Dear Friends,

We invite you to join us for our National People’s Oil and Gas Summit November 19 and 20 in Pennsylvania – the heart of the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling boom. This summit will be our seventh and our first in the eastern United States

You will meet people affected by oil and gas drilling from across the US and Canada; learn about oil and gas impacts, toxics associated with drilling activities, how natural gas fits into the climate change debate, and how to protect yourself and your community.

Presentations and discussions will include:

• The BIG PICTURE – where are they drilling, why and who’s next?
• Natural gas, CLIMATE JUSTICE and PUBLIC HEALTH: life cycle impacts of gas
• Hydraulic FRACTURING: Full disclosure,NO exemptions
• To lease or not to LEASE: Landowner and mineral owner rights
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Beyond coal, oil and gas: what is our ENERGY FUTURE?
• MEDIA: reforming the industry one blog, story, movie and wiki at a time
• Legislate, Litigate, AGITATE: lessons on organizing and civil disobedience

A Steering Committee, which includes Binghamton Regional Sustainable Coalition, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Clean Water Action, Delaware Riverkeepers, Northeast Ohio Accountability Project, Northeast PA Gas Action, PennEnvironment, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Shaleshock, West Virginia Surface Owner Protection Organization and several other individuals, is helping to shape the Summit Agenda. And more than 25 organizations from around the country are co-sponsoring the event.

You can register for the 2010 People’s Oil & Gas Summit in Pittsburgh at summit.earthworksaction.org. The registration deadline is November 1.

Register soon as space is limited! If we reach capacity, priority will be given to citizens dealing directly with oil and gas development.

The tax-deductible registration fee is $120 for citizens and non-profit or government representatives, $1,000 for industry and corporate participants. The cost of registration includes breakfast, lunch and group dinners on both days.

EARTHWORKS’ summits are a core component of our work to build bridges between communities that have been dealing with oil and gas drilling issues for decades and those facing the drilling boom for the first time. Our experience has been that such bridges help foster new activists, renew long-term activists, and greatly increase momentum on pushing local, state, and national reform efforts.

We hope to see you in Pittsburgh!

Best,
Gwen Lachelt, Director
EARTHWORKS Oil & Gas Accountability Project

P.S. You can download a pdf of the registration flyer here