In October, Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project invigorated Pittsburgh like an autumn breeze. Never before had 1,400 people assembled in the region for the shared purpose of solving the climate crisis. The ground almost shook from the positive energy. It was induced seismicity of a better kind.
About the Climate Reality Project
The event occupied the David Lawrence Convention Center, a LEED Platinum facility providing the ultimate venue for a training session about saving our planet. The Nobel Laureate and former Vice President, joined by notable scientists, dignitaries, and communication experts, peppered three-days with passion and insight. The participants – who had to complete a rigorous application to attend – came from Pennsylvania, other states, and other countries. Their backgrounds were as diverse as their geographic origins. Seasoned activists were joined by faith leaders, students, educators, researchers, philanthropists, public health professionals, and business persons. A deep concern about humanity’s future was the common bond.
Together, we comprised the largest Climate Leadership Corps class ever. There are now more than 13,000 well-prepared voices speaking truth to power around the world to accelerate clean energy and foster sustainability. The ranks will continue to rise.
Unequivocal facts and figures affirmed that time is running out unless we expedite our energy transition. Most people don’t question gravity, but some question climate change despite scientific certainty about both. Jumping off a cliff is deadly and so is leaping off the metaphorical cliff of denial. When it comes to these issues, we were taught to find and focus on shared values. Everyone, even the cynic, cares about a person, place, or thing that will be irrevocably affected by man-made climate chaos.
Good for the planet, people, and jobs
Everyone needs a job, and embracing renewables and building smart, efficient energy systems creates a lot of them. In the U.S., solar energy jobs are growing 17 times faster than the overall economy.[1] Today, there are over 2.6 million Americans employed in the solar, wind, and energy efficiency sectors.[2] These safe, well-paying positions will continue to grow over time, but they’ll grow faster if government at every scale accelerates the new economy with supportive policies, programs, decisions and resources. In the process, we’ll build wealth and opportunity. If we don’t do what’s needed and its fossil fuel business as usual, we’ll have polluted air, sickened landscapes, and an economy in decline.
Hope – a bridge to somewhere better
On the afternoon that training ends, the weather is unusually warm and has been for days, another reminder that normal is long gone. Hope fills the void. I walk the Rachel Carson Bridge, named for the conservation giant who warned of the dangers of putting unfettered profit before the good of people and nature. Atop her bridge, wind turbines whirl, whispering intelligent tidings to all who will listen.
If you’d like to schedule a hope-filled climate reality project presentation in your community, please contact us at info@fractracker.org
David Braun, FracTracker’s Honorary Annual Fund Chair, at a climate revolution rally in Los Angeles – Photo by Bryan Giardinelli
I’ve been fighting fracking for many years, in fact, it seems like a lifetime. I helped win the fracking ban in New York, organize coalitions like Americans Against Fracking and Californians Against Fracking, and, more recently, coordinate a major campaign called Oil Money Out – aimed at getting California politicians and Governor Jerry Brown to reject campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, and instead prioritize public health. The work never stops, but we’re making critical headway.
Less than a year ago, I joined the board of FracTracker Alliance. Their maps, data, and insights are invaluable in my advocacy and in the efforts of so many other organizations addressing pressing energy issues. The FracTracker mobile app is a powerful tool to document the harms occurring in too many communities. Their small but mighty staff is passionate about what they do, and they’re good at it. They’re well-versed in the concerns and threats emblematic of oil and gas development.
As a vocal front-line advocate for better energy, FracTracker’s often behind-the-scenes work may not seem congruent with my methods, but the organization is an ally – a group who understands the synergy of collaboration. They work with people across the country on pressing issues: pipelines, sand mines, injection wells, ethane crackers. The list goes on.
Like other groups, they need ample resources to continue informing the public and serving the movement. I’m proud to be their honorary annual fund chair for the current fiscal year.
We need your help in reaching our goal of raising $25,000.
We know there are many worthy efforts competing for your donations, but every contribution to FracTracker – big or small – means a lot and gets us closer to our goal.
FracTracker seeks and treats donors respectfully. You won’t get nagged, but you will be rewarded with their hard work. Just check out their website and bear witness to their reach and impact. Please donate today.
If I need the best data or a provocative map, I go to FracTracker. If I need a photo to hit home a point, I can find one on the FracTracker image library. The testimonials from my peers pushing back on extreme energy attest: FracTracker is a force we can depend on.
