We’ll be highlighting his miserable record on protecting our drinking water from gas drilling poisons.  Join us!

Society Hill Sheraton

CALLING FOR A MORATORIUM on SHALE GAS DRILLING
In PENNSYLVANIA!

Until:
1.New wastewater treatment regulations are in place and in force
2.All exemptions for hydro-fracking from federal environmental laws have been lifted
3.An environmental impact statement has been assessed for Pennsylvania
4.A fund has been created for private landowners to independently test their drinking water

Organized by Protecting Our Waters, Green Party of Philadelphia, and Energy Justice Network

For more info, contact gpop@gpop.org

http://www.timesherald.com/articles/2010/04/23/news/doc4bd12e415487d724605846.txt

See pictures on Brian Rudnick’s Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buhrayin/sets/72157623786565177/

- An immediate moratorium on all horizontal hydrofracturing (“fracking”) in the Commonwealth, including our state forests and floodplains,
- An immediate freeze on all new Marcellus Shale drilling permits throughout Pennsylvania,
- The immediate suspension of the authority of the Delaware River Basin Commission and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to approve drilling-related water withdrawals anywhere in Pennsylvania – and, if necessary,
- The unconditional resignation of DEP Secretary John Hanger.

Speakers & activities will commence at 12:00 noon at the
DEP Regional Offices
2 E. Main Street, Norristown
located one block from the Norristown Transportation Center — easily accessible via the Norristown High Speed Line from 69th Street and the R6 Regional Rail.

as well as the Regional Offices in Wilkes-Barre,  Williamsport, and Meadville, along with DEP Headquarters in Harrisburg.

This April 22nd marks the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. In 1970, almost 20 million people gathered across the nation to celebrate, educate and demonstrate. It was a nationwide grassroots teach-in that gave rise to the modern environmental movement. The 1970s saw passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Beginning in the 1980s, however, large Earth Day events have been dominated by corporations, with little grassroots input and limited involvement by ordinary citizens.

Today, drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation, utilizing horizontal hydrofracturing, is a serious and growing threat to the precious clean waters and majestic state forests of our Commonwealth.

Pennsylvania’s Constitution states that “All power is inherent in the people,” that we “have a right to … pure water,” and “Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people.” This April 22nd, it is time to come together – as one – to protect our Commonwealth’s public natural resources and to renew the promise of the first Earth Day.

for more information, contact the Green Party at gpop@gpop.org or 215-243-7103.

Green Party of PA Statement on Gas Drilling in the Marcellus Shale

Public Forum for all candidates sponsored by the Roxborough Development Corporation

Wednesday April 7, 2010 – 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
6148 Ridge Avenue

Come out and show everyone that Hugh’s the best person for the job!

Breakfast with Hugh Giordano

Saturday, April 10, 2010, 10 AM-12 PM
at Coyle’s Cafe
6080 Ridge Avenue in Roxborough

$30 dollars a person, comes with all-you-can-eat breakfast

RSVP to friendsofhugh@gmail.com

When: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 8:00 PM
Where: Singapore Vegetarian Restaurant, 1006 Race Street

Tickets cost $30 and include a full dinner and a small donation to the party. Proceeds will be split between Jay Sweeney’s and our own local candidate, Hugh Giordano’s campaigns.  Please RSVP to gpop@gpop.org.

Please come to the event with cash or checks made out to the Green Party of Philadelphia.

In addition to the dinner, please consider also joining us for the showing of Gasland, a film about gas drilling that will be screened as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival Spring Preview.

When: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 5:30 PM
Where: Prince Theatre, 1412 Chestnut Street

Please get your tickets to the show via the Film Society at http://www.filmadelphia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=11

The film is less than 2 hours so you should have plenty of time to see it and then make your way over to Singapore for dinner!

Can’t make it? Donate here to allow others to attend.
http://www.gpop.org/news/?page_id=142

More about Jay Sweeney:

Jay Sweeney, Green Party activist, has been following the Marcellus Shale issue since his 2008 State Rep campaign.  Jay is a founding member of The Green Party of Wyoming County, Citizens for Clean Water and recently elected to the Executive Committee of the Northeastern Group of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club.

More about Marcellus Shale:

Interest in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation has been one of the hottest energy developments in the U.S. in 2008. An initial wave of over 900 PA drilling permits was approved in June, and that number is likely to multiply several times over during the next year or so.

The type of drilling used on the Marcellus Shale formation involves fracking: pumping a mixture of sand, water, and chemical additives under high pressure into the shale to fracture or break up the shale so as to release a greater flow of natural gas.

Fracking even a single natural gas well consumes millions of gallons of water, which can be a significant burden on local water tables.

