[rad-green] Over 570 Groups Endorse Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez's Fracking Ban Act as 'Essential and Urgent Climate Action'

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/20/over-570-groups-endorse-sanders-and-ocasio-cortezs-fracking-ban-act-essential-and
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/20/over-570-groups-endorse-sanders-and-ocasio-cortezs-fracking-ban-act-essential-and>Common
Dreams          February 20, 2020Over 570 Groups Endorse Sanders and
Ocasio-Cortez's Fracking Ban Act as 'Essential and Urgent Climate
Action'"The path to a Green New Deal starts with bold action to restrict
the supply of fossil fuels, and that is precisely why a ban on fracking is
an absolute necessity."by Jessica Corbett, staff writer*

[image: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.)]

*Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
announce the introduction of public housing legislation as part of the
Green New Deal outside the Capitol on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (Photo: Bill
Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)*

More than 570 national, regional, and local groups signed on to a letter
Thursday endorsing the first-ever national legislation that would
immediately prohibit federal permits for new fracking or related
infrastructure and fully ban the practice in the United States beginning in
2025.

"At a time when study after study reveals the urgent need to rapidly move
away from fossil fuels and onto 100% renewable energy, we write to express
our strong support for the Fracking Ban Act," declares the letter
<https://foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/fracking_ban_act_sign-on_letter.pdf>
(pdf),
organized by the national advocacy group Food & Water Action. "As we
witness increasingly extreme impacts of the climate crisis, the federal
government must act to stop the expansion of fossil fuels."

BREAKING: 570+ organizations endorse the Fracking Ban Act by @SenSanders
<https://twitter.com/SenSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> & @AOC
<https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> to #BanFracking
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BanFracking?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
 nationwide! https://t.co/uZmsfEchcy

— Food & Water Watch (@foodandwater) February 20, 2020
<https://twitter.com/foodandwater/status/1230508236719165441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The Fracking Ban Act (S. 3247
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3247/>/H. 5857
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5857/>) was
introduced
<https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-ocasio-cortez-lead-first-ever-bill-to-ban-fracking-nationwide>
in
the upper chamber last month by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a top 2020
Democratic presidential candidate, and in the lower chamber last week by
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a supporter of Sanders'
presidential campaign and the main House sponsor of the Green New Deal
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/07/major-party-backing-ocasio-cortez-and-markey-unveil-green-new-deal-outlining-wwii>
.

"The science is clear: fracking is a leading contributor to our climate
emergency. It is destroying our land. It is destroying our water and it is
wreaking havoc on our communities' health," Ocasio-Cortez said
<https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-ocasio-cortez-lead-first-ever-bill-to-ban-fracking-nationwide>
in
January. Sanders added that "if we are serious about clean air and drinking
water, if we are serious about combating climate change, the only safe and
sane way to move forward is to ban fracking nationwide."

The legislation—which would immediately revoke permits for current fracking
wells within 2,500 feet of homes, schools, or other inhabited structures
and clearly states that "fracked natural gas is not a bridge fuel," as the
oil and gas industry
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/03/oil-change-international-natural-gas-not-bridge-fuel>
and
some politicians
<https://earther.gizmodo.com/please-for-the-love-of-all-things-holy-stop-pretendin-1841808812>
have
claimed—is co-sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Darren Soto
(D-Fla.).

My friend @MarkRuffalo <https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> is
right. Fracking poisons our water and causes climate change.

I am proud to introduce the first nationwide fracking ban with @AOC
<https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>, @SenJeffMerkley
<https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> and @RepDarrenSoto
<https://twitter.com/RepDarrenSoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>.

Our job: End the greed of the fracking industry and rapidly move to
renewable energy. pic.twitter.com/e6kxK1r2qn <https://t.co/e6kxK1r2qn>

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 12, 2020
<https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1227716135682019333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is an extraction process of injecting
water and chemicals into rock formations to access oil and natural gas.
Advocates of a rapid transition to clean energy as well as communities near
fracking operations have long voiced concerns about the climate,
environmental, and public health impacts of the practice.

