Grassroots environmental groups are calling out the Environmental Defense Fund for tacking too closely to natural gas industry views on the hydraulic fracturing issue.
“More than 60 leading grassroots and national organizations focused on citizen and environmental issues will send a message Wednesday to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) disapproving of the group’s willingness to be coopted by industry interests on the issue of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) for shale gas,” said Civil Society Institute in an email.
The group plans to hold a news conference presenting the views of 3 community environmental groups – Civil Society Institute, Catskills Citizens for Clean Energy and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
Speakers representing the three groups will read a letter addressed to EDF explaining they are “concerned that the shale gas industry is exploiting its connection with EDF to falsely suggest that local green and other groups are on board with the agenda of the fracking industry.”
EDF appears to have taken the view that hydraulic fracturing will likely remain an integral part of unconventional natural gas development for the foreseeable future, so the best course of action is to ensure the practice is done responsibly. This puts it at odds with the Sierra Club, which is pushing for an end to fossil fuels.
“Natural gas is an important and growing part of our nation’s energy portfolio. It emits less greenhouse gases than coal when combusted and avoids mercury and other dangerous air pollutants that come from coal. It could be a win-win if — and this is a big if — we do it the right way,” EDF says on its website.
“EDF is largely isolated among grassroots and even national groups in its willingness to cater to the direction of the natural gas industry,” said the Civil Society Institute. “In this case, the view of grassroots groups are particularly key since they directly represent the populations that would be hurt the most by fracking in their backyards.”
