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Dear {{ user.first_name|default:”Friend” }},
Coming to a Latino neighborhood near you: fracking, the highly toxic process of injecting water and dangerous chemicals into the ground in order to extract oil and gas.
Everyone, from the oil and gas companies to Gov. Jerry Brown, wants us to believe that fracking is safe. But the Latino residents of Kern County know the truth. It’s the most fracked place in all of California, and the folks who live there are starting to experience headaches, nosebleeds, rare cancers, and respiratory diseases associated with oil drilling and extraction.1
This summer, the state legislature could have passed a bill that would have stopped all fracking in California.2 But legislators spent more time listening to their contributors in the oil and gas industry than to the people suffering from the effects of fracking.3
That’s why we’re launching a new campaign with our friends at Azul, a grassroots group mobilizing Latinos to protect our state’s water resources, and other allies. Together we’ll be able to elevate Latino opposition to fracking and hold accountable the politicians who think it’s ok to poison our communities.
City-by-city and community-by-community, thousands are rising up and pushing for local bans on fracking like in the cases of Santa Cruz where a permanent ban was recently approved and in Los Angeles where the City Council is moving fast to pass a moratorium.4, 5
Corporate sponsored groups like the Western States Petroleum Association, continue to spend millions buying off our state leaders to expand fracking in Los Angeles, Monterey County, and the Central Valley where Latinos live in high numbers.6, 7
We can be the decisive voice to stop fracking if we jump into the fight now. This is even more urgent in light of California’s record breaking drought. Fracking not only requires an obscene amount of water, but the chemicals used are known to make their way into aquifers and drinking water too.8 Fracking water has been so polluted with methane in some parts of the country that people have even seen water catch fire when near a flame.9
Let’s neutralize the lobbying power of Big Oil by signing a declaration against fracking.
Together, we’ll go into battleground districts and we’ll make sure that Big Oil and the sell-out politicians that side with them feel our anger for wasting and polluting our community’s water and health.
Whether or not Big Oil and their bought-and-paid for politicians agree, a moratorium on fracking will be the law of the land precisely because our community demands it. Nothing less than the livelihood of our families and the future of Latino children is at stake.
Thanks and ¡Adelante!
Arturo, Refugio, Mariana, Luis, Erick, Erica, and the rest of the Presente team
P.S. Can you donate $5 to support our work? We rely on contributions from people like you to see campaigns like this through.
Sources:
1. California community invites Governor Jerry Brown to see a fracking field from the playground, Treehugger, May 28, 2014
2. California Senators to Vote on a Fracking Moratorium This Week, NRDC Switchboard, May 27, 2014
3. Fracking Bill Fails to Pass Senate, but the Movement is Strong, Groundswell: CLCV Blog, May 29, 2014
4. Californians Aim to Halt Fracking Even If the Senate Won’t, DeSmogBlog, May 29, 2014
5. City Council Passes LA ‘Fracking’ Ban, CBS Los Angeles, February 28, 2014
6. Oil Lobby Overpowers Voters to Kill Statewide Fracking Ban In California, Climate Progress, May 30, 2014
7. Busted Boom Challenges Gov. Brown to Halt California Fracking, The Huffington Post, May 23, 2014
8. Fracking in California: Questions and Concerns, Center for Biological Diversity
9. Fire water, The Economist, June 25, 2013