Below is the letter the Better Path Coalition delivered to Governor Tom Wolf on April 19th. We wrote the letter in response to Wolf's February25th vote to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin informed by the science and  on the ground impacts. When he looked at the science, he was looking at data points representing Pennsylvanians. When he looked at the impacts, he was looking at the harms Pennsylvanians have experienced. More than 1,000 Pennsylvanians signed the letter, many of whom shared their stories or signed in solidarity. Below are some of those signatures. The letter with the full list of signers, including the hundreds from people from other states, as of April 18th can be viewed and downloaded here.

 

April 19, 2021

 

The Honorable Tom Wolf

Governor

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

225 Main Capitol Building

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120

 

Dear Governor Wolf,

We are the ones, Governor.

We are the ones whose experiences informed your decision to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin.

We are the ones whose experiences contribute in large part to the “scientific and technical literature and the reports, studies, findings and conclusions of other government agencies” you reviewed.

We are the ones who live in those “regions outside the Delaware River Basin” where you found evidence of adverse impacts spanning more than a decade.

We are the ones whose air and water quality have been profoundly impacted as a result.

We are the ones who bristled when your statement regarding your vote to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin referred to its “unique characteristics” because we know that every place has unique characteristics that are worth protecting from industrial polluters.

We are the ones who know that unique doesn’t mean more important and that the water that comes out of our taps is no less worthy of protection than the water that flows from taps in the basin.

We are the ones who have asked you repeatedly to meet with us, to visit our communities, to witness the impacts firsthand.

We are the ones you have never had time for.

We are the ones the Grand Jury talked about in its report.

We are the ones who have had to advocate for ourselves because our government has failed to advocate for us.

We are the ones who attend public meetings and public hearings, who testify and submit written comments to dockets, and who demand meetings and hearings when our government doesn’t think it’s important to hear from us.

We are the ones who protest and march and rally and sign letters and start petitions and write letters to editors and organize.

We are the ones who have been arrested on our own land and jailed for defending what we love.

We are the ones our government otherwise ignores.

We are the ones who are getting sick.

We are the ones who have lost loved ones.

We are the ones who rely on charity to get a few gallons of clean water each week.

We are the ones who live in those places that are disproportionately targeted by industrial polluters because of environmental racism, or poverty, or because we live in rural communities with low-population density.

We are the ones who once fell asleep to the songs of owls and crickets instead of diesel engines and jake breaks.

We are the ones whose children’s playgrounds sit in the shadows of drilling rigs.

We are the ones who have had to walk away from properties that are no longer worth what we still owe on them.

We are the ones who would love to move, but don’t have the means, or have the means, but don’t know where we can move to keep our families safe.

We are the ones who have cried when our trees have been felled.

We are the ones whose homes have exploded.

We are the ones who have signed non-disclosure agreements because our silence is the price we pay to get any compensation for the damage done to us.

We are the ones who advocate in solidarity with our friends and neighbors.

We are the ones who ask why our constitutional right to a healthy environment is never upheld.

We are the ones who know that the way to protect Pennsylvanians is to start the drawdown of greenhouse gas production now so we can ensure a just transition that doesn’t leave communities and workers behind.

We are the ones who know that taking virtually no action on climate change means we’re in for even worse impacts.

We are the ones whose children and every generation that follows will have to live with the consequences of this generation’s failure to act.

We are the ones whose dreams have been stolen.

We are the ones who would never have imagined that this is what our lives would become.

We are the ones you were elected to protect, Governor Wolf.

We are the ones you abandoned.

 

Sincerely,

 

Aleta Streett-Leavy, Fracking is destroying our health, our air, water, and land, and ruining property values. Poor air quality, lack of concern from local superintendents that are pro-fracking. Not really sure as I spend half my time away from this polluted state. , Butler

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Ann LeCuyer, I am five miles from the nearest gas wells and my family has been found to have benzene, toluene, and xylene and other oniw fracking compunds in our bodies. The damage of the industry is far reaching. , PA

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Ann Pinca, Our cabin in the mountains of PA is surrounded by fracked gas well pads: 15 well pads and 76 gas wells permitted in our township to date. My home county has been quartered by two new major pipeline projects in addition to already existing pipelines. , Lebanon

