More Than 50,000 North Carolinians tell Governor McCrory: Ban Fracking.
Media Contacts
Environment North Carolina
RALEIGH, NC– More than thirty environmental and social justice groups came together on Tuesday to deliver over 50,000 petitions to Governor Pat McCrory calling on him to reinstate the ban on fracking.
In August and September, over 1,800 North Carolinians turned out to the public hearings on the rules that would govern fracking in the state, and since then, the effort to keep fracking out of the state has continued to grow. On Tuesday, tens of thousands of North Carolinians sent their message to the governor: keep fracking out of North Carolina.
“We’ve been talking to North Carolinians at farmers markets, baseball games and even the state fair,” said Dave Rogers, Environment North Carolina Field Director. “ And we’ve seen that as people learn more about the risks associated with fracking, the more they think it just doesn’t make sense for North Carolina.”
Recent studies show that fracking has contaminated drinking water, lowered property values, increased air pollution in states across the U.S. These are among the chief concerns of North Carolinians.
“We are two small rural counties located in the Foothills of our state, where the Davie Shale Basin has been identified,” said Kathy Rigsbee, member of Yadkin and Davie Against Fracking. “We could no longer watch the debate from a distance. This is our backyard. Fracking is now a real threat to our communities.”
The groups, which came together starting in 2012 to form the Frack Free NC Alliance, are committed to preventing fracking in our communities and in our state.
“When Clean Water for North Carolina first raised concerns about the potential contamination by fracking of well water for millions of well users, we had no idea how this movement would grow, in order to challenge the greed, opportunism and misinformation of some elected officials and economic interests,” said Hope Taylor, the group’s Executive Director. “Today, the Frack Free NC Alliance includes nearly three dozen local and statewide groups including No Fracking in Stokes and Frack Free Madison County.”
Because of the statewide impacts fracking would have, from exploration and development to infrastructure and wastewater removal, this issue has troubled North Carolinians from the mountains to the sea.
“When the people of western North Carolina heard that fracking might come to one of our state’s greatest treasures, the Appalachian mountains, concerned individuals everywhere jumped to action, creating groups, forming coalitions, and educating their neighbors,” said Sarah Kellogg, Appalachian Voices field organizer. “Together, westerners turned out over seven hundred people to the Mining and Energy Commission Hearing in Cullowhee, and delivered over eighty oral comments opposing fracking.”
The groups say that they will continue to fight to protect North Carolina’s air, water, communities, and property values from the dangers of fracking.
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