I applaud the powerful work done by the Mars Parent Group, who have bravely waged a tireless effort to organize and educate the residents of Adams and Middlesex. Low sperm counts have also been linked to proximity to fracking sites (U. Duke University released a study linking proximity to a fracked well and decreased property value. In the months and weeks leading up to our action, a number of powerful studies were released that linked proximity to fracked wells and low birth weights (Pitt), problem pregnancies (Johns Hopkins), and cardiac visits to emergency rooms (Penn). But, as Berry suggests in the quote above, our 'own hearts and spirits would be destroyed by acquiescence' if we didn't do it.Īs research evidence piles up, it becomes clearer and clearer that fracking doesn't belong anywhere near people, other living things, water, air, or soil. While I'm pretty certain that many of the other grandparents, like me, hoped that our action would make Rex reconsider drilling near Mars Area schools, I am absolutely certain that none of us thought that this was even a remote possibility. We do it because we are obligated to say no.'

This was not a Marcellus Outreach Butler action, though many of the participants are affiliated with MOB.Īs the action was wrapping up I engaged one of the other grandparents in conversation and she said something that is very powerful: 'We don't do this because we think this one action will stop the well. This was, as far as I know, the very first instance of nonviolent direct action with a civil disobedience component carried out by fracktivists in Butler County. We had no intention of allowing any Rex traffic to pass most of us were prepared to be arrested if it came to that.

On Monday, December 21, 2015, six grandparents sat in six rocking chairs on the access road to the Geyer well in Adams and Middlesex townships. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.” - Wendell Berry, from What Are People For?: Essays

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