Call senators – support a moratorium on fracking

Action possible Wednesday in the Kentucky Senate

Legislation that will pave the way for large-scale hydraulic fracking in Kentucky is set to be heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. We need to drum up support for an anticipated amendment that would place a two-year moratorium on “high volume hydraulic fracking.”

ACTION: Please contact members of the Senate tonight or in the morning before 11. You can call their office directly at 502-564-8100 or leave a message through the Legislative Message Line (800-372-7181). If you’d like to email, you can find their email address or online contact form here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/whoswho/email.htm

MESSAGE: “Please support adding a two-year moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracking to Senate Bill 186, or vote against the bill without the moratorium.”

If you call the message line, ask that your message be delivered to your senator plus “Sen. Jared Carpenter and all senators.” (Sen. Carpenter is chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee)

Thank you for taking action!

Why a moratorium is needed now

Kentucky already allows fracking, but we do not have the laws and regulations to protect our health, water, land, local infrastructure, air and rural quality of life from the unconventional horizontal drilling and high volume hydraulic fracking that is being planned for Kentucky. SB 186 (and a companion bill in the House, HB 386) make improvements in existing law but fall short of giving landowners and communities any real means of preventing the onslaught of problems that accompany high volume hydraulic fracking.

In testimony today, Madison County landowner Vicki Spurlock pointed out that no landowners were involved in developing the legislation (neither were any public health advocates). She wants to stop the “full-scale industrialization” of her rural area of Madison County that this legislation would allow.

The Kentucky oil and gas association board of directors voted unanimously to support this legislation, so we know it will allow them to do exactly what they want in Kentucky.

Please call as soon as you can.