More than 3,300 wells have been drilled across Pennsylvania in just the last few years. The boom has raised concerns about the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects chemical-laced water to break up the shale and allow natural gas to escape into the shale to push out the minerals. Environmental groups and the Environmental Protection Agency have expressed concerns about how the process impacts water, soil and air quality. But the industry insists it is safe.
An article titled “The Morality of Fracking” appeared in The National Catholic Reporter last month, and the Reform Jewish Voice of New York State endorsed the drilling moratorium there.
Norman Wirzba, a professor of Theology, Ecology, and Rural Life at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina, said he thinks it’s noteworthy that Bickerton, the leader of a large congregation, is speaking out.
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment includes perspectives from Evangelical, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Interfaith groups.
In some cases, religious groups see gas drilling as a way to support charitable work.
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a drilling industry group, said she was surprised last year to find that dozens of religious groups had entered into gas drilling leases.
Some religious groups think another way to address the fracking issue is to start at the top, by engaging and pressuring large corporations.
Sister Nora Nash is director of the corporate social responsibility program at the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which was founded more than 150 years ago.
The North Carolina Council of Churches is working on a statement, and Rabbi Arthur Waskow of Philadelphia’s Shalom Center has written articles critical of fracking.
Sybil Sanchez, director of the New York-based Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life, said her group supports increasing energy independence in ways that also protect the environment, which they see as God’s Creation.
Posts
