Hi
All,
In case you
haven’t heard the frac sand industry is having a conference at the La Crosse
Center on May 9-11 to talk up the value of frac sand mining in our region
http://www.fracsandinsider.com/index.php?c=3500&d=4578&w=9&r=Y. It is being
organized by Frac Sand Insider and features, among others, the oil
and gas industry- backed Heartland Institute.
A group of
anti-frac sand activists have been discussing the need to have a response to
this industry conference. A number of us met this weekend, including
representatives from the Land Stewardship Project, Houston County Protectors,
Citizens Against Silica Mining, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and Coulee Region Climate
Alliance. We want to use the frac
sand industry conference as an opportunity to make a powerful case to the public
that our country needs to address climate change by banning frac sand mining and
fracking and rapidly develop renewable energy.
We have begun
to organize peaceful, non-violent activities which will occur simultaneously
with the Frac Sand Conference. We have formed The Alliance
to Ban Frac Sand Mining and Address Climate Change. We invite you
and your group to join this Alliance and participate in the actions outlined
below on May 9th and 10th. Our goal is to energize a
broad Alliance of anti-frac sand mining, environmental, social justice,
renewable energy and climate change groups to refute and challenge the
industry’s advocacy for extreme energy production and continued reliance on
fossil fuels. The Alliance will focus on a clear message of banning frac
sand mining and fracking, promoting renewable energy, and addressing climate
change.
We are finalizing plans for two activities to convey this message to
elected officials and the public. On Monday May 9th, at 1:00 PM members
of the Alliance to Ban Frac Sand Mining and Address Climate Change will hold a
press conference in or near the La Crosse Center. Each Alliance
member group will select one of its own to participate in the press conference.
Each participant can use this opportunity to relate what their group is doing
and how it supports the unified message to ban fracking and frac sand mining and
address climate change. We plan on making a video of the press conference, which
will be uploaded to social media, posted to different group’s websites and
emailed out to Coalition members within two hours.
The second activity is a Rally on Tuesday, May 10 at 5 PM,
again at or near the La Crosse Center, with pre-rally activities starting two
hours before. We plan on having several elected officials and
representatives of major groups leading the opposition to frac sand mining speak
at the rally. This will be an opportunity for the membership of each Alliance
group to support the goals of the Alliance by attending the Rally and demand
action by their government representatives to chart a different, better energy
future starting with banning frac sand mining and fracking.
We hope that you and your group will join our Alliance to
Ban Frac Sand Mining and Address Climate Change. We feel this is a
very important opportunity to refute the Koch Brothers-backed message of Climate
Denial and support for extreme energy production. While this Alliance is being
organized for this event only, it certainly could be the basis for future
broadly-based initiatives.
We realize this is short notice, but we hope you will make a strong
effort to have your group consider participating in this
Alliance. Clearly the presidential election this year has
demonstrated that Americans of many political perspectives are no longer going
to accept a corporate energy agenda and an indifference to climate
change.
So please make a concerted effort to have your group join
this Alliance, specifically for these events in La Crosse. Call us or e-mail us
to let us know of your support by Friday, May 6th.
We can still add your group as a supporter of the Alliance
after May 6th but it may not be included in the initial Press
Release.
Thanks for all of your past work, your ongoing efforts, and your
support.
Ken Tschumper
Doug Nopar
P.S. We’ll be releasing final details and activities in response to
the frac sand industry’s conference later in the week.
