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Dear Ed,
President Obama is making a dangerous mistake.He's doubling down on dirty natural gas without hearing from the folks affected by it, like Rick Roles of Garfield County, Colorado.1 If he talked to Rick, he'd hear a courageous man, whose eyes well with tears and voice trembles with frustration as he shares his experience: Beginning in 1994, over 100 toxic natural gas wells were drilled within a mile of Rick's beloved home. Once a robust cowboy, he now wakes some days too sick to even feed himself. And time and again he has been forced to watch helplessly as his pride and joy -- his goats and horses -- succumb to horrific tumors and birth defects.2 Rick won't give up -- he's joining the fight and sharing his story about the terrible impacts of natural gas. But he can't do it alone; will you stand with Rick? One click will automatically add your name to the petition telling President Obama that natural gas is a danger for our communities. It's not the answer to our nation's energy needs! Sadly, Rick's story isn't unique -- it's happening all over the country as an unregulated natural gas industry runs amok. Nearly half a million natural gas wells can be found from Pennsylvania to California.3 Companies pump a mostly unknown cocktail of toxic chemicals into the ground to unleash the natural gas locked below -- all the while poisoning the air and water and turning local communities into industrial zones.4 In 2009, this all too familiar process began near Beth Voyles' home in southwestern Pennsylvania. Soon after, her family began to suffer the effects -- unexplained rashes, aches and pains, and blisters in their noses and throats. As Beth said, "You feel like you're drugged because your brain's not thinking. We want our life back."5 Ed, with only one click you sign the petition and tell President Obama to listen to Rick and Beth. Natural gas is not a fuel for the future, it's a danger to us today. Last month, President Obama spoke about his plans to tackle climate change. But the president's plan includes an increased reliance on natural gas, which releases methane pollution that is 72 to 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide.6 So not only does natural gas put our communities at risk but it's also helping to heat up our planet. If President Obama is serious about tackling climate change, he needs to reverse course on dangerous natural gas! We need to be too loud for the president to ignore. That's why the Sierra Club is launching SierraRise, a new, online community working for progress and sustainability. We'll reach new audiences and build a bigger and more powerful movement than ever before. That means sharing heartfelt stories and inspiring pictures with our friends and family and flooding the inboxes of public officials and corporations with powerful personal messages. Will you take a moment to sign the petition and automatically join the SierraRise community, by urging President Obama to protect our communities and climate from natural gas? In it together, Ashley Allison SierraRise Senior Campaigner P.S. Want to keep up with the latest from SierraRise? LIKE us on Facebook!    References: 1. Nardone, Deb (2013 June 25). "Correct Your Course On Natural Gas, Mr. President." Sierra Club Compass. Retrieved from http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2013/06/correct-your-course-on-natural-gas-mr-president.html 2. Brune, Michael (2013 June 17). "A Plateau Under Siege." The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brune/a-plateau-under-siege_b_3455719.html 3. Urbina, Ian (2011 February 26). "Regulations Lax as Gas Wells' Tainted Water Hits Rivers." The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all& 4. "Why Move Beyond Natural Gas." Sierra Club. Retrieved from http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/why-move-beyond-natural-gas 5. Lustgarten, Abrahm and Nicholas Kusnetz (2011 September 16). "Science Lags as Health Problems Emerge Near Gas Fields." Propublica. Retrieved from http://www.propublica.org/article/science-lags-as-health-problems-emerge-near-gas-fields 6."Net Global Radiative Forcing, Global Warming Potentials and Patterns of Forcing." Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/tssts-2-5.html | ||
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Aug 9, 2013
Tell Obama About Fracking
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