by Rich Burrill – special to Columbia news, views & reviews

First, some lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s ’70s song, Big Yellow Taxi:

“Don’t it always seem to go?

You don’t know what you got

till it’s gone.

They paved Paradise

and put up a parking lot.

On the morning of Tuesday 6 May 2014, I went with two other York Hiking Club friends to Harrisburg to join a counter-rally, which was led by the Keystone Trails Association (KTA), which has offices at 101 North Front Street in Harrisburg. The purpose of this counter-rally was to oppose the major rally of Pennsylvania’s natural gas supporters, known as United Shale Advocates, the acronym is, of course, USA!

Anti-Fracking demonstrator Gene Stilp, right , marches ahead of the Members of the Marcellus Shale Coalition headed for a rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania state Capitol steps Tuesday, May 6, 2014 in Harrisburg, Pa. The event is intended to let legislators and the public know that a diverse group of people support the natural gas boom that began about six years ago. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

We parked on City Island, which was already packed with about 30 buses and many cars, when we arrived about 11 a.m. Many of the folks were wearing matching t-shirts with slogans like: “Natural Gas is clean energy,” “Good Jobs for Pennsylvania,” etc. We even saw a few guys dressed in black whose t’s said “Security,” but they had no identification to prove their authenticity.

Anyway, we walked among them, carrying our signs, and proceeded to go across the Susquehanna River on the footbridge that takes you to the intersection of Front and Walnut Streets, where we met others from York, Harrisburg and a few surrounding towns. There were about 30 of us, all with home-made signs saying things like, “No Shale on PA Trails,” “No Dynamite on Public Lands,” and so on. My sign read, “NO FOSSIL FUEL! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT TILL IT’S GONE. SAVE PARADISE!”

The USA rally was to begin on City Island at noon. Following the rally, the attendees were to take the footbridge across the river and then go to the State Capitol, which is just north of Walnut Street. Our counter-rally people speculated how the march would proceed, wondering if they would take the short cut of Walnut Street, going east two blocks and turning north onto 3rd Street, which forms the western border of the Capitol.

While we waited for them, we held our signs for the traffic on Front and Walnut and pedestrians. There were lost of honks in favor of what we were doing and nobody screamed stupid things like, “Get a job!”

Members of the Marcellus Shale Coalition rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania state Capitol steps Tuesday, May 6, 2014 in Harrisburg, Pa. The event is intended to let legislators and the public know that a diverse group of people support the natural gas boom that began about six years ago. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

Shortly after noon, the pro-shale gas people began their march across the bridge. It was soon evident that they would be turning left onto the footpath, which runs between the river and Front Street and would take another street to the Capitol. There was a Harrisburg police car just north of us stopped on Front Street, with its lights flashing. Also, there were about four police officers in a line to guide the marchers up the path. We, the counter-rally people held our signs facing them. We also chanted things like, “No shale on PA trails,” and the like. The rally people carried little American flags and manufactured signs about jobs, clean gas, and how good it would be for the Pennsylvania economy. They were mostly silent, but a few shouted some counter chants. My guess is that there were at least two thousand of them, and I am certain the gas companies paid for everything, including a small plane that flew around the Capitol and over the river trailing a pro-natural gas sign.

I saw a few independent reporters, including one from Williamsport, and a few people with cameras. However, there were no TV camera crews or reporters. It was a beautiful day in the high 60s. We broke up after the marchers went past us. I believe a few counter-rally people may have gone to the Capitol afterward.

It was clear that the people with the money were able to organize a large number to get their point across to the state legislators. Since it was a Tuesday, they knew full well there would not be many counter demonstrators, since most people have to work.

Of interest, a teacher from a Harrisburg high school brought one of her classes to see first-hand a demonstration.

Perhaps a title for the above might be: SHOW ME THE MONEY!

See this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article for more pictures from the rallies in Harrisburg.