On Saturday, February 11, several Moscow area conservation organizations are hosting a series of events that describe and deliberate proposed natural gas drilling in Idaho using the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) method that has poisoned hundreds of water wells across the U.S.  Everyone is welcome at a 5 pm screening of the Emmy award winning movie Gasland, followed by a 6:30 pm community potluck and presentation by hydrogeologist Jerry Fairley, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 East Second Street in Moscow.  The Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition (PESC), Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), and the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club (PGSC) are co-sponsoring these gatherings.

Concurrently, Idaho Democratic legislators are touring our region and visiting their constituents through a Pizza, Politics, and Prosperity Drive.  Senate Minority Leader Edgar Malepeai, House Minority Leader John Rusche, Senator Dan Schmidt, Representative Shirley Ringo, and regional Democratic Party officials will be available to discuss their accountability and ethics initiatives and Idaho Jobs and Opportunity Blueprint package as well as your concerns and input.  Join them between 6 and 7:30 pm on February 11 in the Multipurpose Room of the Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center at 1724 East F Street in Moscow.

At 8 pm on that Saturday evening in the same room, PESC, WIRT, and PGSC invite our Palouse and university communities and Idaho legislators to participate in a public forum and panel discussion on fracking in Idaho.  Panelists knowledgeable about the scientific and policy aspects of hydraulic fracturing will lead our conceptual explorations.  We are honored to host two southern Idaho fracking activists, Amanda Buchanan and Liz Amason, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund organizer Kai Huschke, University of Idaho assistant professor/hydrogeologist Jerry Fairley, and Idaho Representative Tom Trail.

Please contact wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com or 208-301-8039 or visit the WildIdahoRisingTide.org website for more information and circulate the attached event flyer.  Attend all or part of this timely program, as Idaho citizens and our elected delegates together decide the future of oil and natural gas drilling in our state during the 2012 legislative session.