It may not have been her intention, but Senator Joan Carter Conway rallied the anti-fracking troops on Jan. 26 when she defiantly said, “You cannot get a ban off the Senate floor—simple as that.” Several hundred people were in Annapolis for the Environmental Legislative Summit—a standing room only crowd that spilled into the hallway for the largest gathering ever of the annual event—and they reacted with shouts of “Booo!” and “Ban Fracking Now!” Senator Conway retorted with, “You get 24 votes to get the (ban bill) off the floor, then there’s a possibility we’ll move it.”
The mood in the room picked up when Delegate Kumar Barve came to the podium with a message of strong support for a ban to keep fracking out of all of Maryland for good. Then House Speaker Mike Busch and Senate President Mike Miller spoke in favor of environmental legislation in more general terms. And the keynote speaker was Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore City Health Commissioner, who discussed the social determinants of health, explaining the crucial role played by a healthy environment and social programs for the health of a population.
Citizens’ environmental organizations then took the floor to advocate for their legislative priorities: Overriding the Veto of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, Keeping Antibiotics Effective, and Preventing Septic Pollution. But the crowd became electric when Nadine Grabania of Citizen Shale came to the podium to state the case for a permanent Ban on Fracking in Maryland. She primarily showed slides of bucolic, beautiful Western Maryland, contrasted with disturbing pictures of what fracking has done to similar landscapes in Pennsylvania. Nadine ended her presentation by asking audience members to raise their hands if they were in favor of a ban on fracking in Maryland. Almost every hand in the room went up as the crowd gave Nadine a standing ovation!
OK, Marylanders, you know what we have to do now. Let’s get those 24 votes and more!
Jill Clark-Gollub
Co-chair Maryland Sierra Club Beyond Gas Steering Committee