A local group hosted a meeting Sunday afternoon at the Athens Community Center designed to organize the region’s resistance to hydraulic fracturing.
Athens Fracking Information Group, an organization opposing fracking, arranged the meeting, which involved networking and planning among almost 100 people from groups that have fought against fracking entering the county.
“Fracking will affect our property, water, air, and quality of life,” said Loraine McCosker, chair of the Athens County Sierra Club and one of the organizers of the meeting. “It’s time to do something about it.”
One of Athens’ strengths is its vision, and residents need to use that vision to keep the community safe, McCosker said.
“These groups are advocates for a healthier community,” McCosker said.
Current groups such as Slow Down Fracking in Athens County, Look Before You Lease, and other projects outlined their objectives.
However, aside from community education, the majority has not taken any definitive action to prevent fracking.
Some anti-fracking supporters have had success, including preventing the lease of 3,300 acres in Wayne National Forest.
Initiatives for mineral-rights leasing and landowner rights, such as Look Before You Lease, offer information to landowners to allow them to make educated decisions about leasing, said Susi Rankis, sustainable forestry program administrator for Rural Action. Look Before You Lease offers a website with information about mineral leasing.
“The website has a landowner-friendly lease template and explains each component to the landowner,” Rankis said.
Aside from educational organizations, attendees also had the opportunity to join groups drafting projects to combat specific fracking issues.
One group, the Water Testing Group, will focus on lobbying for water quality sampling becoming state regulation, said Jen Bowman, environmental projects manager at the Voinovich School at Ohio University. The group will work toward enforcement of water quality standards by a third-party professional who would come to well sites to test water quality at all stages of possible contamination.
The Landowner Information and Support Group will help landowners who have leased their mineral rights understand all aspects of their decisions, said leaders Nancy Pierce and Kathi Scali.
“We are going to be there for people if the worst should happen,” Pierce said. “We will have the answers to the hard questions, like a breach of contract.”
Pierce added that it is important to not create a division amongst people who have and have not leased their land.
Another group, Working with Elected Officials, will have people send letters to local and state officials urging them to take a stand on fracking.
A variety of local officials attended the meeting, including Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason and Athens City Councilwoman Michele Papai. Both said they felt that it was their duty to attend the meeting to educate themselves on such a prominent issue amongst residents.
“The impact this would have on the community on an infrastructural and cultural level is very concerning to me,” Papai said.
Eliason said he has on-going concerns about fracking, particularly regarding the exemption of oil and gas companies in the Clean Water Act of 1974.
“I will continue to lobby with federal officials to get rid of this exemption,” Eliason said.
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