Delaware Riverkeeper Network launches anti-fracking ad campaign

The ads will be on billboards on I-95 in the coming days, and are already on SEPTA buses and subway platforms.

The message? That all those other ads out there from natural gas advocates are misleading. “We decided it was time to invest in a true information campaign to really try to get the facts out there for the communities about what gas drilling means for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and for all the communities that depend upon the Delaware River,” said Maya van Rossum is the Delaware Riverkeeper.  Industry advertising falsely claims that drinking water is unaffected by the drilling process, including hydrolic fracturing or fracking, said van Rossum.

“There are a number of instances of drinking water wells and drinking water supplies that are getting contaminated as a result of nearby drilling processes,” she said.She said the network chose Philly for the campaign because it’s downstream of much of the drilling activity. Travis Windle, spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, says drilling has not affected groundwater. “We’re certainly interested in a dialog based in facts and science,” said Windle, “and by all accounts these efforts by this out-of-the-mainstream group don’t seem to be based on either of those things.” Each organization calls the other’s ads “misinformation campaigns.” Now, though, you’ll see both sides while driving along the highway.