Hundreds Protest Gas Drilling Across World, Blockade Against New Zealand Coal

Yesterday hundreds of people convened in downtown Pittsburgh to protest the development of “fracking,” a new and untested method of natural gas extraction that is threatening to take over Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Fracking has been shown to pollute water supplies, cause cancer, and destroy the countryside and infrastructure in rural areas. The rally took place during a conference on “Developing Unconventional Gas” which featured Karl Rove. The following is from the Pittsburgh Student Environmental Coalition, who helped organize the rally. The day of worldwide protest included other cities in Pittsburgh; Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Aoteroa, New Zealand—to support western Pennsylvania gas drilling opponents. Click here for more information.

Also in New Zealand, the office of the mining magnate Clive Palmer was blockaded by more than 25 protesters from Friends of the Earth—dressed as koalas, galahs and kangaroos—in Queen Street, Brisbane, yesterday morning protesting against the threatened bulldozing of a central Queensland nature refuge to make way for his latest coal project. For more, click here.