KEITH BOYER/THE CONTENTLY FOUNDATION
Signs in Grant Township,
Pennsylvania, oppose a fracking wastewater injection well and advocate for
“home rule,” which gives the township broad power to legislate.
The Huffington Post
By Sara Stewart
04/17/2017
Grant Township, Pennsylvania, has
been fighting to keep a wastewater disposal site out of town.
When Stacy Long learned in 2013 that a drilling
company planned to dump its wastewater into an abandoned gas well two and a
half miles from her house, she knew nothing about fracking, had never protested
anything, and her legal knowledge amounted to zilch.
Long, 47, is a graphic designer from Grant Township, a
rural enclave in western Pennsylvania about 70 miles from Pittsburgh. She’s an
avid death metal fan who dresses mostly in black and lives with her husband in
a house so deep in the woods they can’t see any neighbors. They call their home
the Fishbowl, its giant windows offering sweeping views of their land.
She has long known that her home is something she
wants to protect. “I’ve always seen the township as almost supernaturally
beautiful: tranquil, lush, green,” Long said. “Any time of the night, you can see
every star.”
Her family’s roots in the township go back four
generations. Her mother, retired school teacher Judy Wanchisn, lives a mile
away. Neither woman was thrilled about Pennsylvania General Energy’s plan to
pump millions of gallons of water and toxic solvents into the well. They
worried that the wastewater would leach into Little Mahoning Creek, the source
of Grant’s pristine drinking water.
At first, no one paid Stacy Long and her mother much
mind. But three and a half years later, PGE’s project is still tied up in the
courts. With the help of a crusading law firm, Long and Wanchisn have taken a
novel approach to keeping the well out of their town ― essentially changing
Grant’s charter to declare it an independent legal entity with the authority to
define civil rights for its citizens, even if those rights conflict with state
laws.
They’ve challenged PGE’s permit applications at every
step, claimed their watershed should be recognized as having the same legal
rights as a human being, and even helped legalize civil disobedience in their
town to protect anyone who takes direct action to stop PGE’s plans.
Long and Wanchisn’s fight has inspired similar efforts
in other communities facing fracking companies that want to set up shop within
their borders, creating a new a blueprint for resistance that dozens of other
towns have taken up.
The women never expected any of this. To them, this
fight was always about safeguarding the citizens of Grant Township.
“We’re up against an industry that enjoys every
advantage,” said Long. “We’re tiny, we’re impoverished. Our economy is hanging
by a thread. We’re the easiest and cheapest way for the gas industry to get rid
of its crap.”
“But Grant is special,” she continued. “It’s the
reason we’re fighting so hard.”
KEITH BOYER/THE CONTENTLY FOUNDATION
Stacy and Mark Long are fighting
Pennsylvania General Energy’s plan to convert an old well into an injection
site for wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process.
Hundreds of fracking wells dot the verdant hills and
valleys of Indiana County, which were once the heart of coal country. The
nearby Little Mahoning is a jewel of the landscape, and the source of Grant’s
drinking water for as long as anyone can remember. The creek, which managed to
avoid the ravages of the coal industry, remains the thriving home to a variety
of fish, freshwater mussels and the largest aquatic salamander in North America….
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