Monday, July 19, 2010

Anti-Drilling Rally in Bloomfield Tonight

Pittsburgh's Student Environmental Coalition will hold a rally in Bloomfield tonight protesting Marcellus Shale drilling.

SEC member and organizer Seth Bush says he thinks it's time to take action against natural gas drilling, especially now that Pittsburgh leaders are discussing the possibility of gas wells in the city. Bush says the rally will help people get active about the issue.

"We're going to have a letter-writing campaign there, sponsored by Clean Water Action," says Bush. "We really want people to network with each other, get involved, and if they're not already involved, find a way to do that. So we're actually even going to be having a roll call of some of the present organizations, so people know what's out there so they can get connected."

Bush says some of the speakers at the 45-minute event include State Senator Jim Ferlo (D - Allegheny), Green Party U.S. Senate candidate Mel Packer, and Erika Staaf of PennEnvironment.

Bush says he thinks the economic benefits of natural gas drilling are outweighed by the environmental downsides -- he says that's evidenced by the recent gas well blowout in Clearfield County that leaked thousands of gallons of chemically-treated water into the surrounding area.

Bush says he's especially opposed to gas drilling in densely-populated Pittsburgh, where he says such an incident would have even worse consequences.

The rally will be held at 7:00 tonight at Friendship Park in Bloomfield.

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