Mountain Watershed Association (MWA), home of the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper, is dedicated to protecting, preserving and restoring the Indian Creek and greater Youghiogheny River watersheds. In 2010, we launched our Marcellus Citizens Stewardship Project which seeks to develop community leadership through outreach, organizing, monitoring and assessing activities in communities where shale gas development is occurring. As community organizer for MWA, I work to empower community leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to engage in public participation and social change in order to strengthen grassroots efforts from the ground up. To help us accomplish this mission, we created the Direct Support Fund to provide financial assistance to individuals, groups or organizations working to reduce the negative impacts of shale gas development in their communities.
Through a network of partners who focus on tracking Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection permits, we realized early on that Apex Energy, LLC had plans to develop well pads in the densely populated residential areas of Penn Township, very close to the border of neighboring communities. One of those proposed sites is within 1,000 feet of Trafford Borough, which boasts a population of a little over 3,100 residents. We knew we had to move quickly to inform the residents of the township and neighboring municipalities, especially since Penn Township’s commissioners were in the process of revising their zoning ordinance. We began working with a small number of community members who had been closely following the revisions to the ordinance, which presented a unique opportunity to advocate for increased protections at the local level.  The group submitted an application to the Direct Support Fund to launch a campaign that would increase community awareness on the issue.
With our assistance, letters were sent to over 1,000 residents who live within a half-mile of the proposed well pads in August 2014. The letter shared information on what other communities had experienced with property values, crime, health impacts and water quality once hydraulic fracturing began. Recipients were invited to join an email list and attend the next township meeting. We also held a meeting at the local library to initiate a plan of action. We saw a drastic response from the community, repeatedly hearing that this was the first notice of plans to drill in the township.
Gillian Graber, a resident of Trafford Borough, received the letter and attended the meetings. When she and her husband realized what was at stake, they made copies of the letter and began knocking on their neighbors’ doors. What they soon discovered was that most people knew very little about fracking and the proposed well pads, or assumed it was too late to do anything about it.  Recognizing that she had to put some structure behind her mission, Gillian and her husband founded Protect PT—a citizens group working to ensure the community’s safety, security and quality of life from the effects of unconventional, horizontal drilling and other impactful projects.
Thanks to our Direct Support Fund, Protect PT has been able to develop a website and maintain a social media presence, with their Facebook page having over 200 members. They produce a weekly electronic newsletter, have secured experts for municipal meetings and have successfully retained legal counsel from Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services in Pittsburgh. In addition, Protect PT has developed media strategies to engage reporters from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Tribune Review, and the local Penn Franklin News.
Protect PT has now challenged the decision by the Penn Township Zoning Hearing Board to approve a special exception request by Apex to drill at one of the proposed well sites on the basis that air modeling and hydrogeological studies have yet to be completed as required by the new ordinance. They also received additional funds from Direct Support to continue to share their message with the community by hosting a Movie Night Fundraiser where they showed Triple Divide, a documentary on the impacts of fracking. Filmmakers Joshua Pribanic and Melisa Troutman were on hand to answer questions and provide updates on their work and the organization was able to raise money towards their legal challenge.
After working with Gillian and Protect PT, I knew that she could benefit from joining the Halt the Harm Network. Halt the Harm provides direct services and support to individuals, like Gillian, who are on the frontlines of a growing movement to halt the harms of fracking. Gillian joined as a Leader and looks forward to sharing her experience and learning from others in an effort to protect our communities from the negative impacts of shale gas development. If you are working in any capacity to halt the harms of fracking, I encourage you to visit www.halttheharm.net to learn more.