"Time Out" On LNG Exports Is Sought From Obama Administration

Major New York Times Ad Outlines Case Against Massive Increase in U.S. Fracking to Produce Liquefied Natural Gas for Use in China, Other Nations

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a major issue advertisement (http://bit.ly/12nwRgq) appearing in today's New York Times, more than 40 groups and high-profile individuals are calling on President Obama to take a "time out" in the headlong run to export more than 40 percent of America's natural gas for use by other nations.

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The ad – signed by the Civil Society Institute, Sierra Club, Physicians Scientists Engineers for Healthy Energy, "Gasland" director Josh Fox, actor Mark Ruffalo and many others – urges Americans to go to http://www.TimeOutLNGexports.org to tell President Obama to take a closer look at liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

The full text of the ad reads as follows:

"PRESIDENT OBAMA, AMERICA NEEDS A TIMEOUT ON NATURAL GAS EXPORTS. NOW.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION MAY CLEAR THE WAY FOR ENERGY COMPANIES TO SHIP MORE THAN 40% OF AMERICA'S NATURAL GAS OVERSEAS. IS THIS REALLY A GOOD IDEA?

Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to overseas markets will mean more drilling and fracking on US land, which are dirty and dangerous practices. Exports will allow the gas industry to make billions of dollars at the expense of our communities and public health.

Gas exports will mean higher energy costs for consumers and American industries. Jobs could end up being shipped overseas.

The extraction and transport of natural gas release huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, adding to climate change and continuing our reliance on dirty fossil fuels instead of clean energy solutions. Americans demand that the Obama administration take a timeout and look closely at all the risks before permitting American gas to be shipped overseas.

Go to http://www.TimeOutLNGexports.org  to tell President Obama to take a closer look at LNG exports."

The organizations signing the ad are: Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy; NY Chefs for the Marcellus; Chesapeake Climate Action Network-MD; Civil Society Institute; ClimateMama (Harriet Shugarman, Executive Director); Coal River Mountain Watch; Community Environmental Defense Council; Delaware Riverkeeper Network (Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper); Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition; Earthworks (Jennifer Krill, Executive Director); EcoWatch (Stefanie Penn Spear); Environmental Working Group; Food & Water Watch Keep Cochecton Green-NY; Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; Northern Plains Resource Council;  Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition-WV; Otsego 2000-NY; Physicians Scientists Engineers for Healthy Energy; Post Carbon Institute (Asher Miller, Executive Director) Powder River Basin-WY (John Fenton, Chariman, Board of Directors); Responsible Drilling Alliance;  Sierra Club; Sullivan Area Citizens for Responsible Energy Development-NY;  TEDX-The Endocrine Disruption Exchange; The Mothers Project/Mothers for Sustainable Energy (Angela Monti Fox, Founder);  Western Colorado Congress; Western Organization of Resource Councils.

The individual signers are: Jannette M. Barth, PhD, Pepacton Institute LLC; Kitty Burns; Josh Fox, Director, Gasland;  PeterGleick, CEO, Pacific Institute; Andrew Jennis, MD; John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center; Michael Lang, Music Producer; Eric London, MD; Stephanie Low; Mark Ruffalo, Actor; Poune Saberi, MD, MPH; and Debra Winger, Actor.

SOURCE Civil Society Institute, Washington, D.C.