Fwd: [EF!] BREAKING: Riverdale Residents Blockade Aqua America Construction R...
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BREAKING: Riverdale Residents Blockade Aqua America Construction Road
Posted on June 1, 2012
From the campaign to Save the Riverdale Mobile Home Park. Come join the
encampment!
*PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY TO PRESS CONTACTS*
For Immediate Release: June 1, 2012
Contact: saveri...@gmail.com; Alex Lotorto: 570-269-9589,
alot...@gmail.com; Deb Eck (Resident): 570-772-3335; Kelly Finan:
570-877-2417, Ke...@kellyfinan.com
Riverdale Residents Blockade Aqua America Construction Road
Piatt Township, PA – Riverdale residents and supporters have blockaded
access to a mobile home community that is facing imminent displacement at
the hands of Aqua America, a major water withdrawal company that supplies
natural gas drillers in the Marcellus Shale region.
Approximately thirty residents and allies are currently blockading
entrance roads to the community. Supporters have also placed tires and
wooden boards at the entrance, alongside banners reading “Aqua America
Kills Community” and “We Will Fight For Our Homes.” A Range Resources
security vehicle arrived onsite Friday morning, and security officials
videotaped residents, blockaders, and license plate numbers before
leaving.
The blockade was launched to halt Aqua America’s plans to begin
construction of a withdrawal facility for water from the Susquehanna River
to be used in hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations. Aqua America
recently purchased the entire Riverdale mobile home unit to be used as a
withdrawal site, and has issued lease termination notices to thirty-two
Riverdale families. Construction is set to begin on June 1, and it is
unclear what additional steps Aqua America will take to displace those
families who are choosing to remain.
The dismantling of the community has left many residents in tears over the
loss of their home. Deb Eck, one of the remaining residents, stated, “This
park isn’t just a bunch of trailers with a bunch of people who don’t know
each other. We’re all friends. We’re all neighbors. It’s a community. It’s
one big family.”
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) permitted construction of
the Riverdale water withdrawal facility in March. The SRBC, comprised of
representatives from the White House and the governors of New York, New
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, granted forty-eight withdrawal permits at its
March meeting, despite the objections of concerned residents. Aqua
America has been permitted to withdraw up to three million gallons of
river water daily. Susan Obleski, spokeswoman for the SRBC, stated that
the Susquehanna has been facing severe drought this spring “at levels that
haven’t been seen since 1910 and 1946.”
Fracking has been linked to cases of water contamination in towns across
the country including Dimock, PA and Pavilion, WY. The gas industry is
exempted from the Clean Water and Safer Drinking Water Acts and as a
result, many of the chemicals used in drilling are unknown. Pennsylvania
law restricts the ability of local governments to regulate fracking
operations and gags doctors from sharing information about chemicals used
in fracking with public health officials. Pennsylvania’s Department of
Environmental Protecting is facing criticism for its refusal to list the
Susquehanna River as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act. According to
John Arway of Pennsylvania’s Fish and Boat Commission, there has been a
significant increase in fish with black lesions in the Susquehanna since
last summer.
Friday’s blockade is one of a series of escalating actions in resistance
to increased fracking operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions.
Pennsylvania activists disrupted the SRBC’s March hearing and have
blockaded trucks carrying drillrigs in Lycoming County, and eleven Ohioans
have been arrested for anti-fracking actions since last November.
Additional major anti-fracking events scheduled for this summer include a
takeover of the Ohio statehouse on June 17, the Earth First Rendezvous
from July 1-7, a Youngstown-based action camp from July 13-17, and a July
28 convergence in Washington D.C.
Residents and supporters are committed to stopping construction of the
water withdrawal facility that threatens to raze their community. They
are demanding that Aqua America permit residents to remain in the homes,
compensate those who have already left, and allow for the return of all
residents who have already been displaced. Residents have requested that
more supporters converge in defense of the Riverdale mobile home park and
to, in Deb Eck’s words, “help us keep the River in Riverdale.”
“We are here in solidarity with the residents of Riverdale, who are on the
frontlines of the devastation that fracking is causing across
Pennsylvania,” said blockader Lauren Zygmont. “We are putting our bodies
on the line to send a message to perpetrators of environmental injustice
worldwide: as long as you continue to sacrifice communities like Riverdale
for profit, you can expect resistance.”__._,_.___
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