Marcellus Shale Exposed

 

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE 

MARCELLUS SHALE EXPOSED 

A HUGE SUCCESS!

Got any photos you’d like to share? Send them to us at berksgastruth@gmail.com!

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea delivers his Keynote Address at MSE, photo courtesy of Don Miles
Dr. Ingraffea discussed photo of a geyser of effluent coming out of an abandoned well 150 from a well being fracked.
Exhibitor area at MSE, photo courtesy of Cathy Kimock

March 16th & 17th, 2012

Northampton Community College, Bethlehem

Presented by Berks Gas Truth and Lehigh Valley Sierra Club

FREE PUBLIC EVENT!! REGISTER TODAY!!

 

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea to Keynote at Marcellus Shale Exposed

We’re pleased to announce that Cornell’s Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, one of the foremost authorities on hydraulic fracturing, will be the keynote speaker at Marcellus Shale Exposed. He’s scheduled to speak at 9 a.m. on March 17th at Northampton Community College’s Lipkin Theater. He has graciously agreed to participate in the rest of the day’s events.

 

Visit www.marcellus-shale-exposed.org

for more details and updates!

 

Special Friday Evening Screening, March 16, 7 p.m.

Gasland: A film by Josh Fox

SPECIAL GUESTS

Craig & Julie Sautner of Dimock, PA

& others living with drilling in

panel discussion following film.

 

The natural gas industry has spent millions of dollars promoting natural gas drilling as a safe process that has been around for decades. In Pennsylvania, the industry has promised that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created and that drilling will bring much-needed revenue to the state. Environmental and social organizations throughout the state have been fighting their misleading claims with the facts. Those organizations are joining forces to bring an important symposium to Eastern Pennsylvania called Marcellus Shale Exposed this March featuring a virtual appearance by Gasland director Josh Fox and a keynote address by Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Cornell University fracking expert and outspoken critic of drilling. The event is open to the public free of charge, but registration is required at the event’s website www.marcellus-shale-exposed.org .

Berks Gas Truth, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club, and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club  are co-hosts of the event, subtitled “A Symposium for Truth and Action”, scheduled for March 16th and 17th at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem. “No matter whether you’ve closely followed the fracking story in PA or are just hearing the words Marcellus Shale and fracking for the first time, you’ll learn something new at Marcellus Shale Exposed,” says the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club’s lead organizer on the project,  Sheila Gallagher.

The event is aimed at doing more than informing people about the issues. “We have two goals for the event.” says Karen Feridun, founder of co-host Berks Gas Truth. “In addition to informing people, we want to call people to action.” The afternoon of March 17th is devoted to task force meetings organized around the same subject areas as the talks earlier in the day. Those task forces will develop plans for events and actions they’ll carry out in the weeks and months following Marcellus Shale Exposed.

Josh Fox, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, has announced that he will participate in a panel on Friday evening via Skype. The panel follows a screening of his film and will also feature residents of the Marcellus region dealing with the consequences of natural gas drilling. Craig and Julie Sautner of Dimock are among the panelists. They came to national attention when deliveries of clean water were cut off after three years by Cabot Oil & Gas, with permission of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, even though the well water of the affected families is still contaminated. Craig Sautner was threatened with arrest for calling Governor Corbett’s office every day asking the Governor to intercede.

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea is Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering and Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has spoken and written extensively on hydraulic fracturing and pipeline safety. He is an engaging presenter who explains the technologies and processes used in unconventional natural gas drilling in a manner that even someone new to the subject can easily understand.

Dr. Ingraffea’s address will be followed by a series of late morning talks prior to the task force meetings slated for the afternoon. Among the confirmed presenters are:

  • Tracy Carluccio is Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the organization at the forefront of the battle to maintain the moratorium against drilling in the Delaware River Basin. She will discuss environmental impacts.
  • Michelle Bamberger, DVM, and Robert E. Oswald, Ph.D. are the authors of an important new paper, Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health published in the journal New Solutions. They will discuss the findings of their research.
  • Deborah Rogers is a financial consultant-turned-artisanal cheese-maker who joined the fight against fracking when she discovered that 12 high impact wells were planned next to her property in Texas. She is the founder of the Energy Policy Forum. She will speak on the economics of drilling.
  • Jeff Schmidt is the Director of the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania Chapter. He has been representing the club in Harrisburg for over 25 years and understands the legislative and regulatory playing field better than anyone. He will share his insights with us.
  • Vera Cole, Ph.D. is President of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association, author of Pennsylvania Homeowner’s Guide to Solar Electricity, and Senior Lecturer in Energy Sustainability and Policy at Penn State. She will speak on clean energy alternatives to drilling.
  • Karen Feridun is Founder of Berks Gas Truth and one of the organizers of Marcellus Shale Exposed. She will speak on messaging via news media, social media, and websites.

Activists, organizers, and researchers from environmental and social organizations will join the speakers in leading the afternoon task forces. Adam Garber of PennEnvironment, Thomas Au of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club, Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters, Michael Wood of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Jay Sweeney of the Green Party of Pennsylvania, Matt Walker of the Clean Air Coalition, Wendi Taylor of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club, Julie Edgar of Lehigh Valley Gas Truth, Dennis Winters of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club and Wayne Kenton also of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club are among the leaders.

Organizations exhibiting at the event include the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters, the United Sludge-Free Alliance, Berks Gas Truth, Green Party of Pennsylvania, Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, PennEnvironment, Pipeline Safety Coalition, and the Orphaned Wells Project.

For more information on the speakers, participating organizations, and exhibitors, please visit our website, http://www.marcellus-shale-exposed.org

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