Fractivists Aim for Elected Office

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

April 24, 2012 | 2:17 PM

“Fractivists” protest at an event in Philadelphia.

The movement is pretty tiny right now. Only a handful of anti-drilling activists are stepping into the political fray to run for office this election cycle. According to the grassroots group “Marcellus at the Polls,” a number of “fractivist friendly” candidates are running for state representative, Congress and even auditor general. Gloria Forouzan, from Marcellus at the Polls, says she formed the group last October as a single issue organization, which accepts no donations from anyone. It’s still a pretty informal group that supports Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Greens, as long as they have a critical stance toward Marcellus Shale development. For a list of frack friendly candidates before heading to the polls today, check out their Facebook page.