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Barb Jarmoska, After more than 100 wells were drilled and fracked near my unleased 20 acres, radon was detected for the first time in my home, where jake brakes and diesel engines now interrupt conversations by day and restful sleep at night., Lycoming

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Barbara Laxon, Active wells less than a mile from my home in Bradford, PA, McKean

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Barbara W. Brandom, MD, I am worried that the planned injection well in Plum Boro will contaminate the Allegheny River. I am worried that the planned Mountaineeer LNG Storage site on the Ohio River will contaminate our air and the River. I know  the cracker plant in Beaver will contaminate  our air. In solidarity with all people who strive to protect our water. When our aquifer is destroyed we will have no home., Allegheny

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Benita J. Campbell, We have road-hogging trucks involved w/fracking, waste water pools and other industry sites rated to the industry--all contributing to poorer water and air quality., Washington

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Briget Shields, Friends of the Harmed, We have many people living without potable water here in S.W. PA due to Fracking related incidents., Allegheny

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Brook Lenker, I watched the Mariner Pipeline degrade our precious waterways and wetlands, spill after spill. , Cumberland

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Carol L. Nasser, My house sits 1,000 feet from a gas pad with 10 wells. 3 neighbors surrounding my house have water buffaloes due to undrinkable water from their wells. Water that has VOCs and/or methane (that didn’t exist prior to drilling). Cabot has had to return since “finishing” to retrieve things stuck and or dropped in wells. So the work continues, will my we’ll remain safe or join the 3 that surround me? I could go on and on about the noise and bright lights that shine in my house, or the constant stream of trucks that create dust head around., Susquehanna

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Carol Poleno, The water here in Lawrence County is radioactive and full of plastic for god's sack., Lawrence

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Chip Hollister, I did not sell my mineral rights because of my awareness of the dangers of fracking.  Nevertheless, benzene and other fracking chemicals have appeared in my household water after fracking came to my neighborhood.  This necessitated an expensive water filtration system to be installed for my family's health.  This is a tax by the gas and oil industry on the long term residents of PA.  There have been no benefits economically to me and the air and water have clearly been compromised.  I'd like to believe that Democratic politicians have their constituents health in mind when approaching the fracking issue.  My Republican Senator and Congressman are hopelessly in the thrall of fracking propaganda., Bradford

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Christine M Adams , Indivisible We Rise North Central PA, There is a Marcellus Shale well pad about three miles to the southeast  of me, and shallow wells and a huge Natural Gas storage pool to the west of me, about the same distance away.  My deceased husband worked at the storage pool site, heard the high pressure gas line as old as he was, seventy years now (and there are still many more of those same lines all through these woods and fields here in Southern Clarion County) explode from home, went to shut down the 1951 engines, and called a repair crew out.  No fire that time.  When my neighbor’s house exploded a third of a mile away there was a gigantic explosion and huge fire that did not go out for several days.  Immediately, in less than a week, Columbia Gas, owned by Trans Canada, replaced a large section of gas lines- covering their tracks.  When Tom started working for People’s gas, there were seven full time employees, at the end one part time person, who had no pension.  Gas companies care about money, not employees, not people.  Pennsylvanians deserve better, green energy., Clarion

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Connie L Fleeger , I live in a rural area in Butler County, one mile from Moraine State Park and one mile from a well pad. My neighbors and I fought against XTO for 2 years to have wellpads moved from the Lake Arthur Watershed. We can see the methane flares as we drive past the wellpads. . I am one of the ones who voted for you, Governor Wolf. Why have you ignored us?, Butler

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Craig Stevens , Water Contamination, Air Contamination, Spills Into Creek, Neighbors Killed By Industry Truck Traffic, Horrific Road Conditions From Large Heavy Vehicles, Many Extreme Health Impacts In The Community., Susquehanna

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Dana Dolney, Shalefield Stories, For years we documented case after case of air issues, water problems, and land disruption while your administration and the DEP turned a blind eye. You can’t pretend to not know the truth of the harm after all of this time. Protect the people, not the gas industry., Allegheny

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DanIel Pszeniczny, The Great Copper Sign Company, Water trucks and traffic., Luzerne

