Mike Wicklein is a documentarian who was captivated by the debate on fracking. Wicklein's film "Fracking Western Maryland?" explored the legislative process and how citizens influenced the final decision to ban it in Maryland. His letter to then-senate-president Mike Miller shared what he had learned while capturing the fracking quandary each step of the way.
February 4, 2017
Dear Senate President Miller
You are both a historian and a historical man. That’s not a common combination. I was shooting video on the Senate floor on the day when you honored artist Laura Era for painting Maryland’s version of “the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln.” Ms. Era’s stylized reproduction of Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s famous 1862 painting included Ana Ella Carroll in the chair, which Carpenter had left empty. Prints of the painting were handed out to the entire Senate, and you received a framed version for your office. You spoke with real passion and insight about the mostly forgotten Ana Ella Carroll and her contributions to Maryland and the Nation in very difficult and trying times.
Biographers have noted that she could “scheme, connive, and maneuver as well as any man.” I know that I don’t have to tell you that her advice to Gov. Hicks helped keep Maryland in the Union, and her advice to President Lincoln helped end the Civil War and free the slaves.
The reason I was on the Senate floor that day was not to document the presentation of Ms. Era’s beautiful work of art but to document the debate on fracking for a documentary. On Friday Feb. 3 Senator Zirkin and 22 co-sponsors presented a bill to ban fracking in Maryland. This has been a divisive and contentious issue in Maryland for over 6 years now, longer than the American Civil War and a civil war of sorts here in Maryland. I lived with this issue for a year. Filming in Annapolis, Western Maryland, and Baltimore. and was filming on the Senate floor the day my State Senator, Joan Carter Conway, read the revised 2-year Moratorium Bill, which became law.
I began the project as a journalist, to investigate both sides of the issue and to “shine a light” on the debates and the political process. The documentary is a balanced and fair view of the Maryland debate in 2015. The film speaks for itself, and personally, I stayed out of the debate. Author Adam Goodheart has written that Ana Ella Carroll gave this advice to her father, the Governor, “Beware of indecisive moderate politicians, she warned him: “It is my principle, as well as that of Lycurgus…that they are the inveterate enemies of the state.”
As a Marylander who has seen both sides of this debate up close, I can’t be moderate or indecisive with a Ban Fracking Bill on the floor, and I urge you to fully support Senator Zirkin’s bill. Extending the moratorium is not an appropriate option. Banning fracking is best for the people of Maryland, and I believe Ana Ella Carroll would urge you to be on the right side of history. I have included a copy of the documentary. It is now a historic document and features many of your friends, associates, and colleagues working for Marylander's best interests.
Thank you for your service.
Best regards,
Mike Wicklein
Wicklein interviews Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, a lead sponsor for the fracking ban in the house.
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