Please help sustain their work with a personal donation.
“The times they are a changing” because of people like you who care. Thanks for fueling the momentum. Together, we’ll change the world.
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FT-annualfund-feature.jpg400900FracTracker Alliancehttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngFracTracker Alliance2017-10-11 10:14:082021-04-15 15:02:09Help us investigate pressing energy issues by donating to FracTracker’s Annual Fund
FracTracker Alliance is proud to be a signatory of the Lofoten Declaration. It is a global call – signed by over 220 organizations from 55 countries – to put an end to exploration and expansion of new fossil fuel reserves and manage the decline of oil, coal, and gas in a just transition to a safer climate future.
It is also a call to prioritize support for communities on the front lines of climate change and fossil fuel extraction, and ideally a helpful tool to rally our global movement around the worldwide grassroots efforts to stop fossil fuel projects.
Wealthy fossil fuel producers like the United States have an obligation and responsibility to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel exploitation. Support for impacted regions is imperative, and frontline communities are the leaders we must look to as we all work together for a safer future.
The recent inundation of southeastern Texas, raging fires in the west, and ravaging hurricanes in the Atlantic underscore the dangers wrought by climate change. We need more action and we need it to be rapid, comprehensive, and systemic. Countries can’t be climate leaders until they tackle fossil fuel production – not just consumption.
The Lofoten Declaration is a new affirmation of independence: a world free from the injustice of extractive energy. It is a bold, righteous pronouncement in step with the courageous and visionary traditions of our nation.
With more than 1.2 million active oil and gas wells and thousands more planned, now is the time for America to change its old, tired habits and flex its might through the virtuous power of example.
Our planet needs your help and so does FracTracker so we can keep helping the planet. Forgive our circular logic, but you are invaluable in keeping us in motion.
Our first, formal annual fund campaign launched in September 2016 and has received over $15,000 in donations. While that is 30% of our goal, every dollar matters and demonstrates the worth you see in what we do.
We haven’t changed the world in the past 10 months, but we have made a difference. Our maps and insights have powered campaigns on renewable energy and made data on the threats of oil and gas-related air pollution just a click away. From the impacts of pipelines to degradation from sand mines, we keep digitizing and analyzing to show the harms in formats that communicate the dirty truth about fossil fuels.
We don’t ask often, but we do need to ask. As our fiscal year comes to a close, will you donate to FracTracker Alliance? If you’ve never given to us before, we welcome your consideration. If you’re a prior donor, we appreciate your past support and hope you’ll contemplate an equal or greater contribution.
The challenges don’t cease, and neither will we. Our new mobile app ushers in broad opportunities to document the effects of extraction. An unprecedented wave of oil and gas infrastructure demands our attention. More organizations and communities seek to partner and benefit from our data and insights. Some recent testimonials attest to our worth:
Thanks for all that you do, it’s so important and much appreciated.
– Harvey S., Berkeley, CA
Best group of experts to work with…
– Kim F., New York, NY
The research and tools that FracTracker produces and supports are truly unique.
– Prarthana G., Washington, DC
Your work at the FracTracker Alliance is first-rate… you empowered and inspired those in attendance.
– Doug S., Pittsburgh, PA
If you feel like they do, please consider a gift. Donors of $250 or more receive the oh-so-cool hybrid light – solar lantern, flashlight, and mobile device charger all in one. View the entirety of our donations page for a variety of ways you can provide financial support to FracTracker Alliance.
With your help, we’ll continue to illuminate the truth and elevate the imperative of a sustainable energy future. It’s not too late! Thank you for your interest in our work.
Cheers, Brook Lenker
Executive Director
FracTracker Alliance
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/WindFarms-Feature-Email.jpg400900Guest Authorhttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngGuest Author2017-06-26 14:44:562021-04-15 15:02:40It’s not too late to donate to FracTracker Alliance
That’s one way to describe climate change. It proceeds ahead of schedule, threatening to wreak havoc on the world we know. No longer merely flirting with disaster, we’re tangled in a frenetic dance to save ourselves. Our friends at Years of Living Dangerously have vividly captured the scale of what’s at stake.
