by Chris Burger
In the Spring 2012 issue of Sierra Atlantic, I reported a major victory in our Chapter’s efforts to change the National Sierra Club’s position on hydrofracking. Previously, the Atlantic Chapter had been rebuked by National for calling for a ban on hydrofracking.
National was promoting natural gas as a “bridge fuel” and supported hydrofracking as an accepted means of extraction. The Sierra Club was not alone. All the major national environmental groups were singing the same tune.
Atlantic Chapter representatives (including yours truly) made several treks to National’s headquarters in San Francisco to clear up misinformation among our leaders about the hazards of fracking. National began to listen to its grassroots constituency. Meanwhile, a new executive director was chosen (Michael Brune) and he was very sympathetic to our cause. That same spring issue of Sierra Atlantic had a message from Michael in which he announced the end of the Club’s relationship with the natural gas industry. The Club would no longer refer to gas as a “clean” fuel that was expected to replace coal, and all mention of “bridge fuel” was removed from the Club’s energy policy.
Yet, the Club’s position left a lot to be desired. Official policy still talked about strengthening regulations. The Club did not come out against fracking, but “opposed any natural gas development that posed unacceptable toxic risks to our land, water, and air” (whatever that meant). The Chapters were told that they still could not call for “bans” on fracking. And so the Atlantic Chapter’s education and lobbying efforts continued.
Hopeful changes, however, started to accrue. National initiated a “Beyond Natural Gas” campaign to mirror our “Beyond Coal” campaign and placed a knowledgeable, capable person at its head. Even more significant was a slow shift in seeing the fossil fuel industry and climate disruption holistically. The Atlantic Chapter kept pressing for a “Beyond Fossil Fuel” campaign and a unified framing of the issue. In September, 2013, the Sierra Club Board of Directors appointed a task force to explore just such an approach.
The resulting “Report of the Climate Movement Task Force” addressed the need to move away from fossil fuels, including natural gas, and to get serious about the issue of climate disruption. The Board of Directors immediately proposed a new policy clearly stating the Club’s opposition to fracking. According to protocol, this proposed change was submitted to the Chapters for comment.
Given that our Chapter worked to develop allies with other Chapters across the nation (the vast majority supported our resolution calling for the policy change), we are confident that this policy change will be instituted. This will result in the first major national environmental organization to take a firm stand against fracking. We expect that other environmental organizations (although perhaps not all) will follow suit.
It should be said, however, that the Atlantic Chapter is still concerned. Within the same document stating the Club’s opposition to fracking, we find the following: “Chapters are authorized to decide whether the best course of action at the state and local levels is to advocate for bans, moratoria and/or stronger regulations on fracking.” It is uncertain whether this would authorize a Chapter to support fracking in its particular state.
Certainly many Chapters, including our own, have engaged the regulatory process to stop fracking in our states. Two Chapters, however, have been burnt by this process. The result was not a halting of fracking, but a set of regulations that, in effect, had Sierra Club endorsement. This, of course, runs counter to the proposed anti-fracking policy and has the potential to both undermine the policy and embarrass us all. In the Atlantic Chapter’s own comments we stated: “Regulations (unless they are regulations that disallow fracking or have the effect of disallowing fracking) will neither make fracking safe nor address the larger issue of climate disruption. On this point, for all our sakes, we need to be speaking with one powerful voice.”
While applauding the change in policy, we hope the language (authorizing Chapters to advocate for regulations) can be clarified to insure that we speak in a load, clear, strong voice and Chapters are not seen, however unwittingly, as supportive of fracking.
Chris Burger, a member of the Susquehanna Group, co-chairs the Chapter’s Gas Drilling Task Force, chairs the Zero Waste Committee, and serves on the Publications Committee.