Wednesday, August 06, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- In light of recent accidents related to shale exploration in Ohio, activists opposed to hydraulic fracturing and state control over the oil and gas industry say passage of a community bill of rights stands a good chance of passing this time around -- the fourth.
"This is more than a bill against fracking," says Susie Beiersdorfer, a geologist and member of the Community Bill of Rights Committee. "It's about our local control and our right to decide what industry comes into our community."
During a press event Tuesday outside City Hall, members of the committee said they have secured enough signatures -- 2,045 -- to place the measure on the ballot in time for the November election.
The amendment would ban any corporation from extracting gas within the city of Youngstown or transporting and storing waste from drilling sites within the city.
The ban would not apply to those companies that manufacture components or supply the industry, such as Vallourec Star.
This would be the fourth opportunity given voters to pass the charter amendment. The first was during the May 2013 primary when the ballot question lost by 13.7%, the second last November when it lost by 9.7% and the third during the last primary when it lost by 8.3%.
The reduced margins of defeat, said committee member Lynn Anderson, show a community bill of rights is gaining traction, especially in light of coordinated campaigns of opposition by the business and labor communities each time.
"In the third election, they put up even more money against it and we only lost by 8%," Anderson told reporters.
Moreover, a recent fire at a well pad in Monroe County, plus earlier accidents such as a fire on a well pad in Greene County, Pa., have caused more citizens to question whether the industry is safe, Anderson said.
"The ODNR [Ohio Department of Natural Resources] says that they can site a well 100 feet from a home, and that's unacceptable," Anderson says. "People are coming out en masse this time because they've learned more. They've learned about the dangers."
A coalition of business owners, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Mayor John McNally and representatives of organized labor have consistently opposed the bill of rights and are likely to do so in again in November.
"I would expect opponents to come together and try to fight this once again," McNally said.
The mayor says he's not surprised that the committee plans to place the issue on the ballot again, but did express disappointment.
"They've made it clear that they also want to control the types of businesses that want to locate in our city," McNally said. "This goes beyond fracking. They want to stifle job creation in the city and that's why we oppose their efforts."
No oil or gas company is hydraulically fracturing in the city, he said.
Regional Chamber President and CEO Tom Humphries echoed the mayor's concerns.
"It's like saying the city is closed for business," Humphries said. "In the long run, all they're doing is hurting the people who work here."
Humphries iterated that the measure was defeated three times in less than two years, and that the city lacks the authority to regulate the oil and gas business. That, he says, is the domain of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the public understands that.
"Here we go again," Humphries remarked.
Activists are worried that fluids used to hydraulically fracture wells could leach into aquifers or reservoirs and contaminate water supplies.
Meanwhile, oil and gas giants such as BP America and Halcon have all but pulled out of the Utica shale, making it unlikely these corporations will drill within the city limits or develop the acreage they've acquired.
That doesn't mean other companies won't transport their waste into Ohio and store it in this region, Beiersdorfer countered.
"We need to work with our own communities," she noted, adding that the committee is networked with other groups. "This is so important for communities to stand up and say, 'We demand local control,' " she said.
Should the community bill of rights amendment pass, it would be all but impossible to enforce because of the way state law is written, opponents of the amendment have stated repeatedly. The only way that could change is through the courts, Beiersdorfer conceded.
"There are a few cases right now that could set precedent," Beiersdorfer said. "There's an uprising showing that communities should have a right and say."
Beiersdorfer said she and her colleagues have gone door-to-door and appeared at local festivals to solicit support.
"Some people have said to us, 'This has been on three times, why do you keep doing it?’ " Beiersdorfer relates. "Well, we don't lose until we quit."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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