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Darlene Dech, One brother lives in the blast zone of two Beaver Co pipelines: one pipeline exploded, burning his neighbor's home; the other pipeline is under serious scrutiny for safety issues, yet insufficient oversight, despite it feeding a non-essential for-profit industry. A second brother lives in a Beaver Co area whose water supply would easily be ruined in perpetuity by the non-essential pipeline with known issues. And I live in an area in Allegheny that suffers the air quality impacts from existing industry in Allegheny Co and pending industry in Beaver Co. Our three families seem to be considered sacrificial to the plastic industry, the unconscionable offshoot of the fracking industry. , Allegheny

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Dave McKolanis, Frack wells in our municipal watersheds,  and Injection Wells too close to nearby water wells. Profits over peoples health., PA Clearfield and Jefferson Counties.

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Dean Marshall, Williams constant construction and capacity upgrades of Transco Pipeline.  Heavy Truck traffic, ( including Toxic waste), Compressor Station construction,  and Roadway Damage., Columbia

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Deborah Barndt, Negative health impacts in my county, Franklin

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Deborah Larson, We are at the closest 5 miles from a well site. Was in the area shopping w/ children when well was being fracked and the stench in the valley was intense. Threw the kids in the car and left. Now question local produce from farms with fracking; had drinking glasses etched in my dishwasher when frack brine was allowed to be treated by sewage treatment plants and tds went up in the rivers which made me question my public water source; Stopped taking my kids to regional parks and letting them play in the streams due to leachate and possible dumping of waste. We are all in the same watershed here and air pollution knows no boundaries. Allegheny., Allegheny

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Debra Borowiec, LAWPA (Local Authority Western PA), Farcking is happening approximately 1 mile from our home in Upper Burrell and also about 1.5 miles from my mother's home in Murrysville.  There is also a huge compressor station expansion about 2 miles from my mother's home.  Residential areas are being invaded by the gas industry with no consideration of air, water, and radioactive fracking waste., Westmoreland

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Debra Smit, Washington County - High rates of health problems, Allegheny

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Dennis Schaef, Know of one deep well about 7 miles from me., Crawford

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Dennis Wingle, I signed this petition because I STRONGLY BELIEVE that fracking should be banned EVERYWHERE in Pennsylvania--not just in the Delaware River Basin.  If fracking was banned in the Delaware River Basin because of the dangers it presents there, it should be banned EVERYWHERE!, 19555

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Diana Dakey, Fracking is more than pulling gas out of the ground. One must truck in water and sand. One must dispose of hazardous fracking waste. One must build pipelines. Interstate pipelines take away property owners' rights.  Pipelined gas makes its way to coastal LNG terminals for export to mostly Asia.  I object to PA being turned into an export colony -- destined to suffer the resource curse-- so that investors who don't live here can profit and delay the worldwide transition to clean energy., 18414

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Diane DiFante, Fracking waste water was spread on dirt roads around the state without environmental impact study. We don't even know what the waste contains so we can't even begin to guess what it will do to plants, animals, and people who drive those roads and stir up the dust., Clearfield

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Diane L. Smith, In Solidarity.  The Delaware River Basin where I live is now protected, we need to do the same everywhere in Pennsylvania., Bucks

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Diane Quick , In solidarity , Berks

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Diane Sipe, There is a well pad 3/4 mile and another about 1-1/4 miles from my home, plus a cryogenic gas refinery about 2-1/4 miles from my home. The refinery sits about 1 mile from our secondary school campus that has 3 schools. These schools are among many such at risk schools in my county., Butler

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Dianne L. Arnold, I moved from my beautiful home in Butler County due to being surrounded by wells., Allegheny

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Don Jarmoska, the Loyalsock creek, Lycoming

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Dr. Peter Buck, When I lived in Westmoreland County, there were spills and violations at the fracking well pads nearby. They flared the wells at all hours. The truck drivers nearly ran me off the road when I was on my bicycle., Centre / Formerly Westmoreland

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Dr. Thomas Jiunta, Trucking- ruining roads. Air pollution noticable during certain weather., Luzerne

