Petition to Protect the Ambridge Reservoir

Whereas, gas drillers have leased over 1,400 acres in the Service Creek/Ambridge Reservoir watershed; a spill of fracking chemicals used in a single well can contain enough benzene and other toxic chemicals to contaminate the Ambridge Reservoir at 25 times the safe level; there may be no alternative sources of drinking water for Ambridge, Baden, Harmony Township, Economy, Edgeworth, Belle Acres, Leet Township, and Leetsdale; a spill will put homes, businesses, and schools in the Ambridge Water Authority service area at risk of closure; the DEP cited drillers for over 1,400 violations in 2010; the Service Creek watershed and the Ambridge Reservoir are designated as protected for cold water fishes and specially protected for high quality water by the PA Clean Streams Law; drillers will use 8 million gallons of water and 11 tons of chemicals per well; drilling in the Service Creek watershed will consume nearly a billion gallons of water, 25% of the Ambridge Reservoir; and gas drillers in Pennsylvania have a history of frequent violations and accidents, including:
· On 4/20/11, over 10,000 gallons of toxic frack water spewed from a well for two days in Leroy Township, Bradford County, contaminating the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay,
· On 10/20/10, a chemical truck ran off road and the spill killed aquatic life in Plum Creek, Washington County,
· On 6/03/10, a well blowout spewed poisonous frack water for 16 hours in Clearfield County,
· On 12/09/09, waste water impoundment overflowed, poisoning a stream in Washington County.

Therefore, we the undersigned petition Gov. Tom Corbett and Sen. Elder Vogel to Establish, Declare, and Enforce by any means necessary:
· A Ban on surface drilling within the Service Creek watershed, and
· A Ban on drillers’ water withdrawals from the Service Creek watershed.