While Ohio University students are enjoying their first week of summer, members of the Athens City Council convened as usual Monday night.
They glanced over and discussed repair and rehabilitation of water wells, energy efficiency upgrades, the University Estates assessment process and an application for a grant for hiring police officers; but, they passed a resolution in support of state lawmakers’ proposal for a statewide ban on underground injection wells.
“I wanted to propose tonight that we send a resolution up to Columbus stating our support to the legislators who have proposed this type of ban,” said council member Michele Papai, D-3rd Ward.
This is a concern for Athens because there are several injection wells in the county, and many of the Class 2 wells are old and aren’t up to current standards, making them potentially more hazardous, Papai said.
This resolution was met with unanimous support from the council.
“I’m completely and totally in support of this resolution,” said council member Steve Patterson, D-at large. “This has always been a concern relevant to me, knowing that there are a large number of wells in Ohio.”
Several neighboring states have bans on injecting fracking waste, which is a concern for Ohio, said council member Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward.
“We are becoming a dumping ground,” Fahl said. “It reminds me of what happens to third world countries — the people there end up paying the long-term legacy prices for all this industrial, profit-making activity that’s going on in other places.”
Papai urged City Council to speak out about concerns.
“The more that we speak out about it, the better we are in terms of getting the people higher up to listen to our concerns,” she said. “We’re all in this together, folks. Those of us who speak out the loudest, we need to keep doing this.”
kh547011@ohiou.edu
