Received this e-mail today from 350.org:
Governor Jerry Brown thinks fracking is safe for Californians, but people in places like Kern County are living with the impacts of fracking every day -- despite regulations in place to protect them. They've invited Governor Brown to come see for himself, and we're urging him to take them up on the offer.
Will you join us in calling on Governor Brown to face the impacts of fracking?
http://act.350.org/...
We want him to spend just one day with concerned community members in Kern County. We think it would do our Governor -- and our state -- a world of good.
Kern is California's most-fracked county. It also has the worst air quality in the nation, as well as highly elevated rates of cancer and respiratory illness.
The oil industry has been in Kern County for decades, but fracking has opened up new opportunities for expansion. For residents of towns like Shafter and Wasco, fracking means more extraction and more impacts on their health. More wells are popping up every day -- often just spitting distance from schoolyards, homes, churches, and farms -- and bringing with them an explosion of oil field traffic, methane flares, pipelines, and wastewater pits filled with secret chemical cocktails.
Climate change makes all this much worse, of course: the Central Valley is buckling under the ongoing drought, agricultural jobs are drying up, dust-borne Valley Fever is on the rise, and respiratory illnesses like asthma are exacerbated as temperatures rise.
We think the Governor needs to see all this for himself. Will you help us get him to Kern County?
http://act.350.org/...
About a month ago, I bumped into Governor Brown at a local bar here in Oakland. I mustered some courage and attempted to have a conversation with him about fracking in California, which he wholeheartedly supports. We had a lively conversation, and he insisted that fracking in California is necessary, well regulated, and without impact. That's when I realized: he needs to see the impact of fracking with his own eyes.
Our state is at a crossroads, and Governor Brown has a choice to make: go all-in on extreme energy, or finally say "enough is enough."
We're calling on him to end fracking in California, but we don't want him to just hear it from us. Take Kern County residents up on their invitation, Governor Brown. Go see what fracking looks like face to face.
You can sign the petition to Governor Brown here.
http://act.350.org/...
Onward,
Linda
Click here to add your name:
http://act.350.org/...