Read more at:

http://www.gpofpa.org/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=17

On March 10, Erie residents were horrified by the release of a noxious cloud of coke oven gases and fine black particles as it spread across the city in an industrial “upset” from the beleaguered eastside Erie Coke Corporation.

If this situation were not bad enough, Erie Coke’s revelation in the past month that it has spewed toxic pollutants not previously measured by either the EPA or DEP was described by Freda Tarbell, the DEP’s spokesperson, as “documentation that DEP and EPA didn’t have earlier.”

Last year Erie Coke Corporation was levied a $6.1 million dollar fine by the DEP for “flagrant disregard” of environmental laws. A criminal investigation against the plant’s president and environmental compliance manager are also being considered by the EPA.

“This is an outrage against the community,” said I.K. Samways, Chair of the Green Party of Pennsylvania. “The EPA and the Pennsylvania DEP is in violation of its own environmental mandate to safeguard communities from appalling violations of environmental law.”

In a recent Erie Times-News article on Erie Coke Corporation, reporter Robb Frederick asks, “So why is Erie Coke still open?”

So too do a coalition of local Erie environmental groups furious over EPA and DEP foot-dragging over Erie Coke’s repeated violations of state and federal environmental law.

That is why Keep Erie’s Environment Protected (KEEP), the Erie County Environmental Coalition, the Gaia Defense League, and the Green Party of Pennsylvania are calling for an immediate temporary injunction against Erie Coke that will end its egregious violation of the law and public safety.

“Erie Coke must stop poisoning our community immediately,” said Tim Reim, Erie County Green Party chair. “A temporary injunction must be submitted by the EPA and DEP against Erie Coke without any further delay. Banks of ovens without any air pollution filtering equipment is proof alone of ‘imminent and substantial endangerment’ to nearby residents.”

A recent lawsuit filed by the federal EPA and state DEP on September 22 garnered a ho-hum response by Kelly Burch, the DEP’s regional director. On evidence that emissions from the ovens had exceeded federal pollution limits at least 31 times since May of 2008, Burch blandly stated, “They need to do a better job of controlling that.”

Reim, who also serves as the media coordinator for the local grassroots environmental group KEEP went on to say, “There is no evidence whatsoever that the owner of Erie Coke, J.D. Crane, has any intention of meeting the environmental air-quality standards demanded by both the EPA and DEP.”

In an Erie Times-News article published March 20, Randy Barnes, president of KEEP said, “We are very concerned about the actions of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection because we think what they do now is going to give us a real snapshot of how effective they are as an agency at protecting the citizens from this type of corporate injustice.”

KEEP has been battling since the summer of 2007 to prevent the construction of what would be the world’s largest tire incinerator in a low-income residential section of the city.

Representatives of the various local environmental groups are pledging to begin a campaign of citizen action intended to make the EPA and DEP petition the courts for the granting of a temporary injunction to force Erie Coke to halt operations immediately.

GREEN PARTY OF PENNSYLVANIA

http://www.gpofpa.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, March 22, 2010

Contacts:
I.K. Samways, GPPA Chair, 412-215-9161, isamways@aol.com
Katrina Brabam, GPPA Secretary, 412-327-5723, baatty@gmail.com
Tim Reim, Erie Green Party, 814-838-1193, Deaconb60@hotmail.com
814-572-6653, Deaconb60@gmail.com

Thursday, March 25, 6:30 PM

at LAVA, 4134 Lancaster Avenue

All registered Green Party members and other interested folks are welcome.

Agenda will include:

- updates on Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state representative

- statewide petitioning to get U.S. Senate candidate Mel Packer on the ballot

- Earth Day demonstration at the DEP Office in Norristown

- Singapore Dinner with Jay Sweeney about Marcellus Shale on April 10.

The Delaware County Green Party will present the only Delco area showing of Crude; The Real Price of Oil (2009).  They will be showing this at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue on Saturday, March 27th at 7pm. This is part of a nationwide week of showings of this movie, sponsored by RAN (The Rainforest Action Network). More information at http://ran.org

Crude was directed by Joe Berlinger, who also directed Iconoclasts (TV) and Metallica; Some Kind of Monster, among many. Crude reviews the “Amazon Chernobyl case”, about the contamination of the Eucuadoran Amazon. The NY Times Reviewer (A. O. Scott) describes the film as “intelligently and artfully made” and fair-minded. Crude won the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Programmer’s Choice Award, the Boston Independent Film Festival’s  Grand Jury Award, the Mexico International Film Festival Best Documentary Award and The Environmental Film Award of the Santa Cruz Film Festival, along with numerous other awards.

Frances Whittenton of the Delco Alliance for  Environmental Justice (http://www.ejnet.org) will give a brief intro to the film while Jocolyn Bowser-Bostick will present a brief statement on Delco Greens.

There will be a post-film discussion and lite refreshments.