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June 3, 2011
THE MARCELLUS ACADEMY ~ June 18-19, 2011 at WV Wesleyan College ~ Presented by the WV Sierra Club
The Marcellus Academy is a weekend of presentations and workshops about Marcellus shale gas drilling in WV presented by the WV Sierra Club. The purpose of the Marcellus Academy is to educate volunteer activists about the facts and impacts of drilling with horizontal hydraulic fracturing and to train them on how to work in their communities and build grassroots support for meaningful regulation.
All of your expenses for the workshop (lodging, meals, mileage) will be covered by WV Sierra Club, however space is limited and only a limited number of registrations will be accepted. Applicants should be willing to organize in their communities by talking to neighbors, holding meetings, giving presentations, organizing house parties…..generally serving as a leader for building public support. The training will also equip you to enlist others to help you with these tasks.
The program will run from 10AM Saturday, June 18 until 3PM Sunday, June 19 at WV Wesleyan College in Buckhannon.
Trainers have backgrounds in politics, lobbying, geology, organizing and activism. There will be sessions on direct action organizing, including identifying goals, targets, strategies and tactics; how to do house parties, letters to the editor, planning events and news media. Saturday evening “entertainment” will be videos of experts from other states and documentary films. Sunday, trainees will do actual planning, report-backs, role playing, and then refining action plans.
There is limited space so only a limited number of registrations will be accepted. Applicants will be considered based primarily on geographical region, resulting in new organizers in as many regions as possible. We do hope to see more than one person from a community, so they can be a team, but the number will depend on applications from the rest of the state.
If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity to grow our numbers and create a strong, intelligent response to the challenge of Marcellus drilling in our communities, please contact Chuck Wyrostock, Sierra Club Outreach Coordinator at 877-252-0257 or outreach@marcellus-wv.com. Since space is limited, please respond as soon as possible listing your name, address, county, phone number and email.
If you cannot attend but know of someone in your community who fits the guidelines and could benefit from the training, please let Chuck know. Again, they should be people who can make a clear commitment to do what it takes to build grassroots support on their home turf.
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