This is my speech, more or less, at the Gas Stock concert and rally on Saturday. This not exactly what I said. I spoke extemporaneously and didn’t record it. But this is the gist of it.
Good Afternoon.
I’m Marc Stier, the Executive Director of Penn Action, grassroots political organization in Pennsylvania. I’m really thrilled to be here.
This is an incredible event, organized by an incredible team of people led by my friend and colleague, Roxanne Pauline who recently joined us as the NEPA Penn Action organizer.
I have to be honest, I don’t know enough about the Marcellus Shale drilling and its impact on people here in Northeastern PA and the rest of the state. I’ve spent the last two years totally focused on the movement for health care reform, which I led in Pennsylvania.
But after talking with many of you, it’s pretty clear that I need to learn more and get Penn Action involved in this struggle.
And it’s also fairly clear what the fundamental issue is. It’s not an environmental or a scientific issue. It’s a political issue. And I can perhaps best describe it by comparing what’s going on with regard to drilling in the Marcellus Shale with the health care campaign.
I’ve heard a lot of different views about the Marcellus Shale drilling here today. Some want to stop it now. Some want to slow it down and regulate and tax it. A very few are happy with the ways things are now.
But everyone agrees about one thing: No one asked us.
When the big gas companies came to NEPA to being operating, no one asked us whether we wanted them here.
When the state began to sell leases on state lands, no one asked us.
When the gas companies started buying leases from individuals, even though the consequences of drilling affect all of us, no one asked us as a community whether that was alright with us.
When they said it was safe to drill, no one shared the detailed scientific information with us; no one gave us alternatives; and no one asked us if we agree.
Drilling in the Marcellus Shale has been carried out without any democratic political accountability; with no attempt to ask the people of the communities where the drilling is taking place to have their say.
The contrast with the health care campaign is pretty striking.
When drug companies and hospitals tried to cut deals on health care reform, we made them listen to us.
When health insurance companies tried to block reform, we made them listen to us.
When delays in the Senate threatened reform, we made them listen to us.
When an election in Massachusetts looked like it would stop health care reform, we got together, marched from Philadelphia to Washington DC and made them listen to us.
We didn’t get everything we wanted. But we did pass the most important legislation in forty five years, legislation that will make health insurance affordable for working families and the middle class.
What we did in health care, we have to do with regard to drilling in the Marcellus Shale. We have to work together. We have to organize. We have to fight together.
And if we do so, then instead of saying “no one asked us,” we’ll be able to say, “we made them listen to us.”
Are you satisfied that no one asked us?
Are you ready to make them listen to us?
Well, if you are, working together we can make that happen.