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Elisa Beck, SustainableMonroeville@gmail.com, Injection well in Plum, PA with enormous environmental impacts 7 miles from our homes. Several fracking wells operating within 8-10 miles of our homes. Frack waste since 2009 accepted into the landfill 2 miles from our homes.  Royal Dutch Shell Gargantuan Petrochemical Plant in building stage 30 miles from our homes with enormous environmental impact. , Allegheny

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Elise Salahub, 2 extremely dangerous pipelines are adversely affecting the safety and health of our communities, air, soil and water. I will not travel or recreate in areas of the state thst are fracked. I witnessed the devastation,  smelled the toxic fumes, and saw the toxic waste ponds in our public state forests. The natural gas industry is an absolute violation of our constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment. It is not possible, unless you are a complete, bought fool to think fracking is anything but extremely dangerous., Lebanon

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Ellen Gerhart, Mariner East 2 and 2X easements are on our property in Huntingdon County, PA, Huntingdon

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Emily Borcz, Shale gas activities have caused a significant and detrimental addition of chemicals, radiation and pollution to the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil where we grow our food. Now that we all understand the risks and know better, it is past time to do better. We are plateauing for our elected officials to DO better, BE better! We want Pennsylvania to remain beautiful and safe. It is our home and we are proud of it. I hope with all my heart that our beloved state can remain a place we are proud of and not be turned into a superfund site by the greedy corporations who do not have our best interest in mind. I am begging you to be the one to keep our best interests in mind and take action to uphold our trust., Butler

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Emily DeFerrari, The Shell Cracker plant, downriver but upwind from where I grew up and where my 95 year old mother lives will supply us with plastic pellets that will be used to produce plastic commodities we don't need, then pollute the landscape and strangle the sea creatures, and then break down into our water so that we, and the animals on land and water can ingest them. , Allegheny and Beaver

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Faith Zerbe, Williams Transco Atlantic Sunrise fracked pipeline cuts through our beautiful state gamelands and mountains of Schuylkill County - already a legacy polluted area from extraction of anthracite coal but yet with thriving forests and trout streams galore...our family farm has an old Sunoco oil pipeline that are grandfather who was a farmer did not want on his land - leaks occur as this pipeline ages....Mariner East pipeline cuts thru Delaware County where we live full time now. , Schuylkill and Delaware

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Gail Harper, We live near a "sacrifice zone" and believe that no one, EVER, should be sacrificed., Allegheny

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Garret Wassermann, Chemicals and PFAS plastics were already found in my municipal drinking water; it will only get worse if the Shell cracker plant and other activities come online., Allegheny

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Gillian Graber, I have been fighting for 6 years to stop shale impacts in my residential community from harming my kids and family. I have chemicals commonly found in gas development in my body and that of my entire family including two children. My children deserve better., Westmoreland

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J. Stephen Cleghorn, Paradise Gardens and Farm, 4-5 wells within 3 miles of my 50-acre organic farm. My neighbor's beautiful Collie dog died from ingesting the salty frack waste (aka brine) that was spread on the dirt road beside her organic farm, and she was summoned to court for daring to investigate who was responsible. The industry ignores the law and bullies the people who resist it. , Jefferson

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Jack Hendricks, Fulton County Democratic Club, I was contacted by a field geologist who wanted to be guided to rock outcrops on my farm.  He was working for”private industry”.  I know what’s coming!  , Fulton

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James Cato, Petrochemical-based microplastics in the rivers by my home, stink from industry bothering my household on warm nights, and likely undetectable (to my nose) chemicals in my drinking water from nearby fracking well pads. , Allegheny

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Jan Milburn, When in the area of a flare in my township I got extremely sick, my throat felt inflamed and swollen and i then felt like I was getting the flu. I was in bed for three days.Toxic. , Westmoreland

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Janice Blanock, I am a mother who lost my son to a supposedly "rare" form of cancer called Ewings Sarcoma. Due to the high increase of cases of this type of cancer and many others in counties of SWPA. that are heavily fracked, I worry for my children, grandchildren and future generations. I will continue to speak out and fight for our right to clean, safe and healthy air, water and land., Washington

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Janis Winschuh, Fracking,  Pipelines, compression stations ,  water buffalos due to polluted well water,  odors, truck traffic, noise from engines drilling,  stress , Pennsylvania

