On Sept. 10, the Forest Service and Ohio University will be hosting an invitation only “Community Cadre” in Grover Center from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. to create the appearance of a conversation around extraction in the Wayne County.
While we are completely supportive of the inclusion of community groups in the Forest Service’s decision-making process this meeting is not about doing this.
We have just learned that the U.S. Forestry Services planned all along to give consent to lease and is not reviewing the Bureau of Land Management Environmental Assessment or the hundreds of comments submitted by our community on the Draft EA. We have also recently learned that Wayne National Forest Supervisor, Tony Scardina (who has been shuttled off to Montana for safety for the fall, and flown back to Athens for the event on the 10th, at taxpayer and the climate's expense) wrote his Masters' thesis on how to undermine vocal environmental opponents to agency-industry plans. He was clearly hired by the Forest Service to do exactly that.
According to a CD of the comments provided by the BLM, approximately 2,000 people publicly commented against fracking in the Wayne during the January 2016 comment period. If the Forest Service was actually interested in being responsive to the interests of this community, rather than hold an invite-only, closed door "community event," it would heed the clear call of the vast majority of people in this region: No fracking on public lands.
If the Forest Service was heeding this call, it would halt the planned out-of-state auction of our public lands to fracking companies. Instead, it appears that the Forest Service plans to move forward with plans to open the Wayne for fracking. It seems, then, that unless Forest Service representatives are taken to task for this, and unless oil and gas interests are roundly rejected, this "community cadre" only serves to help the Forest Service make a mockery of actual democratic process and real community engagement.
Athenians, and Ohioans across the state, have already made it abundantly clear through sweeping public comments, protest and participation in the public process, that we do not consent to our own exploitation.
We propose that the planned "community cadre" become instead an open space for widespread community engagement, and invite any and all to join us there, Sept. 10, 8:30 a.m., Grover Center, OU Athens Campus.
Caitlyn McDaniel is a member of Appalachia Resist, the Appalachian Ohio Group of Sierra Club and the Athens Country Fracking Action Network.
