Meet a CCANer: Hannah Laub

Hannah Laub is CCAN’s Virginia Grassroots Coordinator. Here’s her story.

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Hi there! I was born in raised in Charlottesville, Virginia. I left VA for the first time when I went to Kenyon College in Ohio, where I studied Sociology and Studio Art. After college, I did two years of Americorps – first in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then in Seattle, Washington. About a year ago, I came back to Virginia and am happy to be back in the place I call home.

What woke you up to the climate crisis?

I went to Baton Rouge in 2016, when Louisiana experienced unprecedented flooding. I worked in a middle school, and our students were out for a week because the flooding caused destruction throughout the city. People lost their homes, businesses, and cars. Some had relocated to Baton Rouge from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, only to face the impact of climate change all over again. I spent that week gutting out people’s homes and working at donation centers, and even when students were back at school, the flood’s devastation lingered. It was shocking to see the impact three days of rain had on an entire community, and specifically how it impacted my students’ chances to have a happy, healthy school year.

What impacts of climate change currently hit home to you? 

For me, the way climate change impacts public health really hits home. The air we breathe and the water we drink have a real impact on our health, and low-income communities are hit the hardest with these problems.

What brought you to CCAN? 

I love CCAN’s concentration on justice and their belief in the power of grassroots resistance. 

What has inspired you most working with CCAN?

The people! It really gives me hope to see the way CCANers advocate for our communities and the meaningful connections they make.

What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that youare most proud of?

I just joined CCAN, so this answer will evolve. But for my previous job, I registered high school students to vote and helped them conduct get out the vote campaigns in their schools. So many of the students I worked with passionately cared about climate change. (That was truly the #1 issue students consistently brought up!) I’m hoping that by getting them more civically engaged, they will become lifetime advocates for climate justice.

What do you hope to see happen in terms of climate in the next year?

I hope that the pipelines continue to meet resistance and eventually stop construction. I also hope VA comes closer to adopting a clean energy policy, because we could be doing a lot better.

What do you like to do when you’re not working on climate change?

I love all things outdoors – hiking, swimming, just hanging out outside! I also try to stay active and make time to be creative by watercoloring and doing embroidery. I love spending time with friends and family, but my true love is eating.

Who would you high five?

Edward Scissorhands

Maryland Fracking Ban To Become Law, With Nationwide Implications

Senate passes bill with GOP governor support, following six years of grassroots resistance across the state of Maryland

ANNAPOLIS – With game-changing support from Republican Governor Larry Hogan, the Maryland state Senate Monday night gave final approval to a bill to forever ban the practice of fracking in Maryland. This move culminates years of protests against fracking for gas from landowners, health leaders, and environmentalists. It also sets a nationally significant precedent as other states grapple with the dangerous drilling method.

Maryland will now become the first state in America with proven gas reserves to ban fracking by legislative action. New York has banned the drilling process via executive order. Vermont has a statutory ban but the state has no frackable gas reserves at present.

The Maryland ban is sending political waves across the East Coast and the nation. From Virginia (where leaders have imposed or proposed local bans at the county and municipal level) to the state of Florida (which is looking to follow Maryland’s statewide ban), the “keep-it-in-the-ground” movement is gaining new bipartisan steam even as President Donald Trump recklessly works to approve disastrous pipelines like Keystone XL.

“Let the news go forth to Congress and the White House: fracking can never be done safely,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The Republican governor closest to DC – Larry Hogan of Maryland – has joined scientists and health leaders in agreeing that fracking must be banned. This is a win for Marylanders and for citizens nationwide as we move away from violent fossil fuels and toward sustainable wind and solar power.”

With Senate passage late Monday night, the Maryland bill will now be sent to Gov. Hogan’s desk in the next few days for signing.

The push to ban fracking in Maryland began six years ago as gas companies swarmed into western Maryland to tap the Marcellus Shale basin. This is the same pool of gas that has been widely fracked in Pennsylvania and West Virginia with negative consequences. But then-Governor Martin O’Malley (D) imposed a temporary moratorium before any drilling occurred. Over the years, the movement for a permanent ban came to include farmers, doctors, students, faith leaders, environmental groups, and others – constituting the largest statewide grassroots movement ever seen in Maryland on an energy issue. Former member of the House of Delegates Heather Mizeur was a leading figure in sparking the statewide ban effort. With time, multiple counties and cities in the state banned fracking locally and public polling consistently showed growing support for a statewide ban. Finally, earlier this month, with overwhelming support among Democratic lawmakers, even the previously pro-fracking Republican governor saw the wisdom of a ban.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network has been honored to play a leading role in this campaign along with our friends in the Don’t Frack Maryland Coalition, including Food and Water Watch, Citizen Shale, Engage Mountain Maryland, the Sierra Club, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Physicians for Social Responsibility and many others.

The Maryland fracking ban bill also could not have succeeded without the extraordinary leadership of Kumar Barve (D-Montgomery County) and David Fraser-Hildago (D-Montgomery County) in the Maryland House of Delegates. The same must be said of Bobby Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) and Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George’s County) in the Maryland Senate. But Senator Zirkin, more than any other legislator, fought tirelessly for the fracking ban and refused to compromise on the road to this historic victory.