"Fracking has a devastating impact on public health at the local level,"
the groups' letter says, citing analysis
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/19/we-need-ban-fracking-new-analysis-1500-scientific-studies-details-threat-health-and>
from
the Physicians for Social Responsibility. "Living near fracking sites
adversely affects health and pregnancy, raising risks for preterm birth and
low birth weights as well as asthma, skin and sinus conditions, and
headaches."

"Fracking and related infrastructure projects poisons our air and water and
destroys our public lands and wildlife," the letter adds. "Fracking has
been found to directly contaminate groundwater, and fracking wastewater has
polluted countless rivers and streams. This wastewater has also
contaminated food supplies in places where farming and fracking overlap."

The letter also points out that "according to the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, greenhouse gas emissions must be cut nearly in half by
2030, and reach 'net zero' by 2050." Fracking for fossil fuels, the letter
says, "has delayed a transition to renewable energy and contributed to
dangerously accelerating levels of atmospheric methane."

Fracking is NOT a transitional fuel, and it is dangerous to say so.

Fracking emits methane, which is about **84 TIMES** more powerful than CO2
in contributing to climate change for a generation.

This is not a joke. We either commit to the science or not.
https://t.co/gM7ArxDhgd

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 20, 2020
<https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1230329248885460992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

As *Common Dreams* reported
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/19/study-suggests-fossil-fuel-use-emits-40-more-climate-heating-methane-previously>
Wednesday,
new research suggests that the extraction and use of fossil fuels may emit
up to 40% more methane than scientists previously thought, bolstering the
case for quickly shifting renewable energy systems worldwide. Methane is 84–87
times
<https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials> more
potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

"In addition to banning fracking and fracked gas infrastructure, it is
critical to prioritize support for communities who have historically been
harmed first and most by the dirty energy economy and workers in the energy
sector and related industries," says the letter, advocating for "a fair and
just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy."

Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Pennsylvania-based Better Path Coalition,
said
<https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/02/20/over-570-groups-endorse-sanders-ocasio-cortez-fracking-ban-bills>
in
a statement Thursday that "the Fracking Ban Act couldn't be more timely or
necessary."

"In Pennsylvania, we are seeing a shift towards a second generation of
fracking to support the production of plastics," she explained.
"Communities still reeling from fracking's impacts of the past 16 years are
being hit again as they find themselves in the path of the metastasizing
infrastructure—and it's all happening with the blessing of elected
officials on both sides of the aisle."

The groups' letter comes on the heels of a new Food & Water Watch report
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/bridge-climate-chaos-new-report-details-urgent-need-total-us-fracking-ban>
documenting
the dangers of fracking. As* Common Dreams* reported
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/bridge-climate-chaos-new-report-details-urgent-need-total-us-fracking-ban>,
like the legislation, that report pushed back against the fossil fuel
industry's framing of natural gas as a "bridge fuel" and called for a ban
on fracking as part of a national transition to renewable energy through a
New Deal-scale green energy public works program.

NEW REPORT from @foodandwater
<https://twitter.com/foodandwater?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> highlights major
contribution from #fracking
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/fracking?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> to the
#ClimateCrisis
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>.

Wenonah Hauter said:

“This new research makes one thing absolutely clear: Unless we ban
fracking, these terrifying climate trends will intensify."
https://t.co/YpA6imyTAI pic.twitter.com/GfHQnITL3k <https://t.co/GfHQnITL3k>

— Talk Fracking (@talkfracking) February 3, 2020
<https://twitter.com/talkfracking/status/1224428649467740160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

"The path to a Green New Deal starts with bold action to restrict the
supply of fossil fuels, and that is precisely why a ban on fracking is an
absolute necessity," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water
Watch and Food & Water Action, said
<https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/02/20/over-570-groups-endorse-sanders-ocasio-cortez-fracking-ban-bills>
 Thursday.

"We have seen the toll fracking has taken on the health and safety of
frontline communities," she said. "We know that it has stymied the growth
of clean renewable alternatives. And we know that emissions from fracking
are fueling the climate crisis. There is no time to waste: A ban on
fracking is essential and urgent climate action."

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