Meanwhile, a laundry list of deplorable measures by President Trump ignores or outright dismantles America’s capacity to respond. Federal investment in clean energy is forsaken. Retro economics reigns replete with dystopian impacts on people and the planet. It could be 1950 all over again. Then, we were blinded by the future – fooled that oil and ingenuity would win the day. Today we are sobered by it. Only wholesale change can get us to tomorrow.
The technologies and bright ideas are ready for broader deployment. They’re propelled by information, action, and unbridled hope. Hope feeds exponentially on the hope of others. The organism grows more powerful and adept through colonial enrichment.
Saturday’s Climate March, the People’s Climate Movement, is the feast of a lifetime, a chance to nurture our souls and make a statement for the generations. By bike, rail, bus or carpool, head to Washington, DC or a satellite March site on April 29th. Put on your earth shoes, walk in solidarity, and make the deniers shake in their sole-less shoes.
And don’t for a second think this will be the last word. When you’re choking Mother Earth, it’s a fight to the finish. Cooler heads prevail.
By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Earth-Shoes-March-Feature.jpg400900Guest Authorhttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngGuest Author2017-04-25 14:49:082021-04-15 15:03:09Put on Your Earth Shoes
At a Re-Imagine Beaver County gathering in Pennsylvania earlier this month, static maps became dynamic in the hands of those who live in and around the region depicted. Residents of this area in the greater Pittsburgh region gathered to depict a new vision for Beaver County, PA. This county is currently faced with the proposal of a massive Shell-owned petrochemical facility – also called a “cracker” – and further build-out that could render the area a northern version of Louisiana’s “Chemical Corridor.” Participants at this event, from Beaver County and beyond, were encouraged to collectively envision a future based on sustainable development. The picture they created was one that welcomes change – but requires it to be sustainable and for the benefit of the community that makes it happen.
Figure 1: Participants study a map of Beaver County. Photo credit: Sophie Riedel.
Re-Imagine Beaver County Participants
Panelists from municipal government, organic agriculture, and leaders and entrepreneurs of sustainable initiatives started off the event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and endorsed by the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Committee. After an hour, the room of 60 or so participants dove into the lively de- and re-construction of large format maps of the area. They were invited to markup the maps, created by Carnegie Mellon University graduate student of the School of Architecture, Sophie Riedel. Each table worked from a different base map of the same area – centering on the confluence of the Ohio and Beaver rivers, including the already heavily-industrialized riverside and the site of Shell’s proposed petrochemical facility.
Figure 2: The site of the proposed petrochemical facility in Beaver County (on left) and the Ohio River that participants hope to see reinvented as a recreational waterway buttressed by public parks. Photo credit: Garth Lenz, iLCP.
Much more than a thought exercise, the gathering represented a timely response to a growing grassroots effort around the proposed petrochemical inundation. Changes are already underway at the site, and those who live in this region have the right to give input. This right is especially salient when considering the risks associated with the petrochemical industry – including detrimental health impacts on babies before they are even born, asthma exacerbation, and increased cancer rates.
Charting a new vision
The re-invented Beaver County would be one of increased connectivity and mobility, well-equipped to provide for local needs with local means.
Many ideas included on the maps reflected a longing for transportation options independent of personal vehicles – including better, safer, more connected bike trails and walking paths, use of existing rail lines for local travel, and even the inventive suggestion of a water taxi. These inherently lower-impact means of transport coincide with preferences of millennials, according to several of the panelists, who want more walkable, bikeable communities. Ushering in such sustainable suggestions would welcome more young families to an area with an aging population. More than just about moving people, transportation ideas also included ways to get locally grown foods to those who need it, such as the elderly.
Figure 3: Participants modify maps to reflect a new vision. Photo credit: Sophie Riedel.
The value of beauty was a subtheme in many of the ideas to connect and mobilize the population and goods, ideas which often held a dual aim of protecting open space, creating new parks, and offering recreation possibilities. Participants ambitiously reimagined their river, the Ohio, from its current status as a closed-off corridor for industrial usage and waste, to a recreational resource for kayaking and fishing walleye.
Participants marked up the maps to show the resources that help sustain this community, and voiced a strong desire for development that would enable additional self-reliance. These forward-thinking changes included increased agriculture and use of permaculture techniques, and community gardens for growing food near the people who currently lack access. Ideas for powering the region abounded, like harnessing wind power and putting solar panels on every new building.
