Better Path Coalition
The Better Path Coalition is a left-of-center environmental activist organization formed to oppose natural gas fracking and other conventional energy industries in Pennsylvania. The group was formed in 2018 as a pressure campaign targeting then-Governor Tom Wolf (D) to convince him to oppose fracking. Since its founding the group has organized several events and protests and opposed a variety of industrial projects. The group has been staunchly opposed to President Donald Trump, calling Trump a “Would-Be Dictator” and participating in the 2025 “No Kings” protests opposing the agenda of the second Trump administration. The coalition is comprised of several local-level activist groups, including Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and Climate Reality Project. 1 2 3
Contents
Background
The Better Path Coalition was formed in 2018 when several environmental activist groups in Pennsylvania sent a letter to then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D), calling on him to oppose the natural gas industry and promote tourism. The group also held protests at the state Capitol and outside events at which Wolf was speaking in opposition to Wolf’s administration’s support for expanding natural gas production in the state. 2
Activities
The campaign was initially called “Pennsylvania Fracking Health Impacts,” and initial press for the coalition included statements from left-wing activist actor and anti-fracking activist Mark Ruffalo. 4 Founders of the group included Karen Feridun, who was the organization’s primary contact as of 2025 and also led a local activist group called Berks Gas Truth at the time, and Tim Spiese of Lancaster Against Pipelines. 2
In addition to total opposition to pipeline construction and natural gas extraction, the group also condemns actions and policies with wide bipartisan support, including condemning a Pennsylvania State Senate Resolution that was adopted unanimously calling on Congress to support the development of an ethane storage hub. The group stated that “the Pennsylvania State Senate voted 49-0 to condemn Pennsylvanians, Ohioans, and West Virginians to more fracking, more pipelines, and more infrastructure and condemn everyone to an increasingly unlivable planet.” 2
The group strongly opposed a plan from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration called Restore PA, which included a severance tax plan to generate an additional $4.5 billion in state revenue from oil and gas projects. The Better Path Coalition called the plan a part of the governor’s “pro-natural gas and petrochemical agenda” and later conducted a pressure campaign against Franklin and Marshall College to withdraw a poll it published indicating the governor’s plan had broad support among voters. 5
The coalition has routinely employed radical rhetoric. In 2020 it hosted a “die-in” at the State Capitol in response to the adoption of bipartisan methane subsidies. The group stated that “PA legislature just passed a bipartisan suicide pact.” 6
The group has been similarly critical of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D), who was elected in 2022, and has organized several protests and publicity stunts critical of his stances on fracking and other environmental issues. When Shapiro signed a Carbon Capture and Storage bill, the group stated, “Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senator Gene Yaw’s controversial Carbon Capture and Storage bill, guaranteeing that Pennsylvania will not be part of any climate solution and condemning Pennsylvania communities now and in the future to increasing climate chaos while they endure the localized harms the fossil fuel industry will continue to inflict.” 7
In 2025, the group called on Gov. Shapiro to refuse an appointment to President Donald Trump’s bipartisan Council of Governors, calling Trump a “would-be dictator” and further stating that “the long list of indefensible actions taken by the Trump regime in the past month have done incalculable harm to countless people across the globe and in his own country. He is dismantling our democracy. Our environment is just one casualty of his reckless actions. Governor Shapiro should not be normalizing any of this by engaging with him.” 3
The Better Path Coalition was among the hundreds of Democratic-aligned groups that participated in and organized the June 2025 “No Kings” protests against the agenda of the second Trump administration. 8
Members
Groups listed as members of the Better Path Coalition as of 2025 included 350 Philadelphia, Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC), Berks Gas Truth, Bucks Concerned Citizens Against the Pipelines, Bucks County Sierra Club, Bucks Environmental Action, Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) PA Chapter, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, EcoJustice Working Group Thomas Merton Center, Freshwater Accountability Project, Green Amendments For the Generations, Greyroots Action, Juniata Watershed People Before Pipelines, Lancaster Against Pipelines, Lebanon Pipeline Awareness, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Pennsylvania Council of Churches, Physicians for Social Responsibility–Philadelphia, Save the Allegheny, Save Our Streams PA, Sustainable Monroeville, and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Advocacy Network (UUPLAN). 9