Uploaded March 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
DescriptionOne of the best-known anti-fracking activists appeared in Susquehanna County Court Monday, in an attempt to get a judge to lift an injunction that restricts her from setting foot on forty percent of that county. Ayla Ferrone reports:
Vera Scroggins has been giving citizen tours of natural gas drilling sites in Susquehanna County for the last 5 years.
"Ms. Scroggins has been trying to do what she does, exposing the harmful practices, within the bounds of the law as best she can," said Scott Michelman, of Public Citizen.
But Cabot Oil and Gas claims that Scroggins hasn't been following the law at all. An injunction issued last October banned her from land owned and leased by the company. Cabot is now narrowing the ban to active drilling sites.
"We don't think there should be an injunction at all, but to the extent the judge indicated, he would be imposing one. We've advocated for something far narrower that would respect Vera's rights, and not chill other advocates," said Michelman.
Cabot claims the injunction has nothing to do with Scroggins' anti-fracking views, but that it's more an issue of safety.
"She is absolutely free to have her opinion. She can write about it. She can call people. She just can't bring busloads of people to a location where there are active operations going on," said George Stark, Director of External Affairs, Cabot Oil and Gas.
Scroggins says the real danger is not the active work sites, but the environmental impact she believes gas drilling has on the environment.
"We are not being protected. And we need to be outraged and we need to speak up...Cabot is a danger to our community. And I'm willing to expose myself to that danger to show people, and the world, what is happening to us.
Scroggins says she's willing to do anything to get her point across, even if it means going to jail. But landowners say they're willing to fight back as well.
"There's no reason to trespass on drill sites...I as a personal landowner don't prefer to have someone trespassing on my property and putting themselves in danger," said Kelly Harding, of Franklin Forks, PA.
Harding has two drill pads within a half mile of her home in Franklin Forks Pennsylvania, says she's ready to present a landowner petition to the judge if it means keeping Scroggins off her property. The entire list of Pennsylvania water contaminations from fracking. files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/Regional_Determination_Letters.pdf
DescriptionOne of the best-known anti-fracking activists appeared in Susquehanna County Court Monday, in an attempt to get a judge to lift an injunction that restricts her from setting foot on forty percent of that county. Ayla Ferrone reports:
Vera Scroggins has been giving citizen tours of natural gas drilling sites in Susquehanna County for the last 5 years.
"Ms. Scroggins has been trying to do what she does, exposing the harmful practices, within the bounds of the law as best she can," said Scott Michelman, of Public Citizen.
But Cabot Oil and Gas claims that Scroggins hasn't been following the law at all. An injunction issued last October banned her from land owned and leased by the company. Cabot is now narrowing the ban to active drilling sites.
"We don't think there should be an injunction at all, but to the extent the judge indicated, he would be imposing one. We've advocated for something far narrower that would respect Vera's rights, and not chill other advocates," said Michelman.
Cabot claims the injunction has nothing to do with Scroggins' anti-fracking views, but that it's more an issue of safety.
"She is absolutely free to have her opinion. She can write about it. She can call people. She just can't bring busloads of people to a location where there are active operations going on," said George Stark, Director of External Affairs, Cabot Oil and Gas.
Scroggins says the real danger is not the active work sites, but the environmental impact she believes gas drilling has on the environment.
"We are not being protected. And we need to be outraged and we need to speak up...Cabot is a danger to our community. And I'm willing to expose myself to that danger to show people, and the world, what is happening to us.
Scroggins says she's willing to do anything to get her point across, even if it means going to jail. But landowners say they're willing to fight back as well.
"There's no reason to trespass on drill sites...I as a personal landowner don't prefer to have someone trespassing on my property and putting themselves in danger," said Kelly Harding, of Franklin Forks, PA.
Harding has two drill pads within a half mile of her home in Franklin Forks Pennsylvania, says she's ready to present a landowner petition to the judge if it means keeping Scroggins off her property. The entire list of Pennsylvania water contaminations from fracking. files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/Regional_Determination_Letters.pdf
