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WELCOME
to
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition
Mission statement:
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Inc. of Luzerne
County, based in Dallas, PA, is a none profit community educational
association, whose members are concerned with the negative effects
of the Industrial Process of Drilling for Natural Gas in PA. We
are citizens from all walks of life.
1. Natural gas companies need to follow the
Precautionary Principle and bear the burden of proof that this activity
is safe and will not contaminate our air, water and soil, as it
has in other areas of the country. If through mandated environmental
impact reports they cannot do this, we ask our state policy makers
to ban any future permitting and exploration.
2. If the natural gas companies are serious about applying
best practices in their public relations campaigns then we expect
them to agree to the most stringent safety measures when it comes
to protecting the public. This means not opposing rigid TDS standards
for wastewater disposal, strict well casing requirements, using
100% recycling of all waste water and state of the art filtering
of all solid waste before landfill disposal. This also means state
of the art filtering and cleaning of gas in processing facilities
and compressor stations.
3. We demand that all well pads, processing facilities, and
compressor stations are located away from any urban or suburban
population centers and high value watershed areas. In this respect
we ask our state legislators, through independent studies and analysis
led by conservation and environmental land management groups, to
develop safe drilling corridors in Pennsylvania. This way inevitable
accidents will be kept away from critical water source supplies.
4. The people of Pennsylvania demand sovereignty with regard
to property management and ownership of their land and there will
be no efforts to force pool acreage for gas drilling and development.
5. Zoning and community sovereignty rights remain preeminent
and the Commonwealth of PA will respect the inherent rights of the
people to decide what they are willing to allow and disallow in
local townships and cities.
6. Before any further drilling or permitting of wells in
the Marcellus shale in PA will take place, baseline environmental
impact studies need to be performed to evaluate our current water
quality in source water intake areas, current water discharges into
streams and rivers and our current air quality around drilling activities
in the state.
7. Fines for violations, spills, accidents and contamination
of ground or water supplies need to be re-evaluated and made substantial
to act as a deterrent rather than the cost of doing business for
these companies. Well plugging bond amounts need to be raised to
make it more expensive to abandon a well than pay the fine for walking
away; the current scenario for abandoned wells in PA.
8. All Federal environmental law exemptions need to be removed
immediately including the: Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe
Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act , Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act and the Toxic Release Inventory
under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The
PA. Oil & Gas Act needs to be amended to allow local municipalities
to uphold Article 1 Section #2 and #27 of our PA state constitution.
Full disclosure of all chemicals used in fracturing, including concentrations
is needed.
9. Companies that do not follow these guidelines or have
serious or repetitive violations should be banned from any further
drilling in PA.
10. We demand our state legislature develop a clean, sustainable
alternative energy policy and begin immediate steps to institute
development of alternative energy supplies that do not rely on fossil
fuels. We ask for establishment of economic incentives for research,
development, manufacturing and purchasing of these alternative energy
resources so that PA can be the leader in energy independence immediately.
The Precautionary Principle states:"When
human activities may lead to morally unacceptable harm that is scientifically
plausible but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish
that harm.“ The burden of proof that the activity is safe rests
with the industry proposing the activity.
Code of conduct for members:
1. We agree to conduct ourselves with professionalism, dignity and
kindness in working towards our goal of protecting our environment
and community. We agreed to treat others with respect at all times,
even those with differing opinions.
2. We acknowledge that each individual group member in their actions
and speech, represent the coalition as a whole, and therefore are
reminded to be mindful in speaking and acting in a manner that professionally
and respectfully represents the group as a whole.
3. We recognize that the topic of natural gas drilling in our area
has been misrepresented by individuals on both sides of the issue,
pro and con drilling, with regard to facts and truth. Sometimes
this issue has been guided by rhetoric, rumor, hearsay and inflammatory
comments that have not been helpful in disseminating truth. In this
regard, we acknowledge we will seek out the truth, do diligent research
and study, and are willing to back up all statements with legitimate
references from those more knowledgeable than ourselves, and who
have studied these matters in question.
4. In matters representing our Mission statement, we are free to
pursue individual methods of achieving our goals, as long as the
ends does not justify a means that violates these principles. In
other words, as long as we remain ethical, informed, and respectful,
we can work individually to protect our environment and community
from the hazards of natural gas drilling.
5. If we are in doubt with regard to our conduct or speech in representing
this cause on behalf of the group, we commit to seeking guidance
from our fellow group members, and coming together to build a consensus
before acting.
6. We agree to work diligently, and to the best of our ability in
fulfilling our Mission statement. We also agree to take responsibility
for all of our actions.
7. We agree to uphold these principles of conduct as the only membership
requirement in the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition. If we cannot
abide by these principles, we agree to inform the other members
of this group that we wish to resign from membership in this coalition.
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Federal-State
Source Documents
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