Participants were firm on local sourcing for another key resource: the labor required for these efforts, they insisted, must come from the local populace. Educational programs designed to channel learners into workers for sustainability might include training to rebuild homes to “greener” standards, and programs aimed at bringing a new generation of farmers to the fields. Perhaps a nod to the world-wide plastic glut that a petrochemical facility would add to, suggestions even included local ways of dealing with waste, like starting a composting program and establishing more recycling centers.
Whose vision?
Who is a part of this vision, both in creating it and living it out? Inevitably, the selection of panelists and the interests of the audience members themselves influenced the vision this group crafted. The question of inclusion and representation found articulation among many participants, and the hosts of the event welcomed suggestions on reaching a broader audience moving forward. Looking around the room, one man asked, “Where are all the young people, and families with kids?” Indeed, only several members of this demographic were present. Though indicative of the racial makeup of Beaver County, the audience appeared to be primarily white, meaning that the racially diverse communities in the region where not represented. Others pointed out that going forward, the audience should also include those residents struggling with un- and underemployment, who have a major stake in whatever vision of Beaver County comes to fruition. Another said he would like to see more elected officials and leaders present. Notably, Potter Township Board of Supervisors Chairperson, Rebecca Matsco, who is a strong advocate for the proposed petrochemical project in her township, was present for the first half of the event.
Local means for meeting local needs
People who welcome petrochemical development in Beaver County might believe that those who voice concerns about the proposed Shell plant aren’t forward-thinking, or simply oppose change. Quite in contrast, participants at Re-Imagine Beaver County went to work reinventing their community with optimism and enthusiasm. They didn’t seem to be resisting change, but instead, wanting to participate in the process of change and to ultimately see benefits to their community. For example, discussion of solar power generated substantial excitement. According to panel speaker Hal Saville, however, the biggest challenge is making it affordable for everyone, which suggests that the estimated $1.6 billion in tax breaks going to Shell for the petrochemical plant could be better allocated.
A key narrative from supporters of the ethane cracker centers on the pressing need for jobs in this area, though some locals have expressed concern about how many of Shell’s promised jobs would go to residents. Whoever gets hired, these jobs come with serious dangers to workers. Participants at this event proposed alternative initiatives – both ambitious and small – for creating jobs within the community, like providing “sprout funds” to encourage new business start-ups, and launching a coordinated effort to rehab aging housing stock. These ideas suggest that the people of this region feel their energy and ingenuity would be best spent making Beaver County a better place to live and work, in contrast to producing disposable petrochemical products for export around the world. The fact that so many participants emphasized local means for meeting their needs in no way downplays the need for good jobs. Rather, it points to the fact that people want jobs that are good for them and for the future of their community.
Moving the vision forward
Where do we go from here? Can the momentum of this event draw in greater representation from the region to have a voice in this process? Will these visions become animated and guide the creation of a new reality? Broader and deeper planning is in order; participants and panelists alike pointed to tools like comprehensive community plans and cleaner, “greener” industrial policies. More than anything, the group articulated a need for more deliberation and participation. As panelist and farm co-owner Don Kretschmann put it, when it comes to change, we need to “think it through before we go ahead and do it.”
The maps themselves, bearing the inspirations scrawled out during the event, have not reached the end of the road. From here, these maps will accompany an upcoming exhibition of the artworks in Petrochemical America, which locals hope to bring to the greater Pittsburgh area in the coming months. League of Women Voters, for their part, continue to move the vision forward, inviting input from all on next steps, with an emphasis on pulling in a broader cross-section of the community.
To voice your vision, and to stay in the loop on future Re-Imagine Beaver County events, contact reimaginelwvpa@gmail.com.
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Re-Imagine-Beaver-Feature-Riedel.jpg400900FracTracker Alliancehttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngFracTracker Alliance2017-03-24 09:11:252021-04-15 15:03:37Mapping a new vision in PA: Alternatives to petrochemical development
Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave. The progressive conservationist and one-time republican knew that healthy air, clean water, and stewardship of natural resources are tantamount to a high quality of life. Fifty years before Donald Trump drew his first infantile breath, Roosevelt was championing national parks and cities beautiful. America gained stature in the world – not only from economic might – but from noble ideas and values shared. Roosevelt was a visionary.
