Friday, December 19, 2014

Fracking In Ohio

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Act on Fracking

What's at Stake| Our Plan | Take Action | Policy Updates | Recent News

Bottom line: Our government has failed to protect us from fracking.

Click the image to see the full infographic

What’s at stake

This summer, we witnessed a terrible accident at a fracking site in Clarington, Ohio. Twenty-five families living nearby had to evacuate their homes, one person was injured, and toxic chemicals leaked into a nearby stream.
How did this happen?
Several trucks at the fracking site caught fire, triggering a series of more than 30 explosions. The fracking well was RIGHT next to a stream that feeds into a major drinking water source and was within two football fields’ distance from two homes!
Immediately after the accident, emergency workers and drinking water managers weren’t sure how best to protect residents. That’s because the fracking company did not release complete details on all of the chemicals that were used and stored on site.
And guess what the worst part is? This is all  perfectly legal under Ohio law.

Our Plan

As you can see from the story above, there are A LOT of problems with the way fracking operates in Ohio. To read our complete 34 point plan for fixing these issues, see here.
We’ll be working year after year to make this plan a reality. But, in the short term, we’ve identified three priorities that we must immediately address to keep Ohioans safe.
  1. First, we’re working to pass a law that would require companies to notify the necessary authorities about all fracking chemicals stored on-site or in-use before an accident or spill occurs. This would make sure fire departments, first responders, Ohio EPA, and drinking water authorities know what they’re up against.
  2. We are also working to secure increased funding for training and equipment for state and local emergency responders. The firefighters and Ohio EPA emergency response personnel need to have up-to-date tools to be able to do their job to protect the public.
  3. Finally, it is unacceptable that a fracking well can be closer to a waterway than the distance between home plate and the pitcher’s mound. We’re working with lawmakers to make sure that fracking wells stay away from our water and our homes.
Learn more

#ActOnFracking: Take Action Today!

ACTION ALERT: With just a click you can tweet to the Senate Agriculture Committee for stronger fracking protections!
We need stronger laws to better protect Ohioans from fracking, and we need you to make that happen.
One of the best ways to join this fight is by betting your chips on us! A monthly contribution of as little as $10 will keep us at the statehouse, in the media, and in the courtroom, fighting for better protections.

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Policy Updates

House Bill 490, a wide-ranging environmental and agricultural bill,  was voted through the Ohio House and now sits with the Ohio Senate’s Agriculture Committee. In it’s current form, the bill will make significant changes to penalties on fracking operators, and chemical disclosure requirements.
The house bill eliminates most of the Governor’s proposed improvements, which were introduced in the original version of the bill as a response to flagrant fracking violations in the state.   These include:
  • Expanding ODNR authority to suspend operations and revoke permits for dangerous and harmful violations
  • Allowing ODNR to deny permits to violators that have failed to fix existing violations
  • Requiring full background checks of owners and key employees of companies and subsidiaries who want to drill or dispose of brine in Ohio
  • Increasing civil penalties on fracking law violators
  • Boosting criminal monetary and imprisonment penalties for the most flagrant polluters
The house bill also contains provisions which would allow the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to replace the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) as the repository of chemical inventory reporting. In Ohio, all other industries which handle large volumes of chemicals must provide this information to the SERC, local emergency planning committees and local firefighters.

Recent News

posted by Dot Calm @ 5:55 AM