Contact: Lois Marie Gibbs (CHEJ/PAI) 703-237-2249
Teresa Mills (CHEJ) 614-539-1471
United Nation’s Tribunal Recommends Worldwide Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing.
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal is recommending a worldwide ban on hydraulic fracturing, the extreme oil and gas extraction technique known as ‘fracking.’ The Tribunal found that the materials, and infrastructure of fracking inherently and necessarily violate human rights. The specific rights violated include the rights to life, to water, to full information and participation, and especially the rights of indigenous people, women and children.
“I hope the United States heeds the warnings of the UN Tribunal and puts a stop to any and all fracking related activities immediately given these findings,” said Lois Gibbs founder of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice/ People’s Action Institute (CHEJ).
CHEJ was involved in three of the United States field Tribunals in Athens’s, Youngstown, Ohio and Charlottesville, VA. Lois Marie Gibbs served as a Juror in all three field Tribunals. Teresa Mills CHEJ’s Ohio organizer was both on the overall advisory panel and assisted community leaders to understand the rules and help with logistics in all three field hearing. The field hearings provided the basic information for the findings.
Gibbs recalled, “as a Juror I heard innocent people share their experiences living near fracking infrastructures. Children needing to dodge 100’s of trucks to get to school. Families who could light their faucets on fire due to the gas getting into their water supplies. Women, men and children made sick with asthma, cancers, skin disease and so much more who were not allowed to know what chemicals were being sent miles below their properties and evaporating into their air from fracking waste ponds.
This is an incredible victory for the people and provides clear impartial conclusion that communities can use to fight back against Fracking.
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, based in Rome, is an internationally recognized Civil Society public opinion tribunal functioning independently of state authorities. It applies internationally recognized human rights law and policy to cases brought before it.
Governments have an affirmative obligation to protect the rights of their citizens, according to internationally recognized human-rights Covenants and Declarations. When governments fail to adequately regulate harmful oil and gas industry practices, they fail to meet their human rights obligations. And when governments fail to take measures to prevent the advance of climate change and its impacts on the rights to life, liberty, and security, they are failing to meet their internationally recognized human-rights obligations. Widespread government failures have created a global “axis of betrayal,” according to the international court, in which governments and fossil-fuel industries collude – at great cost to people and the planet – in human-rights violations to their mutual profit.
The Special Session was conducted for five days in May of 2018. Four Preliminary tribunals had been conducted in the months prior to the Plenary hearings. The Pre-tribunals included rich oral testimony from Australia, the US states of Ohio and Virginia, and other places, supporting documentation, and findings from those Pre-tribunal’s local judges. All materials and reports from those Pre-tribunal hearings, all the Plenary session’s oral testimony and arguments, all Plenary session reports, amicus curiae briefs and full documentation are available, in both video and text formats, on the website for the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Session on Human Rights, Fracking and Climate Change.
The full text of the Opinion is attached. It is also available on the website for the PPT Session on Human Rights, Fracking and Climate Change and on the Jurisprudence page of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal website at their headquarters in Rome.
Category: Media Releases
A 2013 lawsuit regarding the Bridgeton landfill finally reached a settlement in Missouri courts. The settlement holds Bridgeton accountable and is a step in the right direction according to Missouri’s Attorney General. Republic Services will still manage the site. Additionally, Bridgeton will create a$12.5 million restitution fund and pay $3.5 million in fines and damages.
Read More.
Minden, West Virginia has been contaminated by toxic and cancerous PCBs for decades after Shaffer Equipment Company buried electrical waste in the town. The activists are protesting a sewer project in the town that has exposed residents to PCBs. West Virginia Governor, Jim Justice, originally supported the communities efforts to put their town on the EPA’s Superfund Priority list and halt the sewer project, but the Governor has since reversed the order.
Read more.
Polite People Get Poisoned
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zj_X69OQPU” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no” api_params=”” class=””][fusion_content_boxes settings_lvl=”child” layout=”icon-with-title” columns=”1″ icon_align=”left” title_size=”” title_color=”” body_color=”” backgroundcolor=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_radius=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” icon_size=”” icon_hover_type=”” hover_accent_color=”” link_type=”” link_area=”” linktarget=”” animation_delay=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.1″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_content_box title=”” icon=”” backgroundcolor=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” iconrotate=”” iconspin=”no” image=”” image_width=”35″ image_height=”35″ link=”” linktext=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=””] Lois Gibbs delivers the keynote address at Building a Future Full of Hope and Promise: Improving Air Quality in Southwestern Pennsylvania on April 13, 2018.[/fusion_content_box][/fusion_content_boxes][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
It can be difficult at times to clearly identify the environmental goals and directives of Scott Pruitt’s EPA, but one clear directive of the administration is to advance the Superfund program. At the EPA, Superfund is administered by the Office of Land and Emergency Management. The office also oversees the regulation of hazardous waste, brownfields, and waste management. Clearly, the Office of Land and Emergency Management is of the utmost importance to CHEJ because it administers Superfund, the program which Lois Gibbs helped develop.
The Office of Land and Emergency Management has been led by Albert Kelly until his resignation earlier this month. Kelly resigned amid controversies over his banking past. Kelly was reportedly was banned from banking for life by the FDIC. Given his career history as a banker, many were skeptical of how Kelly would handle the administration of the Superfund program when he was nominated last year. Despite skepticism, Kelly proved to be a competent and considerate administrator.
Kelly worked closely with many within CHEJ’s network to clean up communities. When Kelly announced his resignation, Dawn Chapman, founder of Just Moms STL said, “I’m pretty heartbroken today, I only know what this guy was doing for our community. I saw a man that had real compassion.” Chapman had been working with Kelly to get federal funding to clean up and evacuate the West Lake Landfill. Kelly brought transparency, action, and openness to the Superfund program. During his tenure, Kelly sought to bring action and movement to sites that have been dormant for too long.