CONTACT: Denise Robbins; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 608-620-8819

Senators, Local Elected Officials, Business Owners and Activists Showcase Wide Support For Fracking Ban Before Key Legislative Hearing

200+ Maryland business owners call for statewide fracking ban

ANNAPOLIS — Elected officials, business owners and dozens of activists from across the state gathered today to demand a ban on fracking in anticipation of a Senate committee hearing on the bill. The group also delivered to senators a letter from more than 200 Maryland businesses owners in support of the ban. The letter states in part, ”Fracking follows a boom-bust cycle that leaves communities burdened with health problems, damaged infrastructure, and a weaker economy in the long term.”
Additionally, more than 35,000 petitions and letters from Maryland residents in support of a fracking ban were presented to the General Assembly today. The petitions were gathered by Chesapeake Climate Action Network, CREDO Action, Food & Water Watch, Maryland Sierra Club, Maryland League of Conservation Voters, and other grassroots members of the Don’t Frack Maryland coalition.
“We need to take a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to fracking in Maryland. We have one shot to prevent the pollution, local economic disruption and public health crises associated with dangerous drilling from destroying our state,” said Sen. Bobby Zirkin (D-11). “The type of damage that fracking causes is irreversible. You can count on me to honor the wishes of Maryland residents; that’s why I introduced a fracking ban.”
“Fracking needs to be banned in Maryland so that we can protect our tourism industry in Garrett County,” said Steve Green, owner of High Mountain Sports in Oakland. “People come here to experience the outdoors and enjoy our beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure fracking and tourism are not compatible.”
Senators Anthony C. Muse (D-26), Bobby Zirkin (D-11), Barbara A. Robinson (D-40) and Shirley Nathan-Pulliam (D-44) spoke at a press conference echoing support for a fracking ban and urging quick passage. About half of the entire General Assembly has already co-sponsored the fracking ban bill.
“We cannot allow fracking companies to come into our communities, poison our water, and pollute our air,” said Sen. Barbara Robinson (D-40). “We’ve seen what has happened to our neighbors in Pennsylvania, where drinking water contamination is the norm. I will stand by the people of Maryland in their overwhelming support for a ban on fracking. I strongly support the passage of Senate Bill 740 for a statewide ban.”
“I strongly support a total ban on fracking in Maryland,” stated Sen. Ron Young (D-3). “The oil and gas companies want to start fracking in October, despite the fact that fracking poses real threats to our citizens’ drinking water, environment, and health. Furthermore, fracking would jeopardize the tourism industry in Western Maryland, where the state has spent tens of millions of dollars on outdoor recreation. The risks are simply too great. To protect our public health, we should ban fracking once and for all.”
The fracking ban bill is supported by dozens of counties and municipalities, which together represent over two-thirds of Maryland’s population, that have passed local fracking bans or resolutions supporting a statewide ban.
“The Mountain Lake Park Town Council, of which I am a member, voted some three years ago to pass an ordinance banning fracking within our town limits, fearing that the practice could easily jeopardize our town’s water supply. The ordinance passed by a unanimous vote by the members of our council and our mayor, every one of whom are natives of Garrett County,” said Don Sincell, Member of Town Council, Mountain Lake, MD. “It is my great hope that the state legislature follows our lead in order to protect Maryland in general, and Garrett County in particular.”              
“The Western Maryland Delegation is doing democracy an injustice by turning a deaf ear to the growing mountain of public opposition to fracking and scientific evidence on the risks fracking poses to our communities and environment,” said Woody Getz, Frostburg Commissioner of Public Works. “Communities and businesses in Maryland deserve to be protected by their elected officials. It’s time for the General Assembly to ban fracking and heed the will of the people.”
The rally took place shortly before the Maryland Senate will begin debating two bills about the drilling practice. Attendees expressed concern that even “gold-standard” regulations would fail to adequately protect public health,the environment or the growing tourism industry in Western Maryland.
“More than 200 business owners across Maryland, including myself, have signed a letter supporting a ban on fracking because we know that fracking will never be safe,” stated Nadine Grabania, owner of Deep Creek Cellars in Garrett County. “If the General Assembly allows fracking to begin, thousands of jobs and western Maryland’s thriving tourism and agriculture industries would be jeopardized—and the value of both commercial and residential property will be threatened. Business owners know that we cannot afford the risks.
Polling shows that voters across party lines in Maryland support legislation to ban fracking by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a poll conducted by OpinionWorks. Polling from The Washington Post similarly found that 60 percent of Maryland voters oppose fracking.
Advocates from across the state in support of a fracking ban will gather for a mass mobilization in Annapolis on Thursday, March 2. The “March on Annapolis to Ban Fracking Now” is expected to draw hundreds into the streets, and will feature leaders from across the progressive movement, including Ben Jealous, former head of the NAACP, and Reverend Lennox Yearwood of Hip Hop Caucus.
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Why I'm Marching To Ban Fracking In Maryland

