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Thursday, November 18

6:30 — 8:30 p.m Early registration and cash bar

Friday, November 19

7:00 — 8:00 am Breakfast and registration
8:00 am

Summit Opens

Welcome and Introductions — Nadia Steinzor, Marcellus Organizer, EARTHWORKS Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) and Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Councilman and sponsor of the recently passed ban on drilling within the City of Pittsburgh.

Opening RemarksGwen Lachelt, Director, EARTHWORKS OGAP

Summit Overview — Jim Fitzgerald, Summit Facilitator (view bio)

9:00 am

Panel 1: Health impacts from drilling, fracking, waste pits and gas production

Panelists will share real-life stories of health impacts being felt by citizens living with gas development, information on drilling and fracking chemicals known to have health impacts, as well as approaches for surveying community health impacts.

Facilitator: Sharon Wilson, EARTHWORKS Texas OGAP
(presentations are linked after each speaker's name)

Video of Panel 1.

View speaker bios.

View additional information

10:30 am

Break

10:45 am

Panel 2: Community socio-economic impacts of natural gas development

This session will include information on the range of socio-economic impacts and benefits that have been felt in communities already affected by natural gas drilling and production, as well as strategies that can be taken to reduce socio-economic impacts in communities.

Facilitator: Kari Matsko, Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project
(presentations are linked with each speaker's name)

Video of Panel 2.

View speaker bios.

View additional information

12:15 pm

Lunch Keynote: Joseph Heath, General Counsel for the Onondaga Nation and Jeanne Shenandoah, Onondaga Nation (view speaker bios)

1:15 pm

Panel 3: Strategies for reducing community and environmental impacts

This panel will discuss approaches for protecting communities, watersheds and wildlands from the harmful impacts related to gas development.

Facilitator: Gwen Lachelt, Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project

  • Ben Price, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, PA
  • Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Western Environmental Law Center, NM
  • Jordan Yeager, Nockamixon Township, PA (and a zoning map used in presentation)
  • Josh Joswick, San Juan Citizens Alliance, CO
  • Helen Slottje, Tompkins County, NY
  • Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountain Keeper, NY

Video of panel 3.

View speaker bios.

View additional information

3:00 pm

Break

3:15 pm

Panel 3: Community Strategies Panel continued

4:00 pm

Panel 4: When the landman comes knocking – strategic options for individuals and communities

This panel will address some of the options available to landowners and mineral owners related to leasing, surface use agreements, pipelines and forced pooling.

Facilitator: Bruce Baizel, EARTHWORKS

Video of panel 4.

View speaker bios.

View additional information

5:30 pm

Evening Reception Hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar/music by Janet Burgan, singer-songwriter

6:30 pm

Dinner

6:45 pm

Keynote Presentation — Lois Gibbs (view bio)

7:45 pm

Optional Evening Workshops

“Working with the news media: learning to think like a reporter.” Participants will discuss what makes a story, the care and feeding of journalists, how to craft messages that make news, and get on-camera practice in delivering messages. Bill Walker, Senior Communications Advisor, EARTHWORKS (view bio)

“The Community-Rights Strategy to Ban Fracking in Your Municipality” (as seen in Pittsburgh), Ben Price, Projects Director, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (view bio)

Screening of Gasland

Saturday, November 20

7:00 — 8:00 am Breakfast
8:00 am

Welcome

8:15 am

Panel 5: Web-based tools for information sharing and documentation

These panelists will provide information on some web-based tools for sharing information and data, as well as innovative ways to present and package information.

Facilitator: Alan Septoff, EARTHWORKS

  • The view from above – John Amos, Skytruth
  • FracTracker — Samantha Malone and Chuck Christen, Center for Healthy Environment and Communities, University of Pittsburgh
  • ExtrAct tools — Chris Csikszentmihalyi, Center for Future Civic Media, MIT

Video of panel 5.

View speaker bios.

View additional information, and check out these web sites

9:45 am

Break

10:00 am

Panel 6: Citizen-based monitoring approaches

This panel provides ideas and tools for citizens who want to collect baseline data on air and water quality or find out more about the contaminants in their communities.

Facilitator: Deb Thomas, Powder River Basin Resource Council

Video of panel 6.

View speaker bios.

12:15 pm

Lunch Keynote: Wes Wilson, EPA whistleblower: fracking impacts and regulations. (view bio)

1:15 pm

Panel 7: Emerging issues related to natural gas and energy in the U.S.

This session presents some of the issues related to natural gas that have the potential to affect the pace and scale of natural gas development in the United States.

Facilitator: Dan Randolph, EARTHWORKS

Video of panel 7.

View speaker bios.

View additional information

3:15 pm

Break

3:30 pm

Next Steps (How do we support each other and move our issues?)

This final session will provide participants with the opportunity to break into small groups and discuss strategies to help us in our work (e.g., techniques for getting out our messages; strategies to increase protections at the federal level, ideas on how to support local and state initiatives, and other strategies).

5:30 pm

Evening Reception

Hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar

6:30 pm

Dinner

7:00 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Josh Fox, Gasland filmmaker

Josh will be joining us via Skype, live from Australia.

7:45 pm

Summit Wrap-up: Jim Fitzgerald

8:00 pm

Music – Mon River Ramblers (CONFIRMED)/Social time