The ideals he sowed led to further cultivation of good. From Aldo Leopold to Rachel Carson, we learned that ecology includes humans. Everything is interconnected; everything has consequence. Ignoring the science of climate change and elementary cause and effect will have dire consequences.
In just a few days, the new president has wrought unprecedented carnage on laws and institutions created to protect our land and its people. The Center for Disease Control cancelled a long planned conference on climate change and health. An executive order was signed to clear the way for the Dakota and Keystone XL pipelines – potentially locking-in carbon pollution for decades if the projects move forward. The administration imposed a freeze on EPA grants and contracts and may be considering legislation to ban the EPA from generating its own internal science. The EPA is the federal agency charged to “protect human health and the environment.” Leadership with our best interests in mind would encourage scientific inquiry and requisite oversight, not silence it.
Economies thrive and civilizations rise when challenged to adapt and improve. Prosperity is on the rise in states with high expectations and greater public investment. The mantra of cutting regulations is gross deception. We can’t forget silent springs and burning rivers (photo top), Love Canals or the gulf spills. Attempts to roll back environmental laws and agreements – some enacted decades ago with bipartisan support – can’t go unchecked. Which safeguard enacted to protect life and property is too much? Should billionaire-funded anti-regulatory agendas trump civil rules designed to benefit mankind?
Conservation, restoration, green infrastructure, clean energy, and smart public expenditure pay huge social and economic dividends:
Fighting climate change fuels innovation. Research grows jobs. Cutting pollution reduces healthcare costs. Creating open space and public amenities retains and attracts a motivated, productive workforce. Sustainability nurtures hope.
Other countries will build the renewable energy future if we don’t. They already are. We can be in the top tier or risk sliding into a dirty and dangerous, carbon-dependent oblivion. If that sounds alarmist, take a look at the basic impacts we’ve seen from fossil fuel extraction and distribution nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells lay strewn across the country, 200,000 in Pennsylvania alone. Thousands of miles of streams have been contaminated by coal mining. Volatile and potentially explosive oil trains and pipelines pass by our homes, across sacred tribal lands, and through highly populated cities. Refineries pollute the very air we breathe. Degradation and injustice is un-American.
These strange and troubling times require a loud and unified chorus. Roosevelt said “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”
On a Dark Road to Nowhere – By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance
Feature Image Credit: Cleveland State University Library. The Cuyahoga River is a river in the United States, located in Northeast Ohio, that feeds into Lake Erie. The river is famous for having been so polluted that it “caught fire” in 1969. The event helped to spur the environmental movement in the US – via Wikipedia
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BurningRiver-Feature.jpg400900Guest Authorhttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngGuest Author2017-01-25 17:22:182021-04-15 15:03:48On a Dark Road to Nowhere
As 2016 comes to a close, our earth and all of its inhabitants face grave challenges. In the past year, climate change has demonstrated its foreboding consequences with frightening vigor, while the US President-elect seems determined to derail every measure put into place to address the unfolding climate crisis.
We – you and I – must protect the planet. It is time to be audacious, and we need your help.
In the past year, FracTracker Alliance provided critical mapping and analytical support to organizations across the country. We collaborated with:
Earthworks and Clean Air Task Force to create the Oil and Gas Threat Map
Natural Resources Defense Council to identify at-risk Latino populations near drilling sites
The Center for Biological Diversity to map red-cockaded woodpecker habitat in Mississippi imperiled by oil and gas activities
National Parks Conservation Association to document extraction concerns around Mesa Verde National Park
River Network to study energy and infrastructure impacts to the waters of the Great Lakes
Sane Energy to help them improve their interactive “You Are Here” map
Western Organization of Resource Councils to examine the disposal of radioactive fracking waste in several western states
In Pennsylvania, we’re working with Mountain Watershed Association to map zoning as a tool to limit or preclude drilling. In New York, we’re aiding Hudson Riverkeeper to address pipeline projects threatening the historic Hudson. In Colorado, we helped Coloradans Against Fracking and Our Longmont warn the public about a proposal to drill next to Bella Romero Elementary School. In California, we provided robust insights about human health concerns around the Richmond refineries. These are only a few of the ways FracTracker supports advocacy and research. Working together, we make a difference!
