September 19, 2023
The Honorable Josh Shapiro
Governor, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
516 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
General Assembly
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Dear Governor Shapiro & Legislators,
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We, the undersigned, are calling on you to attend the People’s Hearing on Climate Change to be held at the Capitol in Harrisburg on October 2, 2023. The testimony that will be given by people from across the Commonwealth on the harms inflicted on them by the fossil fuel industry, the work they have done to monitor and document impacts, the climate impacts they have already experienced, and the concerns they have for the future is critically important and more than worthy of your attention and action.
The People’s Hearing is part of this year’s Pennsylvania Climate Convergence. On the last day of the inaugural Convergence in June of 2022, the organizers installed a climate countdown clock in the East Wing of the Capitol. Just over a month later, the time on the clock ticked down below 7 years, indicating the time we have left to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. By the time we testify in October, the clock will have rolled past 6 years to only 5 years remaining.
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Climate change is not an abstraction. It is here. And the profound and sometimes deadly impacts of the industrial activities that created the problem and continue to exacerbate it have been experienced by Pennsylvania’s communities for many decades.
The state’s continuing failure to take aggressive action to transition away from fossil fuel consumption and bring an end to its production makes acting right away absolutely necessary. Instead, you are supporting the next generation of fossil fuel development in this state masquerading as an array of climate solutions.
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If you had heard the voices of people who have tried to meet with you, have submitted comments to DEP dockets, have testified at DEP public hearings, have written letters to the editor, have brought legal action against the state, have marched and rallied and protested, have risked arrest and, in some cases, have been arrested trying to get you to hear them, our hearing would not be necessary. You would be taking swift, decisive climate action. You would be calling out the industry’s false solutions for what they are and rejecting them. It is clear that ours are not the voices that have captured your attention. That needs to change. And the change starts at the People’s Hearing on October 2. We call on you to be there.
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Karen Feridun, Co-founder, Better Path Coalition, on behalf of undersigned
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Organizational Signers
Judy Wicks, Founder, All Together Now PA
Karen Feridun, Founder, Berks Gas Truth
Paul Fedore, Field Program Coordinator, Center for Coalfield Justice
Jennifer Engle, Member, Climate Reality- Central PA Chapter
Anita Erdos Forrester, Chair, Climate Reality Project - Lehigh Valley Chapter
Sandy Field, Chair, Climate Reality Project: Susquehanna Valley PA Chapter
Barbara Brandom, Steering Committee Member, Concerned Healthcare Professionals of Pennsylvania
B. Arrindell, Director, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability
Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Megan McDonough, Pennsylvania Director, Food & Water Watch
Richard Cole , Cofounder, Foundation for Climate Restoration
Maya K. van Rossum, Founder, Green Amendments For The Generations
Pat Lupo, OSB, Environmental Program Director, Inner City Neighborhood Art House
Kevin Long, Pastor, Intertwined faith community
Ann Pinca, President, Lebanon Pipeline Awareness
Stacey Magda, Managing Organizer, Mountain Watershed Association
Ashley Funk, Executive Director, Mountain Watershed Association
Tamela Trussell, Founder/Educator, Move Past Plastic (MPP)
Barbara Hoffman, State Policy Advocate, Pennsylvania, National Council of Jewish Women
Anita Erdos Forrester, Faculty Advisor, NCC Climate Action Network
Jay Notartomaso, Founder, NEPA Green Coalition
Rosemary Wessel, Program Manager, No Fracked Gas in Mass
Edith Abeyta , N/a, North Braddock Residents For Our Future
Craig Stevens, Founder, Patriots From The Oil & Gas Shales
Michael Bagdes-Canning, Coordinating Team Member, Pennsylvania Action on Climate
Katie Ruth, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light
Tonyehn Verkitus, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Cathy Kristofferson, Co-founder, Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN-NE)
Gillian Graber, Executive Director, Protect PT (Penn-Trafford)
Linda Christman, President, Save Carbon County
Barr, Co-founder, Save Our Streams PA
Liz Evans, Co-Facilitator, Third Act Pennsylvania
Heather Hulton VanTassel, Executive Director, Three Rivers Waterkeeper
Elowyn Corby, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, Vote Solar
Chris DiGiulio, Co-Founder, WaSEPA
And more than 3,600 individual signers of the letter or petition.
Ann Dixon Philadelphia
B. Arrindell Beach Lake
Barbara Bondurant La Verne
Barbara Laxon Bradford
Barbara Sorgeler Millsboro
Caleb Merendino HLW
Casey Warrington
Cynthia Hautzinger Prairie View
Dayna Evans Philadelphia
Deborah Dawson Folsom
Diane Rusch McMurray
dk weamer Kansas City
Elizabeth Warner Equinunk
Erik Pressler Hollidaysburg, Blair Co.
Felecia Bute Pittsburgh
Henry Rose Dalton
James Threatte Warrington
Jane Dilley West G
Jane Popko Palmyra
Jenny Boyle Lock Haven
Josephine Gingerich Stroudsburg
Karen Elias Lock Haven
Karen Peterson Northbrook
Kathleen Krebs Pittsburgh
Katie Muth Spring City
Kelly Cusson Pittsfield, MA
Kimberly Pettit Moab
Kyle Rolnick Lorane
Lisa Johnson Pittsburgh
Lon Diffenderfer Selinsgrove
Marci Henzi Pittsburgh
Maria Gassino
Martha Evans Buena Vista
Merry Jones Philadelphia
Michael Sauers Bloomsburg
Michele Marantz Dalton, Massachusetts
Paul Gomen Ambler
Perry Kendall Wyndmoor
Ravindra Agarwal Gaithersburg
Raymond Kemble Dimock
Rebecca Wills Hummelstown, PA
Rob Dun Scott's Valley
Ryan Rauch Bridgeville
Tammy Harkness Barto
Tony Tsang Brooklyn