Len Shindel has written numerous articles on and about Garrett County. His deep dive into the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 highlighted the longest public workers' strike in history. He has a lifelong knowledge of workforces that have built and driven the country. His testimony opposing fracking in Maryland strikes a balanced view between industrial development, job creation, and preserving existing natural treasures.
Testimony of Len Shindel
Senate Bill 878
2-25-25
Thank you, Senators, for the opportunity to address you this afternoon.
How do I convey in two minutes the depth of my respect for my neighbors who worked so hard and long to convince your predecessors not to put Garrett County’s natural gifts at risk? Their work was the stuff of democracy my parents taught me to revere so many years ago.
How do I describe the smothering disappointment that the celebration of our 2017 victory, protecting our wondrous rivers and streams, forests and farms, hills and valleys, may have been premature?
When I last testified against hydraulic fracturing, I expressed my personal conflict as a lifelong trade unionist testifying in opposition to union brothers and sisters, who told your predecessors that they needed the jobs that fracking might provide, “plain and simple.” They said the work could be done safely, “plain and simple.”
I told our senators that I understood their need in a very personal way, having worked for 30 years at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant, a powerful industrial icon that is no more.
But opening Garrett County to fracking is anything but plain and simple. Not for the existing businesses. Not for workers in the service sector. Not for my brothers and sisters in the building trades, who we hope will be needed to repair and construct roads, new public buildings, and new businesses.
The very bread and butter of our workers IS our clean air and clean water and a quiet escape from traffic jams and crowded parking lots, all features that fracking would put at risk.
When I told my neighbors I was going to Annapolis, they told me to tell you they are confident that you will understand and uphold the bi-partisan consensus in Garrett County and in our state legislature that banned fracking and protected BOTH our natural bounty and our local economy.
Thank you,
Len Shindel
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