More than 100 families personally affected by the fracking industry have written to President Barack Obama demanding that he meet with them—as he often does with fossil fuel executives—ahead of the Democratic National Convention later this month.
The letter (pdf), organized by the Pittsburgh-based, all-volunteer group Friends of the Harmed, asks Obama and ranking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials “to meet with our families to hear the personal testimonies—how they have been harmed by the oil and gas industry, and how they have been abandoned by local, state, and federal agencies and officials.”
It is signed by people like Edwin and Karen Atwood of Warren, Pennsylvania, who say their “water well was contaminated by both drilling and hydrofracking;” Debaura James of Silver City, New Mexico, which she calls “a sacrifice zone” to fossil fuels; and Randolph Hurst of Slate Hill, New York, who says, “My wife and I both have health issues and all of our concerns and objections to the construction of a fracked gas power plant near our home have been dismissed by local, state, and federal officials.”
Friends of the Harmed, which has compiled two publications that include personal testimonials of affected individuals, writes in the letter: “Families we work with live in constant fear, wondering where the next frack pit, well, compressor station or oil train will create another tragedy.”
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT