Contact: Ralph Kisberg
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone: 570-494-7583
email: rkisberg@gmail.com
KEEP IT WILD CAMPAIGN TO PRESERVE SPECIAL PLACES
Responsible
Drilling Alliance seeks preservation of acreage in Loyalsock State Forest
Williamsport, PA—August 30, 2012—Anyone familiar with the Loyalsock State Forest in
Lycoming County near Ralston, PA will understand why Rock Run and Old Loggers
Path are such beloved treasures of the PA Wilds. Rugged cliffs, crystal-clear
pools, and jaw-dropping waterfalls prompted Backpacker Magazine to name Rock
Run as one of the best swimming holes in America. In Backpacking Pennsylvania,
author Jeff Mitchell described the Path as “...one of Pennsylvania’s premier
loop trails. The OLP showcases some of the state’s most scenic areas, with
sweeping vistas, cascading streams, rock outcrops and Rock Run, a stream of
exceptional beauty.”
Sadly, the area is threatened with industrial development.
If it occurs, this core wilderness in and around the Old Loggers Path and on
the edges of the Rock Run watershed will be forever changed.
Responsible Drilling Alliance, based in Williamsport PA, has
teamed up with other stakeholders across the region to organize “Keep It WILD”,
a campaign to preserve the Rock Run & Old Loggers Path area for future
generations. To support the effort, the public is invited to gather on
September 8th at 1:30 pm at the Ralston Fire Hall. For details, visit:
www.keepitwildblog.blogspot.com.
The event will include short presentations on gas
development in the surrounding region, as well as legal, political, and
environmental challenges faced in preserving an oasis of exceptional public
land in the center of four heavily drilled counties. Participants will be given
directions on how to lightly explore this fragile area on foot, as it is
necessarily designed for minimal traffic intrusion.
Just make sure you've got the approval of the Ralston Fire Dept. as I know its chief (John Orr) is not friendly to environmentalists. (He was in my high school class and we've clashed numerous times on FB over this stuff.) He could make life miserable for everyone if he wanted to. Ralston's a different sort of place.
ReplyDeleteFriday September 13th 2013 at 7:45 AM Earth First! Demo at Anadarko headquarters (33 W. Third Street in Williamsport) to protest drilling in Loyalsock.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday September 13th, Endless Mountains Earth First! cordially invites you to come to Williamport, PA to visit Anadarko Petroleum Corporation offices to protest drilling in the Loyalsock.
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) has plans to invade the revered Loyalsock State Forest in northeast Pennsylvania with over two dozen hydro-fracking well-pads, multiple pipelines, access roads, and other associated infrastructure. Thousands of acres are at risk; including mature forest ecosystems, unique habitats such as high elevation wetlands and exceptional value streams teeming with trout. This area is home to several rare and threatened species including the Timber Rattlesnake, Northern Water Shrew, Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, as well as several carnivorous plants such as the Pitcher Plant. The Loyalsock is the line in the sand for many locals who frequent the forest to hike, swim, camp, hunt, fish, and take solace in its wild and mostly undisturbed forest lands.
Anadarko could start road work as early as this October in preparation for tree cutting to build well pads beginning November first, we need your help to stop them NOW! Marcellus Shale Earth First! and allies throughout the region will gather at the APC office in downtown Williamsport to protest their proposed plans and call them out on their heinous and numerous past violations.
We already know how APC does business; DIRTY. They have repeatedly utilized faulty well casings (unreported), spilled 12,000 gallons of carcinogenic drilling mud in Sproul State Forest, evaded their responsiblity in the death of eleven Deep Water Horizon workers, and have shown an inability to maintain its waste water containment pits.
We ask you to come out on Friday, September 13th to stand in solidarity with local EF!ers and other groups who have been working in defense of this beautiful and wild forest.
Anadarko is bad luck for the Loyalsock, but bad luck for Anadarko when Earth First comes to town!