Fracking: Blog #4

Posted by Julia Boyer in American Government - Laufenberg on

For this step of my lobbying project, I collaborated with Alaya to create a larger organization to protest fracking. We've broken our protest plan into multiple steps: 1) Petition, 2) Fund-Raising and 3) Protest. We've written a petition urging Governor Corbett to work with the EPA to understand the risks of Hydraulic Fracturing but, more importantly, not to frack in State Parks. We'll are in the process of getting 100 signatures and will send it to Corbett soon. We also want to make buttons protesting fracking to sell to people in school or in our neighborhoods. With this money, we can organize a Protest in Harrisburg that will include politician and activist guest speakers. With these steps, we will create a large group of supporters. Once a large group is formed, we can create an Occupy movement or an official lobbying party that speaks at Council meetings.  
While these steps are effective together, I believe that if we did them individually, Corbett wouldn't be effected by them. The petition is the least effective because it's simply signatures on a page and unless there are millions of signatures, it won't make much of an impression. However, the next steps are effective because large crowds of people create media attention that Corbett cannot deny or ignore.  
The issues with our plans are similar to the benefits: large crowds create media attention. If people are rowdy and unable to articulate why they are here, then it reflects poorly on the group and our mission. Like the Occupy movement, it will be essential to have slips of paper with simple phrases to say to reporters.

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