October 31, 2017 | By: Bill Lyons
Columbus needs to protect one of its most precious resources — its water — from fracking waste. There are 13 injection wells of frack waste in our Upper Scioto Watershed Area with permits for more on the way. Each one of these wells has millions of gallons of radioactive waste containing Radium 226 with a half-life of 1,600 years along with carcinogens, neurotoxins, and hormone disruptors.
For short-term profit of the oil and gas industry, we are taking a long-term risk for which we weren’t given a choice. In addition, the radioactive frack waste drill cuttings, which are not regulated in Ohio, are currently being dumped into landfills.
Columbus Community Bill of Rights is currently collecting signatures for a November 2018 Columbus city ballot initiative to ban the dumping of this harmful frack waste in our city. Other communities in Ohio have passed similar community bills of rights, and it is time for Columbus to do the same.
Local citizens, under home rule, used to have the right to regulate oil and gas activities in their communities. After heavy industry lobbying in 2004, this was taken away by our legislature via House Bill 278 and granted to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Even though state law now pre-empts local communities from protecting themselves from the harms of the oil and gas industry, we feel that this is inherently unjust and must be resisted. After all, shouldn’t the people who will have to suffer the consequences of a potential industrial harm have the right to determine if they want to take that risk?
Key assertions in our initiative include are our inalienable rights to clean water, clean air, safe soil, and the self-governing right to “say no” to harmful frack waste in our community. I urge Columbus voters to please sign our petition to help us collect the nearly 9,000 signatures needed to get this on the November 2018 ballot.
Bill Lyons
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