Arun Gandhi leads a crowd of thousands reciting the pledge of resistance against fracking at a protest at the New York state capital in Albany on June 17, 2013
The Pledge of Resistance Against Fracking in New York
I believe:
- That high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracking is an accident-prone, inherently dangerous industrial process with risks that include catastrophic and irremediable environmental damage;
- That these risks cannot be properly resolved, nor can they be mitigated through regulation by any government agency, let alone one that has colluded with the gas industry over the last four years in creating rules that attempt to regulate fracking;
- That Governor Cuomo and this agency, the Department of Environmental Conservation, have repeatedly turned a deaf ear to the petitions of New York’s scientists, economists, medical professionals, and ordinary citizens who have tried again and again, for four years and to little avail, to alert the agency and Governor Cuomo to the many dangers that hydraulic fracking poses to our health, safety, property values, peace of mind and to the climate itself;
- That it is wrong to shatter the bedrock of New York State and inject it with toxic chemicals.
Hence,
If Governor Cuomo permits high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracking in any part of New York State, I pledge to join with others to engage in non-violent acts of protest, including demonstrations and other non-violent actions, as my conscience leads me.
I make this pledge of resistance against fracking in order to prevent the destruction and poisoning of New York’s water, air, and food systems, on which life, health, and economic prosperity all depend–including that of future generations.
Signed on this day,
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DATE
It is our voracious appetite for oil and natural gas at a cheaper price that spurs the industry to exploit the earth’s natural resources, so, not surprisingly, the consumer is a guilty as the producer. None of us raised a voice when the same industry was exploiting and devastating the environment and resources of other countries to feed the monster in our backyard. Now that the world has become wise and curtailed the power of the Oil Industry to plunder the resources in their countries we do not want them to do the same in our backyard with natural gas. Clearly, the choice before us is: Do we stop the monster that is set on ruining the earth for future generations or do we mindlessly sacrifice the future generations.