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Jay Sweeney, Fracking and related infrastructure squandering our water, Wyoming

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Jean Wiant, I previously lived in Centre County and there was an instance of contaminated drinking water due to fracking , Delaware

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Jeanne Zang, I lived in Chapel Hill, NC from 2013 to 2019, when I moved back to Pittsburgh. It was nice to be away from the damages of fracking for 6 years. Upon returning I was very upset to learn about the cracker plant being built in nearby Beaver County. This plant is clearly intended to prop up the failing fracking industry. Pittsburgh already has some of the worst air quality in the country. This plant will only make the problem worse. Our beautiful state needs neither more plastics nor the pollution from fracking and cracker plants. If fracking should be banned from the Delaware River Basin, where I grew up, it should be banned everywhere in our state., Allegheny

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Jenna Colby, of course the cracker plant (s?) up the road from where im at which is going to do nothing but add to the already toxic environment...  fracking, itself isn't directly in my back yard but it's a threat that surrounds from all directions. there was talk about a fracking site going in a couple miles away that was supported by those who claim to hold concern for climate/ environmental causes... fracking is always a threat in the entire swpa region. , Allegheny

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Jenny Lisak, Jenny Lisak, who had her water and air contaminated from the first Marcellus well in her a township, a township that had their dirt roads regularly illegally sprayed with radioactive produced water and nothing was ever done about it. Who lost her beloved pets because of that activity; who in an effort for the powers that be to see that people were being harmed started a list of the harms people were suffering through and who personally handed that list to you in 2014. Who has cried herself to sleep too many nights and has begged, protested, petitioned, spoken, testified, commented, organized, educated for an end to fracking and for it all to fall on deaf ears., Jefferson

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Jenny Thorsen, I have witnessed the environmental & other damage that fracking has caused in my area. Huge swaths cut through what was pristine, contiguous game lands, polluted waters from spills and run off; pipelines broken near our waterways, damaged roadways from fracking vehicles, wells fouled, and the list goes on. It's simply not worth it! As far as job creation goes, it appears to benefit mostly a handful from out of state, and continues to line the pockets of a few., Lycoming

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Joe Guthrie, I live in South West PA where fracked gas is abundant and will be used to supply a Shell Cracker plant being built in Beaver PA.  This chemical plant threatens to be the start of a new cancer alley in the Ohio valley, just like the cancer alley near New Orleans.  We need your help to stop these devastating shale gas activities., Allegheny

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Josh Fox, Watch my film GASLAND, Wayne

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Judith Gilroy, The Mariner East pipeline which is under investigation by the AG is less than two miles from my development of 800 homes., Cumberland

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Julia Kasdorf, I live within one mile of a 36-inch transmission pipeline built to carry fracked gas; many truck loads of water from a large natural spring that provides my town's drinking supply was sold to frackers in 2010; I have listened to others who have suffered far worse and written poems to honor their experiences., Centre

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Julianna Sillett, There is a newly installed pipeline that crosses a lovely little stream in a woods near my home! I was shocked to see it recently., Cumberland

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Karen Frock, …where Pennsylvania General Energy Co., LLC plans to run a high pressure natural gas pipeline from rim-to-rim across the heavily forested, highly prized Loyalsock Creek valley—in dangerous proximity to neighbors’ homes, in steep and severe terrain prone to increasingly frequent catastrophic flooding--instead of using alternative routes for its gas out of the Loyalsock State Forest. You could stop this., Lycoming

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KATHLEEN KREBS, RN (RETIRED), LIFELONG RESIDENT OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY WHO NOW AWAKENS WITH HEART PALPITATIONS, HEADACHES AND CHEST PRESSURE FROM ELEVATED AIR POLLUTION (PARTICULATE MATTER, VOLATILE CHEMICALS, ETC). RESIDE ACROSS FROM NEVILLE ISLAND WHICH HOUSES 27 PLUS INDUSTRIAL POLLUTERS AND 12 MILES FROM CLAIRTON COKE WORKS. UNACCEPTABLE , ALLEGHENY

