{"id":2620,"date":"2016-11-01T07:58:02","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T11:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2620"},"modified":"2016-11-01T08:10:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T12:10:20","slug":"aeryn-boyd-and-kimberly-alexander-on-maryland-water-walk-to-ban-fracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2620","title":{"rendered":"Aeryn Boyd and Kimberly Alexander on Maryland Water Walk to Ban Fracking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aeryn Boyd and Kimberly Alexander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WaterWalkMD\/?hc_ref=SEARCH&#038;fref=nf\">are walking the length of the C&#038;O Canal in Maryland<\/a> to draw attention to legislation that would ban fracking in Maryland.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3ypFN4eoB2I\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Alexander, who lives on a farm in western Maryland, says she\u2019s walking to protect the water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are fracking wells that surround us in Pennsylvania,\u201d Alexander told Russell Mokhiber of This Week in Morgan County. \u201cGarrett and Allegheny counties are where fracking will begin if we allow it in Maryland. We are at Ground Zero. There is fracking infrastructure surrounding us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyd and Alexander <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/187121315\">carry with them a bottle of polluted drinking water<\/a> that they retrieved from a farm in Dimock, Pennsylvania, where fracking has poisoned drinking water wells.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe spoke with a family in Dimock,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cThey did not sign a lease contract. They didn\u2019t have a fracking well pad on their property. And their well water was contaminated. It was bright orange. We lit it on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was one of 18 wells in Dimock that were contaminated,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThis family &#8212; the Ely family &#8212; has to go into town, collect their water, drive it back home. They can\u2019t use the water in their toilets or shower in it. The water is off gassing chemicals. They have rashes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey get headaches, nausea,\u201d Boyd added. \u201cThe water is toxic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd clearly they can\u2019t drink it,\u201d Alexander says. \u201cAnd there is a lot of psychological damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(Cabot Oil &#038; Gas had refused an offer the settle a lawsuit brought by two families &#8212; the Huberts and the Elys &#8212; that the fracking operations polluted the families well water in Dimock. The case went to trial and earlier this year a federal jury in Scranton, Pennsylvania <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/business\/energy\/20160311_Jury_awards__4_24M_to_two_families_in_Dimock_tainted-water_case.html\">awarded two families $4.2 million.<\/a> The company is appealing the award.)<\/p>\n<p>Along their walk, Boyd and Alexander are drawing crowds to support them and the statewide ban on fracking.<\/p>\n<p>In Frostburg, more than 120 people showed up at  a city council meeting for a rally against fracking.<\/p>\n<p>And more than 50 people joined Boyd and Alexander in Hancock to protest against a Columbia Gas proposal to put a gas pipeline under the C&#038;O Canal and Potomac River.<\/p>\n<p>Boyd and Alexander are walking from Garrett County to Cove Point, where Dominion Energy is building a $3.8 billion liquefied natural gas facility for to export gas to foreign markets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are following the gas and showing the infrastructure across the state,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThere will be more infrastructure downstate, and not just in Garrett County. The export facility at Cove Point is being built by Dominion &#8212; the same company that built the compressor station in Myersville in western Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyd said that in the run up to the legislative session in Annapolis in January 2017, communities around the state &#8212;  including Friendsville, Maryland, Montgomery County and Prince George\u2019s County &#8212; are enacting fracking bans. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs more and more communities ban fracking, the momentum going into the legislative session is growing,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n<p>There is currently a two-year moratorium on fracking in Maryland that is set to expire in October 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile researching the hazards of fracking, we are also researching the benefits of alternative energy and how to make that possible, to subsidize that instead of oil and gas,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what transformed them from observers to activists, Boyd said &#8212; \u201cwe need leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need people willing to say &#8212; this is the most important thing to do right now because of how dangerous it is,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about young people. In Frostburg, there were people of every age there. Every age was represented. This affects everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But isn\u2019t it true that most people are not acting, just sitting at home observing?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a cost to that convenience of sitting at home, relaxing,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s our happiness and our health. This walk is permaculture. We are going out and planting seeds of this paradigm shift toward a more earth friendly practice and recognizing the importance of water. When people come out and engage in these actions, you get to feel how wonderful it is to be a part of your community and how wonderful it is to connect with the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd how motivating it is,\u201d Boyd added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aeryn Boyd and Kimberly Alexander are walking the length of the C&#038;O Canal in Maryland to draw attention to legislation that would ban fracking in Maryland. Alexander, who lives on a farm in western Maryland, says she\u2019s walking to protect &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2620\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2620"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2623,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}