Environmental group targets Moffitt in new ad over fracking support

Here’s the video ad and press release from The North Carolina Environmental Partnership:

PRESS RELEASE:

TWO WESTERN NC STATE REPS’ VOTES POSE THREAT TO CLEAN AIR AND WATER, SAYS ACCOUNTABILITY CAMPAIGN

North Carolina Environmental Partnership Launches New TV Ads Spotlighting Western North Carolina State Representatives Tim Moffitt and Michelle Presnell for Fracking Votes.

ASHEVILLE, NC (June 24, 2014) – The North Carolina Environmental Partnership announced today that two Western North Carolina State Representatives – Reps. Tim Moffitt (Asheville) and Michelle Presnell (Burnsville) – are being held accountable for their support of new laws to rush fracking into North Carolina.

The coalition of groups represented by the North Carolina Environmental Partnership that has been waging an aggressive campaign to raise public awareness about state senators who vote against clean water safeguards is now expanding its reach to the NC House of Representatives. The campaign has featured massive television ad buys and direct mail focusing on a handful of senators – Chad Barefoot, Wesley Meredith, Ronald Rabin and Trudy Wade – primarily for their efforts to fast-track the rule-making process and lift the statewide moratorium on fracking. Now the so-called “Fracking Crew” will feature Reps Moffit and Presnell, who represent an area where some fracking may be considered.

In addition to the House Members from Western North Carolina, NC Environmental Partnership will begin airing additional TV spots this week looking at the recent anti-environmental votes of lawmakers from The Sandhills area of North Carolina, Reps. Mike Stone (Sanford) and Jamie Boles (Southern Pines).

Luis Martinez, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Asheville, said: “Our campaign holds accountable legislators who put polluters before public health and the environment. More people now know that fracking threatens drinking water and that chemicals used in fracking cause cancer. And our polling shows that the majority of North Carolinians oppose the rush to frack without proper safeguards in place.”

Maclean Asbill, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center and N.C. Environmental Partnership representative, said: “These House representatives’ votes are out of sync with their constituency, and out of sync with the views of most North Carolinians, who value clean air and clean water above the bottom line of the fracking industry. The NC Environmental Partnership was formed to hold elected officials accountable for helping polluters instead of NC families. Representatives Presnell and Moffitt voted to fast-track fracking, and their constituents who have legitimate concerns about this reckless form of drilling deserve to know that their representatives are leading the charge on this.”

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2 thoughts on “Environmental group targets Moffitt in new ad over fracking support

  1. This has to be one of the most disgusting ad campaigns I have ever seen. The DOE has done extensive research on fracking and proven it is safe. The NCEP is just afraid that something they don’t like will actually be approved and jobs will be created…without their oversight. The Mountain Express’s choice not to get any sort of quote from Mr. Moffitt and Ms. Presnell shows an unfair bias.

    You should be ashamed of yourself.

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