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Katie Daniels, In Solidarity, Heavy equipment passes by my home, shaking windows and ruining roads I drive on. Gas pipelines destroy once beautiful countryside. My town is known for its trout fishing, but contaminants from fracking inevitably seep into waterways., Cumberland

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Kelsey McNaul, I breathe the industrial pollution in the Pittsburgh air and organize in Ohio River Valley communities who have fought hard to protect their communities from fracking. I've stood outside your Harrisburg office doors, demanding environmental justice for nearby fracking communities seeing spikes in childhood cancers. , Allegheny

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Laurie Barr , Poor air quality forced us to move out of our home there's 1009' between the wellpad & our front door. We never moved back.. we're 61, I have asthma my husband has COPD. We also  now have 2 mortgages. , Potter 

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Leann Turley, It is disheartening to see fracking in PA wilds region and on game lands that should be left natural., Clearfield

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Leslie Stauffer, Children are already sick living around fracking in south western PA.  I am asking for a ban on fracking before more children fall ill as a consequence to this dangerous industry practice., Butler

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Linda Stanley, Gas wells are being fracked all around me where I live. I’m afraid of our wells being contaminated. They are sucking the water, ALL of our water, out of the Ohio River, MILLIONS of gallons of it, to frack these wells. Once the well is fracked, the water is permanently contaminated with radioactivity from the shale.  , Beaver

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Lois and Oliver Drumheller, Plum, PA proposed injection well and toxins/carcinogens into ground water, tributaries, associated earthquakes., Allegheny

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Lois Bower-Bjornson , https://www.ehn.org/fractured-series-on-fracking-pollution-2650624600.html, Washington

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Loretta Weir, These companies are polluting our drinking water that we draw from the rivers in and around Pittsburgh.  There are documented cancer clusters in cannon Macmillan school district and in other locations where drilling still or has occurred.  , Allegheny

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M. Shaw, Berks Gas Truth, We all live downstream, Berks

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Marcellus Outreach Butler, Marcellus Outreach Butler, We are a county-based organization fighting fracking and natural gas infrastructure. We have many fracking wells, pipelines, and two gas refineries in our county., Butler

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Marcia Lehman, Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC), Shell plastics plant is imminent threat to air & water quality once production starts; Ambridge Reservoir, where I get my drinking water, is under threat by Shell Falcon pipeline and adjacent leased properties in the watershed for gas fracking. , Beaver

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Maren Cooke, PhD, Putting Down Roots, In solidarity (also, fossil energy is driving us all off of a climate cliff)., Allegheny

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Margaret Henry, Numerous wells leaked HSO4, cryogenics plant pollution ruined my organic farming operation killing my animals in the pasture, Hilcorp’s 88 frackquakes ruined my basement integrity and made my new roof leak. Not to mention living with the constant fear of explosions like what happened  in Salem township, Westmoreland county where the fire chief said, “It was like looking in the face of hell!”, Lawrence

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Marla Costanzo, We are the ones in NEPA who live a legacy of enviro destruction by industry and can't enjoy our rivers. We are the ones who industry left behind, jobs long gone. We are the ones who have a $7.25 min wage, resulting opiate crisis, and crumbling infrastructure. We are the ones subsidizing millions to the fossil fuel industry annually while being told gas is green. We are the ones not subsidizing renewable energy. We are the ones who will change the future., 18640

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Megan McDonough, Food & Water Watch, I come from a region in Southwestern PA that already suffers from the worst air quality in the nation. My area was one of the first to be fracked in Southern Allegheny County. The consequence for my family has been having to watch helplessly as our children undergo numerous health evaluations that they did not require prior to development, including surgeries to remove dying, necrotic lymph nodes from their bodies. And to this day they are still forced to play t-ball across the street from compressor stations and go to school within near well pads. All with the support of this administration for more to come. How do you justify that?, Allegheny

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Mel Packer, My state is being ruined daily by the presence of the toxins from fracking. And the companies will leave without cleaning any of it up as the industry continues its death spiral. , Allegheny

