Monday, September 23, 2013

President Obama: Investigate how fracking poisons drinking water

Actor Mark Ruffalo started a petition on MoveOn's petition site, where anyone can start their own petition. He's calling on President Obama to reopen investigations of water contamination from fracking, and activists will deliver signatures to the EPA this Wednesday. Will you join Mark Ruffalo by signing his petition?

Dear MoveOn member,

When I'm not playing a superhero, I do my best to help out the real superheroes who are fighting to keep our water clean. That's why I started a petition to President Barack Obama and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, which says:

Preliminary studies by the EPA linked fracking to water contamination in three communities: Dimock, Pennsylvania; Parker County, Texas; and Pavillion, Wyoming. But the EPA abandoned its own findings and stopped these investigations. President Obama and new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy must reopen these fracking investigations and provide residents with safe drinking water.

I first got involved in the fracking fight years ago when I traveled to Dimock, Pennsylvania, to meet families who were suffering serious health impacts from using water contaminated from fracking operations. I met many people whose children and pets were suffering from skin lesions, hair loss, vomiting, severe headaches, dizziness and pain throughout their bodies—and they could light their tap water on fire!

When the going got rough, a group of concerned citizens and I stepped in to help these people get safe drinking water. Thankfully, the Environmental Protection Agency came to the rescue and delivered families water while conducting an investigation. But when the EPA abruptly closed the case, stopped water deliveries to the residents and deemed the water safe to drink, we knew something was wrong.

Thanks to EPA whistleblowers, the Los Angeles Times was recently able to report that the fracking investigation in Dimock was shut down despite evidence from the EPA's water tests showing that Dimock's drinking water was severely impacted by fracking. Since that time, many residents have not had access to safe drinking water.

That's why I started a petition to President Obama and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy calling on them to reopen the investigations into water contamination from fracking. We'll deliver the petition signatures to the EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday this week to show the public demand for action.

Can you add your name to my petition, and then share it with your friends?

The EPA has also shut down investigations in Wyoming and Texas. Early results of all three investigations showed that the EPA had evidence linking gas drilling and fracking operations to groundwater contamination. Yet instead of protecting people in these areas, the EPA ignored its own scientific data and abandoned the investigations.

It's time for the EPA to do its job and protect the drinking water of the American people from toxic fracking. Join me in calling on the new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and President Barack Obama, to reopen the EPA investigations in Dimock, Pennsylvania; Pavillion, Wyoming; and Weatherford, Texas; and provide safe drinking water to the residents of these communities during the investigations.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Mark Ruffalo

This petition was created on MoveOn's online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Mark Ruffalo didn't pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on September 23, 2013. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

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