Guest post from Elisabeth Hoffman of HoCo Climate Change
When I march Thursday for a fracking ban, I’ll be calling on Maryland to heed the warning of the canary that is Pennsylvania. And West Virginia, Colorado, Oklahoma and the others.
No state has gotten fracking right, because fracking can’t be made safe or even safe enough.
Everywhere this industry goes, residents rise up to defend their homes and farms, their children and pets, and their forests and towns from the noise and lighting, the truck traffic and ruined roads, the polluted air and water, and even earthquakes. No regulations are sufficient to corral the fracking industry.
Other states let industry experiment on their communities. From studies in fracked areas, we know that fracking is linked to increases in asthma attacks; preterm births and high-risk pregnancies; anxiety, fatigue, migraines and sinus ailments; and hospitalizations for heart and neurological problems. New research finds a link between fracking and a form of childhood leukemia. Thanks to documents from a freedom of information request, we are also learning that Pennsylvania officials suppressed thousands of residents’ complaints about water contamination and other problems. We know too that much damage remains hidden in legal settlements: Industry pays up only after residents take a vow of silence about what happened.  
Along with the fracking come the pipelines and compressor stations and export factories that bring yet more destruction to towns, fields and forests; spikes of toxic pollution, and threats from explosions. Communities must fight not only industry but the rubber-stamping Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has cozy ties to industry and refuses to take into account the cumulative damage from these fracked-gas projects. In Pennsylvania, for example, residents are rebelling against the 350-mile Mariner East pipeline that will take fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale to export for Scotland to make plastics, of all things; the 124-mile Constitution pipeline that slashed through a sugar maple forest, before it was denied key approvals; and the nearly 200-mile-long Atlantic Sunrise pipeline, slated to cut through preserved farmland and communities in Lancaster and four other counties. Lancaster-area opponents have built The Stand, a wooden watchtower in the path of construction that will be the base for peaceful resistance should Williams Corp. show up.
My county, Howard, is one of only four in Maryland with no shale gas underground. Yet even here, fracking is elbowing its way in. Williams plans to expand and modernize a half-century-old compressor station to connect with that contentious Atlantic Sunrise project. And so we are joined quite literally to our friends fighting this pipeline. Maryland, too, must make a stand. We can’t let the fracking industry invade our state.
Of course, along with the fracking and the infrastructure comes the climate-disrupting methane, which is on the rise in fracked Pennsylvania. Fracked gas is no bridge fuel for our climate emergency.
Fracking and building pipelines is like installing more phone landlines – but with the added dangers. We need to be done with these antiquated fossil fuels, not doubling down on them.
What’s clear is that cheap fracked gas (and oil) is an oxymoron from industry’s playbook of alternate facts. Industry won’t pay for the lifetime of medical bills. Or clean up the air, soil and water. Or compensate for carved-up forests or climate chaos. Or monitor the toxic water it leaves underground.  Or cover the losses to the tourism industry and property values. These costs and much more remain off the industry’s books, instead showing up in our community and household balance sheets.
Even the prospect of fracking is discouraging investment in Western Maryland’s tourism businesses. Industry is fighting this ban too hard – with ads and in the state legislature – for us to be persuaded (as some have claimed) that it has little interest in Maryland. Perhaps industry just doesn’t want to be told what to do.
Yet that’s exactly what we must do. Maryland is where we say no to the whole fracking package. Instead, we’ll invest in renewables and efficiency. As a friend in fracked Pennsylvania says: “Good neighbors don’t ask you to put yourself in harm’s way so they can turn a profit. Good neighbors don’t engage in practices that may have long-term consequences for the health and welfare of the community. Good neighbors are neighborly. They don’t knowingly pollute the air, soil and water. They don’t ruin roads and disturb tranquility. Good neighbors are invested in the community, less interested in extracting wealth than building lasting bonds. Good neighbors leave a place better for having been there.”
Join me this Thursday in marching to ban fracking in Maryland.
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VIDEO: To ban fracking once and for all, we need YOU to march on Annapolis

On March 2nd, concerned citizens, business owners, health professionals, and activists from across the state will gather for the “March on Annapolis to Ban Fracking” in Maryland. This comes at a crucial time as the current moratorium on fracking is set to expire in October. Without a ban, oil and l gas companies will be free to move in, threatening the health, economy, and environment of communities all across the state.
Watch these citizens explain why they plan to march in Annapolis:

“You want to get things done properly you have to engage your government.”

Fracking has been linked to dangerous health impacts, and has been proven to contaminate water hundreds of times in neighboring Pennsylvania. Fracking also brings us one step closer to climate disaster through the burning and leakage of the powerful greenhouse gas methane. “It’s going to impact the entire state, because watersheds and air move beyond boundaries,” said one citizen.
So, what are we, the active citizens, to do? Every one of us can make our voice heard by rallying and marching in Annapolis on March 2nd.
Hope to see you there!