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Anti-Fracking Activists Call Coalition Effort 'Dangerous'
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Members of FrackFree Mahoning Valley say an organized and well-funded effort to squash the group's initiative to place a measure banning hydraulic fracturing before voters in November is "dangerous" to democracy.
"We view what they're doing is a misguided attempt to interfere with the fundamental right of placing the issue on the ballot," said Susie Beiersdorfer, an activist opposed to the use of hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry.
She is referring to the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth and Investment, a group of business, political, civic and labor leaders who support oil and gas development in the Mahoning Valley.
The coalition is urging Youngstown voters not to sign FrackFree's petition to place a Community Bill of Rights on the ballot.
"It's dangerous to democracy," Beiersdorfer said.
Members of FrackFree Mahoning Valley stood in front of City Hall Friday afternoon soliciting support for the measure.
The petition must garner at least 1,562 valid signatures, but Beiersdorfer believes they'll be able to get more than that.
"There are people that will sign this because they believe in the democratic process," she said.
A similar measure was placed before voters in the May primary, but was soundly defeated 53% to 43%. The Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth was organized weeks before the election and campaigned against the bill.
"They're trying to change the message, here," said Lynn Anderson, a vocal opponent to hydraulic fracturing. "They're trying to say this is about jobs."
Members of the coalition have called the Community Bill of Rights a "jobs killer," and say it sends the wrong message to those energy or supply companies that may want to invest in the Mahoning Valley.
Anderson said the Community Bill of Rights is about returning regulatory control to municipalities, and wouldn't affect a single job associated with the oil and gas industry.
"It won't touch any existing business -- Vallourec or Brilex -- anybody making supplies for the industry," Anderson said. "What this is about is the Youngstown citizens' rights to drink their water without fear of it being polluted by fracking chemicals."
Hydraulic fracturing is a process that injects large volumes of water and sand into the well at high pressure to shatter tightly packed shale rock deep below the surface. The process also uses chemical agents that prevent corrosion in drill casings and help prop open fractures in the rock so oil or gas and be released.
FrackFree and other opponents of the process say hydraulic fracturing poisons water supplies, while well sites contamniate the air.
"It's the citizens' rights to be able to breathe the air where they live without it being polluted by chemicals 24/7," Anderson said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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