The Maryland House today passed legislation that would enact a 3-year moratorium on fracking statewide with a 93 – 45 vote in favor. The bill, the Protect Our Health and Communities Act (HB 449), was sponsored by Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo. Throughout the 2015 legislative session, a flood of support for the moratorium has come from health professionals, business owners and residents throughout the state. The bill passed with wide bipartisan support on the House floor, and delegates, advocates and concerned residents immediately turned their calls to the State Senate to act in kind.
“Thank you to all of the organizations, and my Chair, Kumar Barve, that have helped move this challenging bill,” said bill sponsor Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo. “I am happy to pass it out of the House. This bill is necessary so we can comprehensively study the totality of the public health impacts in the state of Maryland. To frack before we have completed this vital step would be irresponsible.”
Business owners in Western Maryland have expressed growing concern that fracking will negatively affect the booming tourism industry in that part of the state, where fracking would occur in the Marcellus Shale. Over 100 Western Maryland business owners have signed a letter to the leadership of the General Assembly in support of the fracking moratorium. The Don’t Frack Maryland campaign has also sent over 25,000 messages supporting a moratorium. Letters signed by more than 100 health professionals, and over 50 restaurant owners, chefs, winemakers and farmers from across the state have also been delivered to the General Assembly. And last night, the Friendsville Town Council, whose city is the center of a thriving white-water rafting industry in the state, sent a letter supporting a moratorium to President Miller, urging him to encourage a vote in the Senate.
“As with all relatively new industrial practices, health and safety issues can come to the fore after a number of years,” said the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, Senator Karen Montgomery. “An example is the luminous (glow in the dark) watch faces that were painted with radium. The workers who painted the watch faces developed face and mouth cancers. That practice was ended only after a number of workers died. We need to have a longer fracking moratorium in Maryland to observe and measure any advance health and environmental issues.”
Polling has also shown that a clear majority of Marylanders oppose fracking and support action from the General Assembly to prevent drilling in the state.
“It is impossible to ignore mounting evidence of the severe threat fracking poses to human health,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “The Maryland House has rightly exercised its duty to protect residents from the serious harms fracking would bring, and we’re now urging the State Senate to also stand with the people, and not with an industry that would happily sacrifice Marylanders’ health for a profit.”
“All eyes are on the Maryland Senate now. I can only hope that they heed the call to protect the health of our growing tourism economy in Western Maryland,” said Eric Robison, owner of Eagle Rock Construction, LLC and President of Save Western Maryland. “Maryland’s more sustainable businesses, like farming, tourism and restaurants would be devastated by fracking. We don’t need a short term boom and bust economy, we need to maintain a strong economic foundation for future generations.”
“As public health advocates, we have been pleased to see that major concerns about the health impacts of fracking have been taken seriously and have been part of the debate that is shaping Maryland policy,” said Rebecca Ruggles, Director of Maryland Environmental Health Network. “This action by the House shows that our elected officials are being appropriately cautious and are being guided by environmental health science.”
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