Dear President Obama Page #2

to ever come in to office

because look what we gave you."

He's trying to have it

both ways.

You know,

please the oil and gas industry

uh, lower energy prices

by producing more oil and gas.

But on the other hand, uh

regulate the coal industry

to reduce emissions.

It's not that simple.

Solutions to our

energy quandary

are available today.

But what is required is a plan.

A vision...a bold leader.

Last year, the world

came together in Paris

to define a new energy future

and to agree on a plan

to reduce climate

damaging emissions

nation by nation.

Urgency was given

to the gathering

by the common knowledge

that this could be

our last moment to act

to save much of what

we hold most precious

and to pass on a planet

worthy of our children.

[applause]

What was accomplished in Paris

late in 2015, was a good start

but what now?

These are the tar-balls..

As this president shapes

his environmental legacy

and as the next president

prepares to pick up

where he's left off..

..we want to introduce you

to some of those

17 million people

across the country

that have paid a price

for the boom

in extreme energy extraction.

It is their stories

that will hopefully

inform and hasten

our next moves

toward a clean

energy revolution.

Pennsylvania claims the very

first commercial oil well

in the US, going back

over a hundred years.

More recently,

it has become ground zero

in the fight over fracking.

Health complaints and evidence

of contaminated water and air

showed up here

soon after the boom began.

The negatives of fracking

are causing many residents

to reconsider the long held

pro-drilling mentality

that once reigned

in the Keystone State.

I don't see any...

problem with drilling.

I mean, I think, I think

probably

when they started drilling

a number of years ago,

they were not doing it well

and the wells weren't cast

in a great way

and the chemicals

that were going down the wells

probably weren't healthy, and..

I mean, I'm sure

that there were some..

...there were some issues back,

years and years ago but..

...but today, drilling today

and how they do it

I think they're doing it

very responsible.

[instrumental music]

When the first hydraulic

fracturing operators

came to Pennsylvania

in the mid 2000's

they didn't take out billboards

to announce the new process.

Secrecy is one of

the industry's primary tools.

That secrecy is understandable.

Fracking involves blasting

millions of gallons

of fresh water

mixed with a toxic slurry

of chemicals and sand

to blow apart the shale

and extract the gas

trapped inside.

Every frack is like a bomb

a mile or two

beneath the surface.

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