Anti-Fracking Charter Amendment Defeated
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- City voters soundly defeated the anti-fracking charter amendment Tuesday, turning down the so-called Community Bill of Rights that sought to ban hydraulic fracturing inside city limits.
The charter amendment gained just 43% of municipal primary voters’ support, with 3,821 voting against it and 2,880 in favor.
Fracking opponents promised to maintain their oversight of the oil and gas industry and focus attention on environmental dangers associated with drilling for shale gas. Said one member of FrackFree Mahoning Valley, Tom Cvetkovich, “It’s a sad day for democracy when outside forces can control what’s going on.”
Cvetkovich was referring to the financial resources of the giant energy industry as well as to local political, civic, academic, business and labor leaders who joined together to establish the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth and Investment.
“With tonight’s vote, the people of Youngstown have announced that the city is open for business,” Tom Humphries, CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said in a prepared statement.. “Factories are opening, office space is being leased and workers are being trained for good paying jobs. Thankfully, the voters rejected a very bad law that would have hurt our progress.”
The Regional Chamber was instrumental in establishing the coalition. The purpose of the bipartisan group, Humphries said April 5 at a press event announcing its creation, is to advocate for the oil and gas industry. Its first task, he said, was defeating the charter amendment.
“The voters understood that this amendment had nothing to do with clean air and clean water,” said Dave Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party and a member of the coalition. “In fact, we can still have those things without erecting unnecessary roadblocks to good paying jobs for Youngstown families. Our city is on the comeback, and the voters had no sympathy for those who want to hold us back,” he said in a prepared statement also issued by the coalition.
FrackFree Mahoning Valley activist Susie Beiersdorfer was nominated by the Green Party as its candidate for president of Youngstown City Council. Just 50 votes were cast in the city’s Green Party primary.
In interviews with news organizations, Beiersdorfer also cited outside forces as determining the outcome of the charter referendum.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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