The message rally-goers were sending the Capitol Rotunda was they feel the time is now to switch from oil and gas to renewable energy.
Craig Stevens’ family has lived on the same land in Silver Lake Township for six generations. “Most of the well water in my neighborhood comes out looking like that,” said Stevens. “The water’s been like that for ten years now.”
That water is filled with diesel and anti-freeze.
He said it’s from a nearby fracking site.
He said he’s tired of waiting for officials to do something about it.
He even bought a water truck to give out clean water to his neighbors.
“Because they wouldn’t do it. The state wouldn’t do it. So, I had to do it myself,” said Stevens.
Residents from across Pennsylvania gathered on the steps of the capitol on Friday.
They said lawmakers, including Governor Wolf, have not done enough to move the state to clean energy, despite a recent Franklin & Marshall poll showing 69% of Pennsylvanians want the focus to be on renewable energy.
Governor Wolf, though points to moved that have been made, such as a moratorium on fracking on the Delaware River Basin and in State Lands.
He said the fracking currently being done is a bridge.
“The fracking that we’re doing right now is creating energy that’s going to allow us to get to that sustainable energy future,” said Wolf. “I think Pennsylvania’s approach to the extraction of natural gas is the right one.”
But residents like Craig Stevens said the future should begin now. “We will win. We’re going to win, and we’re not stopping until we do,” said Stevens.
Those who rallied also plan to deliver a letter to the Governor’s office, asking for a stop to fracking in Pennsylvania.