We appreciate the many brave people and bold organizations fighting for a better energy future. They need your support, and so does FracTracker. Please consider making a year-end donation to our Fund! To sustain our meaningful, empowering work, we need you!
Another way that you can help is to tell your friends, families and colleagues about FracTracker and the work that we do. Over 650,000 people have visited the FracTracker website, and we want millions more to follow. Our robust information informs perspectives and catalyzes action. In the past year, our efforts have been mentioned in 150 media outlets around the globe, from local newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to popular press outlets like Grist, to international news sources such as Bloomberg, The Guardian and the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald.
Our recent national pipeline analysis shows that since 2010, 4,215 pipeline incidents have occurred that resulted in 100 reported fatalities, 470 injuries and property damage in excess of $3.4 billion. These recurring, high-risk impacts underscore the folly of fossil fuel reliance. There’s a better way forward, which we showcase in the Pennsylvania Clean Energy Map that we developed for E2’s “Our Energy Renewal” project; this map locates every business in PA that is involved in renewable energy or energy efficiency. There are a thousand more ways for FracTracker to benefit the better energy movement – a movement that benefits all of us – and we need your support to do it.
I close this letter with heartfelt thanks to our partners, followers, donors, funders, staff and board members. You are the energy that moves us forward, and together we have made great strides. I wish you, and everyone pulling for our beautiful blue planet, my warmest regards for a peaceful and restorative holiday. May wisdom and goodwill reign in the New Year!
Sincerely,
Brook Lenker
Executive Director
https://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Rig-OH-Feature.jpg400900Guest Authorhttps://www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-FracTracker-logo-horizontal.pngGuest Author2016-12-19 19:27:272021-04-15 15:04:19A request from FracTracker Alliance: Help us persevere in fighting for a safer energy future
As the last article in our staff spotlight series, learn more about Executive Director, Brook Lenker, and how his early environmental work in Pennsylvania brought him to FracTracker Alliance.
Time with FracTracker: 5 years
Education: I graduated from Towson University near Baltimore in 1989 with a degree in geography and environmental planning. I loved the course of study so much that I enrolled in the graduate school and worked on my master’s degree in the same field.
Office Location: Camp Hill, PA
Title: Executive Director
What do you actually do in that role?
From my office in Camp Hill, I lead a wonderful, talented team of eight staff working from five locations around the country. My role is to make sure FracTracker has the strategic direction, staff capacity, financial resources, and board leadership to be effective, impactful.
Previous Positions and Organizations
Brook during a creek cleanup
While I was evening commuting to Maryland, I served as program director for a county recreation department in Central Pennsylvania. Later, I landed a position with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, eventually becoming the Director of Watershed Stewardship. The activities we coordinated – river sojourns, stream and habitat restoration, stormwater education, and more – took me around the multi-state watershed even though I was based in Harrisburg.
My next stop was the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources where for over seven years I served as the Manager of Education and Outreach. My responsibilities included community relations and promoting ecological awareness and stewardship. A program called iConservePA was a focal point. My colleagues and I used creative communications strategies to encourage Pennsylvanians to “Take Conservation Personally.” This and other agency initiatives suffered when fracking began to boom.
How did you first get involved working on oil and gas issues / fracking?
As I became demoralized by the degradation I witnessed and read about, I was given the chance to direct FracTracker. I took the reins in late 2011 as the website transitioned out of the University of Pittsburgh. By the summer of 2012, we formed the nonprofit FracTracker Alliance, and I became its executive director. Sometimes things happen for a reason.
It’s hard to believe I’ve been at the helm of FracTracker for nearly five years. Knowing that we’re a helpful force in the fight against the harms of extraction is rewarding. The projects and the people with whom I interact are inspiring. While the challenges facing our planet are daunting and, at times, depressing, I’m lucky to be able to exercise my convictions in the workplace.
What is one of the most impactful projects that you have been involved in with FracTracker?
Brook Lenker in Argentina
It’s been an unforgettable journey so far. I’ve learned so much and met so many great people – from different states and different countries. Perhaps my greatest experience to date was a tour to Argentina in May 2015. Alongside reps from Ecologic Institute and Earthworks, we presented to hundreds of people at different venues including the senate of Argentina. As I spoke of the insights of FracTracker and other researchers, an interpreter put my words into Spanish. I felt overwhelmingly humble and grateful.
