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Opponents Renew Fracking Bill of Rights Initiative
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Three months after the push to pass a community bill of rights failed in the May primary, a group seeking to ban drilling, hydraulic fracturing and injection wells in the city is once again seeking to place the measure before voters.
FrackFree Mahoning Valley is soliciting signatures to have the measure placed on the ballot in the general election in November, reports member Susie Beiersdorfer.
"We're continuing to fight for the people's right to clean air, clean water and clean land," Beiersdorfer said. "Right now, our No. 1 goal is to get the necessary signatures on the ballot."
The group needs at least 1,562 valid signatures in order to place the initiative on the ballot, she said.
The group wants to amend the city charter and ban oil and gas exploration, the development of injection wells and the use of hydraulic fracturing within the city limits. Activists say that the practice leads to contamination of aquifers and air, and thus violate citizens' rights to a clean environment.
In May, voters soundly defeated the measure by a margin of 57% to 43%. However, Beiersdorfer said that turnout was very light, and 2,880 supported the amendment versus the 3,821 that voted it down.
The initiative drew opposition from business groups, labor and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. One of the issues was that the language in the bill was ambiguous, and could threaten companies such as Vallourec Star's Youngstown operations, which employs about 700 and supplies oil country tubular goods to the oil and gas industry. The company recently completed a $1 billion expansion at its site off Martin Luther King Boulevard.
This time, Beiersdorfer said that language was inserted into the bill that protects manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and construction companies.
While Section 122-C of the amendment states that it would be unlawful to place infrastructure designed for extraction and transportation of shale gas within the city, the prohibition does not apply to the "manufacture, production, sale or distribution of materials and components used in the construction of such infrastructures…"
At issue is obtaining local control over where oil companies can site their rig operations, Beiersdorfer said. As it stands, the oil and gas industry is governed by the state of Ohio, which overrides local zoning ordinances, she noted.
"We need local control to protect our community's public health and safety," Beiersdorfer said. "Government is not serving the people. It's all about self-interest and corporations."
She cites a well that was recently drilled by Halcon Energy Corp. just more than 500 feet from a residential area in Weathersfield Township in Trumbull County. Residents of the Westwood Lake Mobile Home Park have complained of noise associated with the well flaring, as well as other problems.
"This is not a three-month movement," Beiersdorfer said. "This is a movement for civil rights and citizens to have some say as to what comes into their neighborhoods."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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