Very Brave Couple Drives Coast to Coast

Liz Nelson visited Huerfano County in July 2013.  She wrote a story about her efforts:

On a nationwide tour, the" frackmobile" left New Jersey on July 3rd and arrived here in La Veta on July 9th. The frackmobile is a mobile billboard highlighting the dangers of fracking to our resources and environmental health. It is the creation of New Jersey resident Liz Nelson, who became part of regional citizens fight to keep fracking out of the Delaware River Basin and keep toxic radioactive drill cuttings and frack waste from being stored treated or disposed in her state. “The anti-frackmobile was born when I realized that, if I placed my canoe on the roof rack of my hybrid Toyota Highlander, it would make a great billboard for the cause.” We have traveled all over my own region and to Washington DC. We lobby in state capitols, attend hearings about water withdrawals, pipelines and compressor stations, fracking regulations, and especially frack waste disposal. Recently our efforts have been joined by former frack waste haulers who have testified to the abysmal lack of worker protection and unregulated illegal handling of waste. The writing on the canoe and car is very effective, instantly drawing attention to the subject and engaging people in conversation. It also raises the spirits of citizens working hard in the trenches trying to avoid the terrible destruction of communities and permanent pollution, which fracking has brought. The Delaware River, which is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi, is drinking water for more that 15 million people in the region, and is designated an "exceptional value river " because of its wild and scenic beauty. It also provides enormous recreational benefit to the region from fishing, boating and camping, which generates revenues and brings wealth to riverside-destination towns. When the Delaware River Basin Commission, which is charged with protecting the waters of the Delaware, was asked to draft regulations for drilling and fracking for methane, more than 60,000 local petitioners decided it was unacceptable and a moratorium is still in place. And just this week two big gas corporations have abandoned drilling leases on 80,000 acres of land in the pristine Upper Delaware, which is a huge victory. New Jerseyans have become aware of the toxic levels of contamination of air and water, loss of property value, and impacts on public and animal health , which have occurred in the fracking frenzy in Pennsylvania, just a couple of hours away, and we are not going to let that happen to us. Water is life. We cannot live without it. We are finding this is true in the densely populated Northeast. We do not have water to waste on fracking . In Pennsylvania the loss of some of the most pristine rivers and streams of the country to fracking is an atrocity. We are finding that in the Southwest water is already scarce and should be treated with the utmost respect. One of Liz's first adventures in La Veta was to hike to Lily Lake near Ellingwood Peak, which is the headwaters of the Huerfano River. Liz, Jim, and faithful frack-puppy pose with the colorful frackmobile.