Last night, a lot of us in the anti-fracking movement turned off the State of Union when Obama started talking about Natural Gas. I know it sucks that Obama played up fracking…OK, he sort of prostrated himself in front Cabot Oil, and Shell, and so on and so on. It’s meant discouragement for everyone who’s worked so hard over the past year to stop this terrible practices from poisoning our communities and our planet. But by no means is it time to get down on ourselves. We have a real and tangible opportunity to ban fracking, especially in NY.
Let’s think about it.
Back in the beginning of August, you could count on your fingers the number of people who were trying to stop the Keystone XL. Last week, we blocked it — Goodbye KXL. No, the fight’s definitely not over, and we haven’t seen the last of the pipeline–but, we shifted the entire conversation about the KXL, about jobs vs. the environment, and we built lasting relationships with organized labor, with the indigenous communities fighting for justice, and with the hard working folks in the 99% who want a decent shot at a good life. And, for those of us in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wyoming, Colorado, Ohio, Texas–and all over the word–we brought the conversation about fracking to the forefront of this movement.
Last night, Obama did exactly what we would expect him to do: He took the politically viable position on fracking–the same position that the millions of advertising dollars on prime time TV are telling Americans we need. But fracking is not a transition fuel. Natural Gas accounts for nearly one fifth of US emissions, has a drastically more immediate effect on our time frame for averting climate catastrophe, and it poisons our water, our air and our economy. We don’t need it. We need green jobs and we need them now.
The facts are clear on fracking. But even more importantly, the facts are clear about our movement. We have people power. We have people power like we’ve never had it before. And what people power means is that when, to borrow Naomi Klein’s words, the wealthiest people in the world walk in to the Oval Office and expect to whisper energy policy in Obama’s ear, he can to point out the window and say “If I do that, they are going to storm the gates.” The Obama who promised to end the tyranny of oil is still in there, and we still need to give him the opportunity to come out.
I was talking to some folks upstate in NY last week about how far we’ve come in the fight against fracking. Three years ago, gas drilling was inevitable. Last year, we were hoping for decent regulations. Now, against all odds (and unimaginable amounts of dirty money), a ban is possible, it’s all we talk about, and thousands of people are prepared to put their bodies on the line to make it a reality.
We are going to ban fracking in NY. We are going to stop fracking the US (though it may not be this year). We are going to make a just transition to a clean energy future. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise, not even the President (Or rather the the wealthy corporate backers who bought off Congress for millions last year). This is going to a be a long fight, and it’s going to be a hard fight. But we have the momentum to shift the power–if we keep one thing in mind: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Here’s to a year of action in 2012.
With Joy and Resolve.
Reed Steberger, Green Umbrella Coordinator
The Green Umbrella 