Hellbent Virtual Screening: One Community’s Fight to Stop a Fracking Waste Injection Well
Join us for a special virtual screening of the documentary film Hellbent and a discussion with the filmmakers and those involved in the fight to protect Grant Township, PA from a fracking waste injection well.
Hellbent tells the story of one town’s epic fight to prevent a fracking waste injection well from being built in their community. The toxic fracking wastewater threatened the Little Mahoning Creek, the community’s water source and the last refuge of the hellbender salamander.
We’ll watch the short 19-minute film together before jumping into the panel discussion. You’ll also have the option to watch the film in advance here.
The moderated discussion will dive deeper into the community’s battle, the implications of their story for other injection well cases, and the science and ongoing advocacy surrounding fracking wastewater pollution.
At the end of the discussion, we'll share ways to take action and have the opportunity for audience members to record special messages of encouragement to Judy and Stacey Wanchisn, the Grant Township residents who are still battling to stop the injection well!
Discussion Panel:
Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance (Moderator)
Justin Grubb, Hellbent Film Co-Director
Chad Nicholson, Pennsylvania Community Organizer from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Matthew Kaunert, Hellbender biologist & P.h.D candidate at the University of Ohio
The panel will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and those involved.
The screening is hosted by FracTracker Alliance and Halt the Harm Network.
More about Hellbent:
In 2013, a mother and daughter living in Grant Township, Pennsylvania, heard that a fracking company wanted to build a wastewater injection well near the Little Mahoning Creek, their town’s only source of fresh water and one of the last refuges of the endangered eastern hellbender salamander. Judy and Stacey Wanchisn rallied their community against the project out of fear of the threats it posed to the Little Mahoning.
With many communities feeling alone and helpless in their fight to protect the ecosystems they rely on from exploitation, Grant Township serves as proof that even a small group of regular people can protect natural resources from large-scale threats.