We're thrilled to welcome Deirdre Lally as our new Western Maryland Beyond Gas organizer. Deirdre will be based on Frostburg and will support Western Maryland leadership and capacity building in addition to her work fighting the proposed Potomac Pipeline.
Deirdre offered this message:
Thank you all for welcoming me on as the new Western Maryland Conservation Organizer. I am so grateful for the warm welcome extended, and excited to begin this new chapter of my life as I settle into the Frostburg area.
I began organizing around natural [fracked] gas drilling and infrastructure in 2007/08 when my family in northeastern Pennsylvania was approached to sign a lease on our farm for hydraulic fracturing. At that time, I began my studies at the University of Massachusetts in Community Organizing, and was lucky for the opportunity to do my senior thesis on fracking regulations and rural community organizing. After graduating, I moved back home to PA and have been focusing in on extraction issues. I helped start a variety of campaigns and co-founded a grassroots organization called the Shalefield Organizing Committee. I co-created a listening project in a rural county heavily impacted by fracking, and then spent 3 years on staff with the Clean Air Council as the Pipeline Organizer. During that time I also ran an organic herb and vegetable CSA farm operation on my family’s land in the Endless Mountains region of PA. I also serve on the Welcoming Committee with the Halt the Harm Network, bringing grassroots leaders together who are workign to protect their communities from the harms of fracking.
I am happy to bring my experience to Maryland and join with the energy here to push back against gas infrastructure while building a healthier future