Ban Fracking
The Bottom Line
Fracking for natural gas creates an immediate danger to local air and water quality. Gas pipelines that criss-cross our state lead to additional danger as recent nearby pipeline explosions have proven. Properly regulated extraction could theoretically happen safely but our state has shown that we are completely unable to regulate this industry. Finally, no amount of regulation will address the climate change impacts of burning fossil fuels, including the impacts we are already seeing such as the flooding in our area. Our state needs a plan to transition to 100% renewable energy.
Why is this issue important to Jay?
I care about this issue for three main reasons: air and water pollution, climate change, and the continued mismanagement of the industry in Harrisburg. We know that infants born near fracking sites are more likely to have life-threatening health problems.We know that methane leaks have destroyed the entire water supply in some towns. And we know that Pennsylvania has not been successful in regulating the industry. This is impacting our neighbors locally but also our planet as we continued to find clearer evidence that the spike in methane in our atmosphere, a leading contributor to global warming, is linked directly to fracking. These negative externalities are ignored by our legislators as they continue to provide giveaways and tax subsidies to the fracking industry. To me, it is unequivocally problematic that taxpayers are supporting a harmful industry.
Why is this issue important in District 23?
While air pollution and water pollution from the fracking industry aren’t immediately visible to District 23 residents, we know that climate change is real and it will impact our future. Many of the members of our district are students; we do not want to inherit a destroyed planet. And climate change is already directly impacting us. From increased flooding that has been linked to climate change and the resulting landslides that are a direct result of precipitation shifts to the expansion of the habitat of deer ticks in our region, it is clear we need to attack global climate change from every direction, including fracking.
What is the incumbent doing?
Not enough. The fracking industry has captured regulation and the oil and gas industry regularly inflates the number of jobs linked to the industry. While the incumbent will tout his work voting against the state incentive to build the Beaver County cracker plant, he has accepted donations from the fracking industry in the past and has not aligned his agenda with a needed New Green Deal. His support for fracking champion Governor Wolf and his Restore PA legislation reveals a commitment to fracking that is out of line with what scientists say we need to avert climate disaster.
Jay’s plan
We need our representatives to prioritize banning fracking in our state and this will be impossible if we continue to allow industry lobbyists to line the pockets of our legislators. I strongly support a gift ban that would disallow any gifts at all from lobbyists, those with business before the government, those with an economic interest at stake, and those who are regulated by government agencies. I also will work to enact legislation to replace greenhouse gas emitting energy production with renewables, support development initiatives on building a "Green Economy" in PA, and focus on energy retrofits to quickly reduce our energy burden while creating numerous clean energy jobs as outlined in the Green Party’s platform.