1,000 signatures reached
To: American Lung Association CEO Harold Wimmer and Board of Directors
American Lung Association: Cut Fossil Fuel Ties and Come Clean!
Petition Text
- Denounce fracking because it's a lung health-destroying corporate activity.
- Sever all ties with board members, advisers, and volunteers from within the fossil fuel industry.
- Live up to your own mission.
Why is this important?
The negative health impacts of fracking are scientifically proven. The ALA acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing for "natural" gas trapped in shale (fracking) causes cancer-causing air pollution. But after receiving hefty donations from a fracking corporation, it now promotes gas as "cleaner than other fossil fuels."
Those supporting ALA campaigns deserve to know the shameful truth: The ALA has partnered with the fossil fuel industry — which contributes greatly to air pollution and respiratory diseases.
The ALA in 2012: "We have seen irrefutable evidence of serious threats to human health from air pollutants emitted during oil and natural gas production. These pollutants can worsen asthma, cause heart attacks, and harm the circulatory, respiratory, [and] nervous . . . systems. They are also linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and even premature death.”
The ALA reversed course when it received a big donation from Canadian corporation Encana Oil & Gas in support of its “Fighting for Air” campaign against coal (and supporting gas as a “cleaner” fuel).
From the ALA statement supporting “natural” gas:
The ALA "supports the increased use of natural gas as a transitional fuel for the production of electricity. . . ."
Wimmer and the national board of the ALA make a mockery of the thousands of dedicated local chapter leaders, staff, and volunteers, whose efforts on various campaigns have saved untold numbers of lives.
The ALA should not play politics or partner with fossil-fuel pushers.
The only logical remedy is for the ALA to come clean — by denouncing fracking as the intolerable lung health-destroying corporate activity it is; severing all ties with board members, advisers, and volunteers from within the fossil fuel industry; and living up to its own mission.