Marcellus Shale - Gas Wells

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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"Gas Stock"

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Frank Muraca, of the Sierra Club’s Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter, decries the dangers of natural gas drilling at a news conference announcing the first Gas Stock concert and festival Aug. 21 at the Luzerne County Fairgrounds to raise environmental awareness.

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Erin and Val LaCerra of The Key of V perform at the press conference.

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IF YOU GO

What: Gas Stock, an environmental concert/rally/festival

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 21

Where: Luzerne County Fairgrounds, off state Route 118, Lehman Township

For more information, visit www.gasstockconcert.com

To see video with this story, visit www.timesleader.com

Jerry Reisinger said his Iroquois ancestors were commissioned by the creator to protect the Susquehanna River, which is finally beginning to heal after decades of being polluted with raw sewage.

Now, he says, the river faces a new threat – natural gas drilling.

Reisinger on Wednesday recited a Native American prayer of thanksgiving at the River Common to open a press conference announcing an environmental event designed to bring awareness to potential dangers associated with drilling into the Marcellus Shale.

“Gas Stock is an environmental concert/rally/festival on Aug. 21 at the Luzerne County Fairgrounds,” said Roxanne Pauline, of Northeastern Pennsylvania Citizens in Action.

Headlining the concert will be George Wesley. Other performers include Don Shappelle, Mike Mizwinski, Gunrunners, The Key of V, Play Action Fake, Drew Kelly, The Associates and Jim Taylor.

“The prime reason for the concert is to raise awareness on the environmental issues that we’re facing here in Northeastern Pennsylvania and throughout the country, particularly focused on the Marcellus Shale drilling and the fracking situation,” Pauline said.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of injecting massive amounts of water mixed with sand and a relatively small amount of chemicals – some of them toxic – into a well bore under high pressure to stimulate the release of natural gas.

Gas industry representatives maintain the process can’t pollute groundwater, but that’s a contention that many who oppose the drilling don’t buy, pointing to reports of contaminated well water near drilling operations.

Several people, such as Kelly Finan, of Hop Bottom, attended the press conference to make that very point. She brought pictures of an anti-fracking billboard she designed, as well as posters and t-shirts she designed for Gas Stock.

“Art is my thing, it’s my profession, it’s my passion. And I also have a bachelor’s in environmental science. … I’m trying to spread the word, and this is the best way I can do it,” Finan said.

Erin and Val LaCerra, two siblings who will perform at Gas Stock as the acoustic duo Key of V, wrote a song about the potential aftereffects of gas drilling and performed it at the press conference.

Among the speakers on Wednesday was Frank Muraca, of the Sierra Club’s Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter, Carl Romanelli, of the Green Party, and Gas Stock Committee Chairman Frank Finan, Kelly Finan’s father.

Finan predicted that the grassroots rally would “be the measuring stick that local, state and federal representatives will look at to see how serious the environmental movement in NEPA is on the Marcellus Shale issue.