Download the DCS 2021 Appeal Letter as a pdf.
Download the Appeal Letter Insert, on swing state PA, as a pdf.

YOUR donation today helps DCS do more in ’22!

DCS is working for the next generations!  – and for current ones too.
TASKS—are we done yet?    …no
Accomplished—a BAN of fracking in the Delaware River Basin
Voted in by the DRBC February 25, THIS year (2/25/21)!

DCS was the first to sound the alarm bells on fracking in 2008; it took 13 years of work to get the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to declare a ban. Throughout that period, we educated and encouraged the active involvement of individuals and civic, faith, municipal, and other groups to show politicians that their constituents wanted the ban. It is the 4 Basin states’ governors and a federal representative who are the voters at the DRBC, not the people who live in the Basin! – but we have influence with our comments.

We still have work to do:

Unfortunately the ban of fracking did not include the needed rules to establish a full ban. This October, DRBC proposed weak and confusing rules controlling waste import and water export – not a ban by far!   Importing poisons to the Delaware Basin? WHY? Who would want that?

• Now once again we have to send many comments (by January 28, 2022) to get what we want and what is needed – a clear full permanent ban of frack waste import and of water export from here to where fracking is harming other communities. DCS will be organizing a campaigns to get this done, including specific commenting ideas and suggestions for you to use.
• We must continue to work to shift pro-oil gas sentiment in major gas-producing swing-state PA. Already DCS’ educational efforts have been key in raising public awareness of fracking’s health impacts. This year there’s the introduction of a package of strong regulatory bills, as well as the Attorney General’s investigation of environmental crimes showing progress we have been a part of creating.
• NY last year reclassified fracking-related waste as hazardous. It was DCS that began the push for this important step toward a total ban back in 2010, and NYC banned frack waste disposal in NYC sewage plants in 2016 out of this same effort. But let’s not forget that New York State continues to allow frack waste transport and disposal. and still has not assembled the needed regulations to go with that excellent reclassification. Please help us to change that.
• And we are using our resources to win more LOCAL battles like restoring our treasured Milanville Bridge.

Even though we are butting heads with the DRBC about their proposed waste import, water export rules, we are still totally in support of the agency and plan to do whatever we can in support of the DRBC in the still on-going Wayne Land and Mineral Group’s lawsuit that claims the DRBC does not have the right to regulate their proposed fracking operations in the Delaware Basin. With your help, we will continue to work defending the DRBC by provide crucial scientific and historical information that supports its authority.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges, and it is not over yet. it has made outreach and raising funds more difficult, so we need your help more than ever. With important victories in sight on several fronts, and dangerous losses still to be averted on others, it is vital that we move forward to take advantage of this moment in history. Your generous contributions, crucial to our headway so far, are essential in making future progress possible.

Our campaigns, started years ago, for divestment from gas and oil stocks by pension and other funds is now accelerating. As DCS continues to educate the general public of the risks to human and environmental health, it has become clear to these funds that the debt laden Oil and Gas Industry is not only a health risk but a financial risk. Our urgent arguments about health impacts from fossil fuel development, specifically to asthma and cancer patients (and  Covid-19 patients) is being heard.

• DCS is Facilitating the PA Attorney General’s ongoing investigation of environmental crimes related to fracking, which this year yielded several indictments and a scathing report criticizing not only the industry, but PA regulators, for failing to protect the state’s citizens. Our educator/advocate program has nurtured progress for years through our one-on-one work helping households report their health impacts and navigating past hostile local officials to the AG’s office.
• DCS is working to protect pollinators—the Birds and Bees act—a first in the nation law banning Neonic pesticides is in New York State legislature and needs passage. We hope other states can also do the same. Without pollinators we have no food! We are reaching out to educate individuals, groups, municipalities and collecting your signatures for this.
• DCS is finding ways to support the build-out of renewables and refocusing consumption—efficiency could save half our current energy use! We have to force the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies. Tackling climate change requires bold positive actions!

There are many more fronts on which we continue to fight: We help communities threatened by fracking all over the world to organize; we interact with members of the press and connecting them with households who have experienced devastation; we educate the public and policymakers about the risks of fracking and related infrastructure and activities. And we are always coordinating with other activist groups, both major and grassroots, making the incremental changes that we all want to see possible.

A donation in any amount keeps us fighting. Every single contribution is meaningful!

Barbara Arrindell
Director
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability