Hands Across Riverdale—Save the Riverdale Mobile Home Park from Fracking Industry
Save the Riverdale Mobile Home Park!
The suffering of Riverdale Mobile Home Park residents in Jersey Shore, PA, has been met with indifference by Aqua America, a company partnered with Penn Virginia Resources (PVR) that plans to build a three million gallon per day water withdrawal site to service natural gas drilling beginning June 1. In the process, Aqua America is displacing more than thirty families in the park's tightly knit community.
Aqua America refuses to sit down and negotiate in good faith despite repeated written attempts by the residents' representation and advocates. As a result, a refugee crisis in Jersey Shore is about to worsen and only a movement of the residents and their neighbors can stop it.
Join us for Hands Across Riverdale, a vigil on Thursday, May 31, from 6 to 7 p.m. and stay to support the residents when construction begins the next morning. Plenty of space will be available for camping. The location is 7 Riverdale Ln., Jersey Shore, PA 17740.
We demand that Aqua America sit down with the residents and their representation to negotiate a fair deal that permits the residents to remain living at Riverdale Mobile Home Park with just compensation and the right for all residents to return home who have already left.
We demand that representatives from the Obama administration, and governors Tom Corbett (PA), Martin O'Malley (MD) and Andrew Cuomo (NY) recall Aqua America's water withdrawal permit, that they approved in March, at the next Susquehanna River Basin Commission meeting in Harrisburg, PA, on June 7.
At every level, decision makers have failed the Riverdale Mobile Home Park residents and those responsible must be held accountable.
Actions You Can Take, in addition to attending Hands Across Riverdale:
...if you are an Aqua America customer, send a note, pay only a portion or do not pay your next water bill until the residents of Riverdale Mobile Home Park are permitted to stay.
...if you are a resident of New York or Maryland, call your governor: Gov. Cuomo at 518-474-8390 or Gov. O'Malley at 410-974-5041 and demand that the permit for Aqua America in Piatt Township, (Jersey Shore) PA be withdrawn at the June 7 Susquehanna River Basin Commission meeting.
...if you are an Obama supporter or campaign worker, call the campaign headquarters at 312-698-3670, White House at 202-456-1111 and Democratic National Committee at 202-863-8000, and remind them that Pennsylvania is a swing state in the November election and that the Obama administration must recall the Aqua America permit in Piatt Township, (Jersey Shore) PA with his vote at the June 7 Susquehanna River Basin Commission meeting.
...if you are a Drexel University student, faculty, alumni or staff, call 215-895-2000 and ask to be forwarded to the Office of the President John Fry. Tell President Fry that Nicholas DeBenedictis, a Trustee of the university, is the CEO of Aqua America, a company that is evicting families from the Riverdale Mobile Home Park and should no longer be trusted or honored with the title of trustee.
...if you are a resident of southeast PA, drop off a letter, flowers, prayers, artwork and thoughts for Nick DeBenedictis, CEO of Aqua America at his mansion at 231 Golfview Rd, Ardmore, PA 19003 and explain the situation to his neighbors, or do the same at Aqua America's headquarters, 762 West Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA.
Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.