Margie Kircher

In 2014 Margie Kircher received a letter saying there would be large-scale fracking on the farm her family had owned for three generations. "At first I actually wept, thinking about what would happen to the land." She felt very conflicted about being party to fracking. Since they no longer owned the farm, she couldn't stop it. However, because she still shared the mineral rights with several family members she would get some of the profits made on the fracked oil.

She thought of washing her hands of it and selling the shares, but she knew doing so would only benefit the oil company. Margie has been a Friends member since 1997 and is an active volunteer to fight fossil fuel transport through the Gorge, testifying at hearings and rallies about the impacts of air toxins on neurodevelopment in children.

Instead she decided to sign the agreement, get her share, and pass the money straight along to Friends and a few other local organizations who are fighting back against fossil fuels. "As long as the company is still in business and pumping fossil fuels, I am happy to contribute my revenues to Friends' well-placed work trying to slow or stop this madness." Friends is humbled and grateful to be a recipient.

Margie is optimistic by the progress Friends and the Stand Up to Oil coalition are making on preventing any new terminals from being built, and sees it as a silver lining that these fossil fuel battles draw diverse groups of people together with their shared concern and love for the Pacific Northwest.