Environmental injustice knows no bounds, but good people everywhere make a profound difference.
As part of our staff spotlight series, learn more about Karen Edelstein and how her work through FracTracker has changed the course of drilling in New York State.
Time with FracTracker: I started with FracTracker in 2010 as a contract employee and then in 2012 started working 25 hours a week as a regular part-time staffer.
Education: M.P.S. in Environmental Management, and B.S. in Natural Resources, both from Cornell University
Office Location: Ithaca, NY
Title: Eastern Program Coordinator
What do you actually do in that role?
My job has changed a lot since I started working for FracTracker. I came to FracTracker when many New Yorkers were frantically learning as much as they could about unconventional drilling for natural gas, which at the time, appeared likely to start happening in the near future. Over a period of years, using credible public data, I have created dozens of maps on topics about geology, water withdrawals, waste transportation, hydrocarbon storage, and documenting the surging movements of public opposition to high-volume hydraulic fracturing for gas. The maps were informative to a wide range of decision-makers, environmental advocates, educators, and citizens.
Now, I’m working more broadly on projects up and down the East Coast. These projects include documenting controversies surrounding pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure, and the public opposition to this development. I also support FracTracker’s mission to educate and report on the alternatives to fossil fuel infrastructure, and have been looking at renewable energy issues, as well.
Previous Positions and Organizations
Over the past 16 years, I’ve used geographic information systems in positions at numerous environmental and educational organizations, working for land trusts and other nonprofit agencies, secondary school teacher development programs, and county government agencies. Prior to that, I worked as a naturalist and environmental educator for ten years.
How did you first get involved working on oil and gas issues / fracking?
Karen Edelstein, FracTracker’s Eastern Program Coordinator
I live in a rural area of New York State that was in the cross-hairs of the oil and gas industry about 9 years ago. Landsmen were at the door asking me to lease my land, “thumper trucks” were pounding the roads trying to get seismic readings, and helicopters were overhead dropping bundles of equipment to conduct testing. Few people, including me, understood the enormity of what was going on. I joined a few community groups that wanted to know more.
Shortly after a multi-year work contract I had at a local college ended, in 2010, I met the (then small) staff of FracTracker at a public training event in Central New York. The organization had just been formed, and the presentation was all about mapping in Pennsylvania. I went right up to the director and told him how much we needed similar work in New York State, and I could be the person to do it! I started working part-time for FracTracker within the month.
What is one of the most impactful projects that you have been involved in with FracTracker?
Our map of New York State bans and moratoria on high volume hydraulic fracturing received a great deal of attention in the years leading up to the eventual statewide ban on the process. Over time, close to 200 municipalities enacted legislation. It was rewarding to document this visually through a progression of dozens of maps during that period. These maps of how municipality after municipality invoked New York State home rule provided important touchstones for community activists, too. In late 2014, in their announcement about the decision to ban HVHF in NYS, New York’s Health and Environment commissioners cited FracTracker’s map as an indication of patterns of strong ambivalence towards the process among state residents:
Together DEC’s proposed restrictions and local bans and moratoria total approximately 7.5 million acres, or about 63% of the resource. Here’s a summary of the local government restrictions and prohibitions. And the picture even gets cloudier. The practical impact of the Dryden decision I mentioned earlier is that even more acreage may be off-limits to HVHF drilling. Within the 4.5 million acres NOT excluded by the state or local restrictions, approximately 253 towns have zoning and 145 have no zoning. Each town with zoning would have to determine whether its current law restricts or even allows HVHF. So those towns without zoning would still have to decide whether to allow HVHF virtually anywhere or to prescribe where drilling could occur. The uncertainty about whether HVHF is an authorized use would undoubtedly result in additional litigation. It would also result in a patchwork of local land use rules which industry has claimed would utterly frustrate the rational development of the shale resource. Clearly the court’s decision shifted the battleground to town boards, to as evidenced by the conflicting claims of the opposing stakeholder groups. According to the Joint Landowners Coalition, many towns in the Southern Tier have passed resolutions favoring HVHF, while the online map from FracTracker.org indicates that many of the same towns are moving toward a ban. Indeed, our own informal outreach to towns in the Southern Tier confirms that even towns that support HVHF decisions are still up in the air. I’d say that the prospects for HVHF development in NY are uncertain, at best.
