Pa. Activists Interrupt Gov. Wolf’s Environmental Speech with Clear Message: “Climate Leaders Don’t Frack!”

Morning Call: In D.C., Tom Wolf talks climate change, engaging voters

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For Immediate Release: February 19, 2016

Contact: Sam Bernhardt – [email protected], 267.428.1903

Pa. Activists Interrupt Gov. Wolf’s Environmental Speech with Clear Message: “Climate Leaders Don’t Frack!”

Concerned Pennsylvania Residents Steal the Show at D.C. Climate Change Event

Washington, D.C.: As Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf took the podium today to tout his accomplishments in fighting climate change, Pennsylvanians confronted the governor, urging him to stand up as a true climate leader by rejecting fracking. Activists raised signs reading “Fracking = Climate Change” and chanted “Climate leaders don’t frack!” to draw attention to Wolf’s poor track record of encouraging fracking and fossil fuel development in the state.

Video from the action is available here: https://youtu.be/CuNKWxd6wS4

Gov. Wolf was interrupted by the activists as he began speaking at the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Climate and Clean Energy event in Washington today.

In January, Gov. Wolf laid out his vision for Pennsylvania to use its natural gas reserves to fight climate change. However, scientific analysis shows that an economy powered by fracked gas would drive the planet to climate catastrophe. Meanwhile, Gov. Wolf has sat idle while Pennsylvania’s fracking industry has expanded, polluting the state’s water and air and causing a statewide public health crisis.

“Governor Wolf hasn’t listened to my community in Susquehanna County, which is dealing with serious health problems stemming from fracking,” said Craig Stevens, of Franklin Forks, Pa., who participated in the action. “I’m a seventh generation landowner, but had to come here to Washington, D.C. for the Governor to hear my concerns. If we treat these kinds of policies as climate leadership, I’m immensely worried about the next seven generations.”

Back in Pennsylvania, those impacted by fracking applauded the effort to send a message Gov. Wolf has thus far ignored from his own constituents.

“Governor Wolf has ignored both the pleas of those already impacted by fracking and the warnings by scientists who have told him that shale gas is a climate killer,” said Karen Feridun of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking. “His administration talks about 100 years of shale gas production, thousands of miles of new pipelines in the next few years, and construction of more polluting gas power plants, all dangerously outdated ideas. At the same time, he continues to promote coal. His plans are as fossilized as the fuels themselves.”

Pennsylvanians Against Fracking is a statewide coalition of organizations, institutions, and businesses calling for a halt to fracking in the Commonwealth. Learn more at paagainstfracking.org.

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