Outside Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Conference, Chants of “Shut Them Down”

Todd Vachon / WHYY

Protests out­side the Mar­cel­lus Shale Coalition’s Philadel­phia convention

As energy exec­u­tives met inside the Philadel­phia Con­ven­tion Center’s car­peted, air-conditioned halls this after­noon, anti-drilling activists braved the heat and humid­ity to deliver a clear, loud mes­sage: don’t frack with us.

Sev­eral hun­dred peo­ple lined a street next to the con­ven­tion cen­ter to protest hydraulic frac­tur­ing – they’re wor­ried the poi­so­nous chem­i­cals drillers are inject­ing deep under­ground will con­t­a­m­i­nate drink­ing water in Philadel­phia and other communities.

The “Shale Gas Out­rage” rally was head­lined by Acad­emy Award-nominated film­maker Josh Fox, who urged the crowd to go to any means nec­es­sary, to bor­row a term, to stop hydraulic frac­tur­ing in east­ern Penn­syl­va­nia. He said he’s wor­ried the Delaware River Basin Com­mis­sion will open the doors for drilling within its juris­dic­tion at an Octo­ber 21 meet­ing. “If that hap­pens,” Fox told the cheer­ing crowd, “we’ll shut it down.”  If the com­mis­sion lifts its effec­tive mora­to­rium and approves new drilling, he said, “it’s time to get in the paddy wagon.” Fox proudly told the audi­ence of his recent arrest at Wash­ing­ton, DC protests against the newly-approved Key­stone Pipeline.

Todd Vachon / WHYY

Convention-goers take a look at the protests

Mean­time, back in the con­ven­tion cen­ter, Chesa­peake Energy CEO Aubrey McClen­don ques­tioned drilling oppo­nents’ facts, and accused them of “liv­ing in a fan­tasy world with­out fos­sil fuels.”

After McClendon’s speech wrapped up, curi­ous conference-goers grav­i­tated toward the win­dows to observe the protests. Many took pic­tures, as they watched peo­ple chant, “shut them down!” and “no frack­ing way!”