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Melissa Troutman, I've watched my parents, disabled grandparents, and neighbors suffer sleep deprivation, headaches, and elevated blood pressure issues as a result of the fracking waste facility sited near our homes. DEP has failed to give us information on the toxic soup being carried over top of our water supplies, in the event of a spill by the company, JKLM Energy, who has a terrible and long history of spills, leaks, improper waste handling, failure to report pollution, and pollution of waters of the commonwealth. The stress of losing a water supply, on top of the trucks, on top of the uncertainty and chaos during the pandemic, has taken a huge toll. , Potter

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Michael Bagdes-Canning, Poisoned water, toxic disposal, tainted air, Butler

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Michael Heyd, The beautiful Pennsylvania landscape that I have enjoyed for 70 years is now marred by well pads, drilling rigs, and noisy, polluting diesel trucks. All for the sake of perpetuating the fossil fuel economy that is destroying our planet., Lycoming

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Michele, Town council snuck in a permit for 8 gas wells to be fracked 1.5 miles from Hartwood Elementary and Dorseyville Middle Schools where over 1300 young children and staff attend. Learning about the alarming rates of rare pediatric cancers in other fracking communities has many parents angry and scared. Shame on the elected leaders we later found out hold gas leases. Still waiting for Gov. Wolf to stand up to this destructive industry., Allegheny

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Michelle Stark, Truck traffic ruining the quiet, water being pumped from the Loyalsock Creek faster than it can replenish itself, and ruining ancient hiking trails and wildlife habitat are a just a few of the many impacts that speak volumes to this industry's lack of compassion. This. Is. Not. Sustainable. , Lycoming

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Mike Stout , Relatives with cancer, chemical poisons in our drinking water (as reported by Water Authorities themselves), no one ordering those responsible to clean up their mess, and no one in government speaking up for us., Allegheny

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Ned Ketyer, M.D., F.A.A.P., I am a pediatrician in Washington County. I have seen first hand the health harms caused by fracking operations and pollution. We need help, not complicity, not denial, and not silence from our governor, and our legislators and regulators in Harrisburg who are the only people who can stop this unconscionable abuse to fellow Pennsylvanians., Washington

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Owen Grant, I live in W. PA, one of the ground zeros for fracking., Westmoreland

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Patricia M DeMarco, Ph.D., Borough of Forest Hills, Cracking operations proposed in adjacent town can still under our community potentially destabilizing abandoned coal mine shafts throughout the area. Many reports of cracking waste contaminating the Allegheny River from which we draw our water supply has caused concern., Allegheny

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Pauline Rosenberg, Neighbors of Overbrook Association, Because fracking is happening up river, it causes pollution to drift downriver where I live.
It also releases methane which, as a gas drifts everywhere.  The pipelines also threaten everyone in their path.  Ban fracking!, Philadelphia

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Phoebe Jones, Global Women's Strike/Philadelphia, We stand with the caregivers, mostly women, who are holding our families and communities together against poverty and pollution from the oil & gas industry across the state. Together with the Green New Deal for Europe, we are calling for a CARE INCOME for all those, of every gender, who care for people, the urban and rural environment, and the natural world., Philadelphia

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Raymond Kemble, gas drilling water air and land and health, PA

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Rebecca Loucks, In solidarity and for the future of my children and grandchildren.  , Potter

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Rebecca Roter, Breathe Easy Susquehanna County , Displaced by documented water, air and health impacts from my Brooklyn PA home, Susquehanna

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Reid Joyce, Fracking in Butler County has destroyed the water for an entire community (The Woodlands), Butler

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Rella Scassellati, One of the largest Gas Power Plants-1,500 MW in State very close to my home., Lackawanna

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Ron Slabe, Upper Burrell Citizens Against Marcellus Drilling. (UBCAMP), Gas wells in my former township of Upper Burrell before I moved.  Currently there is a gas well about a mile away from my present home in Oakmont with an injection well about the same distance away soon to be operational., Allegheny

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Ronald J Gulla , DAMASCUS Citizens for Sustainability , Destroyed my 142 acre farm, turned my three acre pond black. Also turned my well water yellow. ( Google my name ), Washington

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Ruth Steck, Having helicopters suddenly appear flying low over my house and dropping loads of seismic gear in the path to my garden and frightening my cows.  Feeling the ground shake under my feet as the thumper truck worked its way toward us, as they set off in-ground explosions., Lycoming

