. #votingrights #50501movement
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— 50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 (@50501movement.bsky.social) May 9, 2026 at 12:48 PM
GOP state lawmakers in Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas have already responded to demands from Trump and fears of losing a slim majority in the US House of Representatives by redrawing their congressional districts to favor Republicans in the November midterm elections.
Democratic state leaders in California and Virginia have tried to fight the Trump-led GOP's mid-decade redistricting by enacting new voter-approved congressional districts that favor Democrats, though both of those maps face legal challenges. Party leaders in Virginia on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to block a recent ruling against the Democratic effort.
In a case about Louisiana's districts that predated Trump's push, the US Supreme Court last month found that the state map was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander" and eviscerated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, leading Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to suspend primary elections, even though absentee ballots had already gone out.
Tennessee lawmakers swiftly took advantage of an opportunity from that ruling by targeting their state's only majority-Black congressional district, in Memphis. As Tennesseans sued over the new map on Monday, the US Supreme Court's right-wing justices cleared the way for Alabama legislators to break up their state's majority-Black district.
"The politicians attacking voting rights today are clinging to a shrinking vision of America rooted in fear, exclusion, and minority rule. They are trying to preserve a past this country has already rejected," said the No Kings panel. "In this country, we do not answer to kings—not in the White House and not in our state houses. Power belongs to the people, and we the people will decide."
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