Apache Junction, Ariz., Sept. 8, 2011 -
Today the Pinal County Greens passed a resolution calling for a nationwide ban on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking). This action was spurred by the Green Party of New York State, which earlier denounced a report by that state's Department of Environmental Conservation clearing the way "for the petrochemical industry to reap enormous profits, cloaked in the language of the potential economic benefit to workers."
Richard Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens, members of the Arizona Green Party in the nation's second-fastest-growing county, said the group wanted to express solidarity with the New York Greens and Greens in other states who have been actively involved from the beginning in resisting and fighting the gas and oil industry, promoting legislation to ban hydrofracing and, in the words of Green Party of New York co-chair and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins, "educating the public about this very ungreen process."
Grayson urged people to educate themselves on the health and environmental problems of hydrofracking, such as this livestream of a Green Party of the United States interview on the topic
Watch live streaming video from greenpartyus at livestream.com
and this panel discussion from Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY last month:
Watch live streaming video from greenpartyus at livestream.com
Grayson said that members of the Pinal County Greens saw filmmaker John Fox’s award-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland at the Community Movie Night in Tempe's Changing Hands Bookstore last May 27 and felt that the film exposed the aftermath of hydrofracking: groundwater contamination, permanent brain damage, air pollution, cancer and other detrimental effects to the health and environment of Americans.
"We stand with Greens and other activists around the nation in condemning this practice," said Grayson. "To protect our health, safety and homes, the Pinal County Greens favor a nationwide ban on hydraulic fracturing."
