Berks Gas Truth is a local activist group in eastern Pennsylvania that protests natural gas drilling and pipelines. ¹ Berks Gas Truth has partnered with a wide range of national and local environmentalist activist groups to organize protests and issue open letters calling for bans on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), a method of natural gas drilling; ² cancellations of natural gas pipelines; ³ and increased federal regulation of the domestic oil and gas industries. ⁴ These partners include Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Earthworks, United for Action, Earth Justice, Sierra Club, and Clean Water Action, along with many others.

Berks Gas Truth is a coalition member of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking  ⁵ and signed a petition supporting the Green New Deal. ⁶

Founding and History

Berks Gas Truth, operating out of Berks County in eastern Pennsylvania, was founded in 2010 by Karen Feridun to protest natural gas drilling and pipelines. The group claims to have 600 members. ⁷

Feridun was also a founding member of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking and is a contributor at HuffPost. ⁸ She previously worked as vice-chair of the Kutztown Planning Commission, a committee member for the Berks County Democratic Party, and a campaign worker for President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. ⁹

Berks Gas Truth is also a coalition member of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking. ¹⁰

Activities

Berks Gas Truth has been involved in several protests, as well as penning multiple open letters of protest. In November 2011, Berks Gas Truth participated in an anti-pipeline rally in West Trenton, New Jersey, along with Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Earthworks, New Jersey Sierra Club, United for Action, and other activist groups. ¹¹ The same month, Berks Gas Truth co-authored a letter with Earth Justice, Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, some of the other participants in the West Trenton protest, and other national and local activist groups calling for increased EPA regulation of the oil and gas industries. ¹²

In June 2013, Berks Gas Truth organized a protest inside the Pennsylvania state capitol building, along with many of their previous national and local partners, to demand a complete ban on domestic natural gas drilling. ¹³

In 2014, now-U.S. Representative Scott Perry (R-PA), who at the time was an official for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, wrote an op-ed criticizing Berks Gas Truth and accusing them of misrepresenting information. Responding to a Berks Gas Truth article alleging that hydraulic fracturing pollutes the water supply, Perry cited a National Academy of Sciences study carried out by academics at Duke, Ohio State, Stanford, Dartmouth, and University of Rochester, which demonstrated that water pollution was caused by poor well construction rather than hydraulic fracturing itself. He called Berks Gas Truth’s claims “inaccurate” and “misleading.” ¹⁴

In May 2017, Berks Gas Truth’s founder Karen Feridun wrote an article attacking then-President Donald Trump’s appointments to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission, as well as the Commission’s regulatory authority in general. ¹⁵

Berks Gas Truth is also a signatory of a petition supporting the Green New Deal. ¹⁶

1. Karen Feridun. Comment on webpage “Contact Us.” February 9, 2013. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://gastruth.org/?page_id=896.
2.  Stephanie Penn Spear. “Fracking, Fracking, and More Fracking.” HuffPost. June 25, 2013. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fracking-fracking-and-more-fracking_b_3492120.
3. “Rally for the Delaware River Watershed Groups to Governors and President Obama: Vote No to Protect our Water and Communities from Drilling and Fracking.” Delaware Riverkeeper Network. November 21, 2011. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.riverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/News-Release-Rally-Dayfinal11.21.pdf.
4.  Letter to Lisa Jackson. Earth Justice. November 30, 2011. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/nspsshortcomments.pdf.
5. “Members.” Pennsylvanians Against Fracking. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.paagainstfracking.org/members/.
6. “Green New Deal Hub.” Influence Watch. https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/green-new-deal/.
7. “BGT News.” Berks Gas Truth. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://gastruth.org/?page_id=63.
8. Karen Feridun. “What FERC is and Why It Matters.” HuffPost. May 30, 2017. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-ferc-is-and-why-it-matters_b_592df000e4b075342b52c114.
9. “Karen Feridun.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenferidun/details/experience/.
10. “Members.” Pennsylvanians Against Fracking. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.paagainstfracking.org/members/.
11. “Rally for the Delaware River Watershed Groups to Governors and President Obama: Vote No to Protect our Water and Communities from Drilling and Fracking.” Delaware Riverkeeper Network. November 21, 2011. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.riverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/News-Release-Rally-Dayfinal11.21.pdf.
12. Letter to Lisa Jackson. Earth Justice. November 30, 2011. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/nspsshortcomments.pdf.
13. Stephanie Penn Spear. “Fracking, Fracking, and More Fracking.” HuffPost. June 25, 2013. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fracking-fracking-and-more-fracking_b_3492120.
14. Scott Perry. “DEP Official Defends Agency’s Record on Gas Drilling Against ‘Inaccurate’ Critics: PennLive Letters.” PennLive. September 19, 2014. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2014/09/dep_official_defends_record_on.html.
15. Karen Feridun. “The Senate FERCed Us.” HuffPost. August 5, 2017. Accessed May 16, 2023. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-senate-ferced-us_b_59854b48e4b0f2c7d93f55f4
16. “Green New Deal Hub.” Influence Watch. https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/green-new-deal/.