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“I lost an exceptional child. He could have been a great leader in this world and we certainly need those now, so I’ll keep pushing on.”
Blanock said she would like Gov. Josh Shapiro – who as Pennsylvania’s attorney general said there was a need to hold oil and gas companies to account – to put the eight grand jury recommendations into action.
Borello, along with Lois Bower-Bjornson, a field organizer with Clean Air Council who hosts “Frackland Tours” in Washington County to give elected officials and members of the media a first-hand account of what it is like
to live near fracking and related operations, travel monthly to Harrisburg.
They set up a MAD-FACTS table, organize meetings with legislators and do drop-in visits.
“It’s really relationship-building with legislators, getting to know them and letting them know what’s happening. They see us
and they know us, and we’ve been met with positive responses and we’ve been met with negative responses,” said Bower-Bjornson, who started the tours after her family – including her four children – started getting sick with nosebleeds, rashes, and swollen limbs, when natural gas compression stations were built within a mile of her home. “It’s a chance to get our message out,” she said.
On Nov. 4, Cecil Township supervisors are
set to vote on changing the oil and gas ordinance that would place surface drilling operations 2,500 feet away from “protected structures,” but waive that distance if all homeowners within that buffer zone agree
to permit drilling.
Josh and Michelle Stonemark, who live
about 530 feet away from a well pad in the township, plan to attend the meeting. The couple moved into what they thought was
their dream home around Christmas of 2018, and drilling began in 2020.
“Every time they drill, it’s 24/7 noise, the smells, it’s not sleeping, it’s constant anxiety about whether or not my kids are going to get sick,” said Michelle Stonemark.
She said she and her husband and their three children have experienced health problems, which she declined to disclose.
“It’s unbearable at times,” said Stonemark, who has installed two air monitors in the family’s back yard. “I want people to know that these problems are real. We have seen the impacts, we have dealt with them. We’re being impacted on a daily basis. They exist.”
Lisa DiPaoli, communications director at Center for Coalfield Justice, said it’s critical
to work for policy change, especially with the Appalachian hydrogen hub on the horizon.
DiPaoli said CCJ isn’t seeking to stop fracking (although other groups would like an outright ban), but wants to make sure regulations
are in place that will better protect the communities where fracking takes place.
She pointed to a recent poll conducted by
the Ohio River Valley Institute and Upswing Research & Strategy that suggests Pennsylvanians are open to stricter regulations on the fracking industry. The survey of 700 likely voters across the state showed that 90% of respondents support measures such as requiring fracking companies to disclose all chemicals used
and increasing the distance between fracking operations and schools. It also found that 80% of respondents support classifying fracking fluids as hazardous materials.
A majority of Pennsylvanians (58%)
oppose a complete ban on fracking.
“We recognize we can’t just stop fracking because, first, we need the energy, and second, we don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, but there has to be a just transition toward cleaner energy sources,” said DiPaoli.
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