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Samantha Pearson, My family lives at the edge of the shale gas region, where the arguments for jobs at the expense of our neighbors' health and our natural heritage pit us against one another.  We need to shift to a win-win-win strategy or else we all lose in the long run., Union

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Sandy Field, Climate Reality Project: Susquehanna Valley PA chapter, Natural gas drilling north of us is polluting our air and water and hastening climate change., Union

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Stephanie Ulmer, I live with the impacts of the climate crisis to which the natural gas industry is a major contributor.  I am watching my region be turned into a petrochemical swamp.  Oil bomb trains run less than a quarter of mile from my house.  Soon they will be double stacked and carrying hazardous waste.  A fracking well is planned 2 miles from my densely populated neighborhood.  Everything, I loved about my adopted home is being transformed into something dangerous and ugly., Allegheny

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Sydney Smith, My Son and his wife live in Canonsburg PA in Washington County they have a two-year-old and a baby on the way they are moving from Canonsburg to another town because of the prevalence of Ewings sarcoma in the Canonsburg school District area these cancers have been linked to fracking chemicals and they are afraid for their children, Allegheny

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Terri Supowitz , Fracking, AOC pressor stations, and pipelines are everywhere in south westernPA.  The closest activity is the transport of oil and gas on the Norfolk southern trains.  I can see them from my  back door.  If there is an accident I am dead and so is everyone in my neighborhood.  Not a pleasant thought. , Allegheny

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Thomas Dunlap, There are several within a few miles of my residence. I am concerned not only about fracking but also pesticides and herbicides as my potable water source is a deep well. I worry about the day when gas wells finally appear on adjacent properties., Westmoreland

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Tina McCafferty, The frack truck traffic alone is enough reason to shut this industry down.  I have lived in the Loyalsock State Forest for nearly 9 years and I am unable to open my windows due to the deafening sound of diesel trucks parading up and down Route 87, it's a disgrace. Lord only knows what the cumulative emissions impact is from the neverend vehicles used by this industry. , Lycoming

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Tina Paloskey, My grandparents could no longer drink their tap water due to fracking., Centre

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Tonyehn Verkitus, Susquehanna County is full of fracking and there has been subsequent water pollution because of this., Pennsylvania
 

Tricia Satifka, We have too many wells with no regulations where I live. I notice all of us have had insomnia since they appeared. Many of the children have been getting sicker too. It is bad for the environment and for the animals and people. We need to be doing more with a greener, cleaner energy plan. Our water needs to safe to drink. , Washington

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Valerie Wirkowski , Air is terrible everyday!!!, Allegheny

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Vicki Smedley, Lycoming County, There are wells all around us.  Everywhere we drive there are fracking trucks.  Our roads are deplorable, and many times the fracking trucks coming south on Rt. 44 are traveling loaded with frack water (and other things?) and driving Way too fast.  I avoid the roads the trucks use as much as I can, but there is really only one way to get from Jersey Shore north...Rt. 44.  The bright lights from these sites are also very disturbing.  Our local food and drink establishments are places we never go anymore because there are so many fracking workers in those places.  As a group, they are often ill-behaved, rough, and boisterous.  And, very few of them wear masks.  Our communities are not fun or safe anymore., PA

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William Ferullo , 3 pipelines from 1200 ft to 1700 ft. Well pad at approx .1700 .2 others close by 3000 ft and 3400 ft. Many more in area , Bradford 

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William J. Granche, Fracking in ANF and local forests, some of which has resulted in water contamination, like in Johnsonburg when an unpermitted conduit path was drilled under the reservoir by Marcellus Hunt resulting in the contamination of the water source to the city, a spill of bentonite turning the water tea like in color and becoming a threat to the citizens' health on many levels. Another incident happened on the hills surrounding the Ridgway Reservoir when a well was installed without a blowout protector risking the water source of our town. This occurred shortly after the BP incident in the GULF. , Elk

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Wilmer Jay Baker, They dumped drilling fluid behind my house in Locust creek, Cumberland

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If you would like to add your name to the letter, you can find it here. 

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We've received videos from Pennsylvaians reciting lines from the letter or making their own We are the ones statements.