- Unitarian Universalism Connection
Imagine being deprived of clean water. Imagine living in a house where drinking a glass of water from the tap or taking a shower or even flushing a toilet are activities too risky to attempt. Now imagine what it would be like to live that way for not days or weeks or even months, but years.
That is precisely the plight of families in towns and rural communities across the shale fields of Pennsylvania where modern oil and gas drilling techniques have turned them into industrialized wastelands. The problem is particularly acute in an area of Butler County in the southwestern part of the state where fracking fouled the well water of several dozen families in a community called the Woodlands six years ago. To date, those families still rely on a 20 gallons of clean water for drinking and cooking and brushing your teeth that they receive from volunteers operating a water bank at the nearby White Oak Springs Presbyterian Church. This falls far short of what the American Red Cross considers the minimum required for an emergency – 2 gallons per person per day.
Contaminated well-water is just one of the reasons growing numbers of Pennsylvanians are calling for a statewide moratorium on fracking. More than 680 peer reviewed studies now confirm collectively that fracking contaminates water, pollutes air, contributes to climate change, causes illnesses and even death in humans and animals, diminishes property values, and destroys quality of life. Many of the studies focus on Pennsylvania and even more include data collected here.
Faith leaders from across Pennsylvania have appealed to Governor Tom Wolf to hear the Pope’s messages on climate change and caring for our common home and impose a statewide moratorium on fracking. Several of the faith leaders organized what they dubbed a PA MORALtorium campaign led by UUPLAN. This project will advance our efforts to raise awareness within interfaith communities of the dangers of fracking while providing much-needed financial support to volunteer efforts in the Woodlands in Butler County to supply the affected families with clean water.
Funds collected during this campaign will be matched up to $2,500.00! One hundred percent of the money raised will go to Friends of the Harmed, which will purchase water for the Woodlands Community.