Dear Friends:

The Delaware is the river that runs through the heart of the film GASLAND. We’ve kept drilling and fracking out of the river basin for the past three and a half years. Now the Delaware River faces its most grave and urgent threat.

Please see this video that Matt Sanchez and I just created to highlight the critical importance of the upcoming vote on October 21st in Trenton NJ:

This is an urgent call to the fans of GASLAND and to the anti-fracking movement across the nation:

Please act now to Save the Delaware River.

On October 21st, the Delaware River Basin Comission will vote on a plan to allow over 20,000 gas wells in the Delaware River Basin. We need calls to come from all over the nation and we need people from all over the region to come out in protest on October 21st.

The Delaware River Basin Commission is an intergovernmental body that is comprised of five voting members, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, Governor Christie of New Jersey, Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania, Governor Markell of Delaware, and the Obama Administration represented by the Army Corps of Engineers. For the Delaware River to be opened up to drilling, three out of the five have to vote yes on the draft regulations plan. We need them all to reject the proposal and reject gas drilling and fracking.

There has never been a more urgent moment in the Northeast in the battle against fracking. The Delaware is the primary drinking water source for 15.6 Million people and is a national treasure.

Here are 4 ways that you can participate:

1) Call the the Governors from the member states and President Obama TODAY and tell them, “Hello, I am calling you to express my serious concerns about hydrofracking. Please Don’t Drill the Delaware!”

Governor Christie’s office – 609-292-6000
Governor Cuomo’s office – 518-474-8390
Gov Corbett’s office – 717-787-2500
Gov Markell’s Wilmington Office – 302-577-3210
And the white house comment line is 202-456-1111
2) Come to the DRBC meeting in person!

When: October 21, 8 am

Where: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J. Map HERE.

There are over 20 buses traveling in from all over the region. Click HERE for bus sign up.

3) Delaware Riverkeeper will be hosting a Peaceful Non-Violent Direct Action Training on October 20th. For more information, sign up HERE.

4) If you work with an organization fighting to keep our water safe from hydraulic fracturing, please send this alert to those in your membership, and post it on facebook.

We will continue to send updates in the coming weeks.

For more information go to www.savethedelawareriver.com or visit www.delawareriverkeeper.org

With your help, we can stop the poisoning of our historic rivers and move to renewable and sustainable energy solutions.

Thanks for all you do! Together we can turn the tide.

Josh and the Gasland Team

So many of us were working incredibly hard to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and we won this round.  I got arrested in front of the White House.   Almost all of my friends got arrested in front of the White House.  My mom got arrested in front of the White House.  And we stopped the pipeline for now.  We did it.  We owe a huge thanks to Bill McKibben and TarSandsAction and all of their brilliant organizers.

Now we can do the same to stop fracking in the Delaware River basin.

We’re not just going to sit back and enjoy victory are we?

We are going to keep up the momentum and get ready for November 21st!

I was on Democracy Now! today – take a moment to check out the video from that appearance:

We’ve come a long way in the fight against fracking.  The flaming faucets in GASLAND has been seen by upwards of 40 million people in 20 countries.  Our awareness campaign has worked.  A recent study shows that 4 out of 5 Americans say that they are concerned about the effect of fracking on drinking water.

Our most important stand is less than two weeks away.

On November 21st the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will vote to approve a plan that will allow for 20,000 or more fracked gas wells in the Delaware River Basin.  We need you to come out and protest the vote in huge numbers.

If any oil or gas is found, the district would benefit financially through royalties, or a certain percentage of revenues.

Countrymark Energy Resources is an oil exploration and production subsidiary of CountryMark, which is based in Indianapolis and has a refinery in Mt. Vernon.

The agreement, an oil and gas license, allows the company to lease gas and oil mineral rights under the elementary school property, affecting about 28 acres.

Countrymark would “lease the rights to produce any oil that might be found under school property,” Richard Sumner, vice president of exploration for Countrymark Energy Resources, said in a telephone interview prior to the meeting.

If oil or gas is found, and depending on how much, “It could be a potential financial boon for the school district,” Superintendent Dan Tanoos said last week.

The school district would receive 28 percent of the gross proceeds, or “royalties,” off what is produced, according to the agreement approved by the board. Countrymark also will pay a certain “small amount” to do exploration, Tanoos said.

During a public comment period, Matt Effner, who has two children at Lost Creek, asked the board to postpone action so that parents would have more time to ask questions and learn more about what is proposed. He and other parents have concerns about potential safety issues and they “haven’t had much time to consider this.”

Tanoos said the Department of Natural Resources has strict permitting guidelines Countrymark must follow, which put his mind at ease about safety issues.

Also, the company would not have to go onto Lost Creek school property to drill. It would do horizontal drilling from other property where it already is drilling, so there wouldn’t be any tanks or any types of drilling devices on school property. He noted that Countrymark has agreements or is drilling on nearby properties.

The drilling under Lost Creek Elementary property would be about 1,500 feet underground and it would not affect the playground or school, Tanoos said.

The superintendent met with school staff Monday to talk about the potential drilling.

The company will first do background exploratory work, and Tanoos didn’t anticipate any drilling to occur before summer.

If the company does find oil or gas, and the school district does gain revenues, the School Board would then determine what do with the money generated, Tanoos said. “Through your vision, we’ll find the proper use for the money,” he said.

After the meeting, Effner said, “I’m disappointed they didn’t have more  discussion.”

CountryMark is one of the largest privately held companies in Indiana, Sumner said earlier in the day.

The drilling will not create any health or safety issues, Sumner said. If it posed any dangers, “We would not do this … and the state would not let us do it and the school district would not let us do it,” Sumner said.

On the other side of the coin, Sumner said, “People need to look at the benefit of potentially several thousand dollars a month revenue stream to the school district, especially at time of declining school revenues.”

If after 18 months no oil is found, the rights to drill under school property would expire, according to the agreement.

The environmental contamination and human health risk associated with the extraction of natural gas using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” was little known across the United States for years, until a documentary film brought the issue to the national stage. Josh Fox directed the film Gasland, which chronicles the devastation affecting communities where fracking is taking place and the influence of the natural gas industry over regulation of the techniques and chemicals used in the process. The industry aggressively attacked the film, especially when it was nominated for an Academy Award this year. [includes rush transcript].

1) Call the Governors and President Obama TODAY and tell them Don’t Drill the Delaware, and Don’t approve ANY regulations to permit fracking!

1. Governor Christie’s office  -             609-292-6000      
2. Governor Cuomo’s office -             518-474-8390      
3. Gov Corbett’s office –             717-787-2500      
4. Gov Markell’s Wilmington Office -             302-577-3210      
5. And the white house comment line is             202-456-1111      

2) Come to the DRBC meeting!

When: November 21, 8 am,

Where: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J. Coming from another location? 

Bus sign up HERE.

Sign up for email updates HERE.

3) There are two the Peaceful Non Violent First Amendment Trainings taking place on November 20th: 

-Sign up for the Training in Trenton HERE.

-Sign up for the Training in NYC HERE.