Yesterday, it was announced that Steven Cook will replace Kelly as chair of the Superfund task force. Cook like Kelly, lacks experience in the environmental field, but this wasn’t detrimental for Kelly as he quickly learned how to work with communities to enact real change. Before the EPA, Cook served as senior counsel for LyondellBasell, self-described as “one of the largest plastics, chemicals, and refining companies in the world.” Regardless of Cook’s previous work experience, he is now overseeing a program that requires polluters to pay for their damage to harmed communities.
What CHEJ will look for from Cook as he enters his new position as chair of the Superfund task force:
- Action– We want to see real and meaningful action within the Superfund Program.
- Openness– Follow in the footsteps of Kelly and gather input from all sides.
- Listening– Hear from the communities that are being directly affected by the toxins in their backyard.
- Put people over industry– Human lives are infinitely more valuable than any cooperate dollar. Put the people and their communities before polluting corporations.
CHEJ wishes Steven Cook the best of luck in administering the Superfund program, but we will be watching to see what type of administrator he will be.
Statement from Lois Marie Gibbs:
Superfund was created following the Love Canal crisis in Niagara Falls, NY to primarily protect public health. I know because I was a resident and community leader at Love Canal. I found EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s Superfund Task Force Report almost entirely void of public health concerns.
In fact, the report only mentions health six times with four of those in the Executive Summary. The report sounds like a blueprint to involve for bankers, investors and developers and a plan for corporations to reduce cleanup costs and increase profits at the expense of public health. Redevelopment is mentioned 39 times.
There is no mention of the public health risks that exist at these sites or that will be created during the cleanup of a site. The report begins by stating, “the core mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect the health of our citizens and the environment in which we all live.” Yet, there is nothing in this report that begins to address this mission. In fact, the report reads as if there are no people living around these Superfund sites, people who are sick and who care about protecting their children’s health.
Superfund sites are not islands unto themselves. Sites are connected to backyards, fence lines, drinking water sources and schools. Administrator Pruitt and those on the Task Force should be ashamed of their blatant disregard for public health and the innocent families whose health are impacted by these sites. They should reread the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and throw this report into the recycling bin and start over.
We aren’t going to let him get away with this. We will not allow our voices to be drowned out by corporate interests. Superfund victims and activists from sites around the country have come together to create the People’s Task Force to advocate for our recommendations on the future of Superfund, based on our years of on-the-ground experience.
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice has been on the front lines in the fight for environmental health for 40 years. We train and support local activists across the country and build local, state and national initiatives that win on issues from Superfund to climate change.
Introducing The People’s Task Force on the Future of Superfund
Voices from Contaminated Communities Across the Country
The Trump Administration and newly-appointed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt claim they want to return Superfund cleanups “to their rightful place at the center of the EPA’s core mission.” However their actions speak differently: their proposed budget includes a 30 percent cut in funding to the Superfund.
Last month, Pruitt assembled a Task Force to provide recommendations for the future of Superfund. His memo raises major concerns about decreasing cleanup oversight, privileging corporate interests over public health, and a lack of community involvement.
We aren’t going to let him get away with this. We will not allow our voices to be drowned out by corporate interests. Superfund victims and activists from sites around the country have come together to create The People’s Task Force to advocate for our recommendations on the future of Superfund, based on our years of on-the-ground experience.
Representatives of 25 Superfund sites and 70 environmental organizations have signed on to the People’s Task Force, which we are releasing to local and national media outlets today.
“Scott Pruitt must advocate with the White House to reinstate the Superfund Polluters Pay Tax. The American taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for corporate wrong doing.”
– Lois Marie Gibbs, Love Canal Leader, Mother of Superfund, CHEJ Founder
Here are the People’s Task Force recommendations, and a list of some of organizations that make up The People’s Task Force. Below are quotes from people living near Superfund Sites around the country.
So far, the Pruitt’s EPA has been markedly secretive. Unlike previous administrators, he has never made his schedule publicly available and ignores Freedom of Information Act requests. His Task Force has been similarly opaque: he has not disclosed who staffs the Task Force aside from Albert Kelly, a prior bank chairman with no environmental experience.
Furthermore, even though the 30-day time frame has expired, he has not released the Task Force recommendations or comments. Superfund cannot be lead like a business – decisions that affect the health of thousands of communities cannot be made behind closed doors by financially motivated industry stakeholders. This is why we have come together to publicly release our recommendations, and we urge Pruitt to act with integrity and do the same.
Quotes People’s Task Force Members
(Here is a list of some of The People’s Task Force members.)
“Scott Pruitt must advocate with the White House to reinstate the Superfund Polluters Pay Tax. The American taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for corporate wrong doing.”
Lois Marie Gibbs, Love Canal Leader and Mother of Superfund.
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
CHEJ.org
(703)-237-2249
chej2@chej.org
“Public health has to be the top priority in cleaning up toxic waste sites. The communities most affected by Superfund sites must be included in the process, but unfortunately that was not the case with Scott Pruitt’s Task Force.”
Robin Schneider (512) 326-5655
robin@texasenvironment.org
“Scott Pruitt’s plan to streamline the Superfund process in favor of cutting costs will lead to incomplete cleanups of contaminated neighborhoods, as demonstrated in the past at sites like MDI in Houston’s 5th Ward. Painted as a quick way to boost economic development, Pruitt’s recommendations are more akin to a fast track to injustice.”
Rosanne Barone (713) 337-4192
Rosanne@texasenvironment.org
Texas Campaign for the Environment
San Jacinto River Waste pits and other sites in Texas
“EPA leadership should prioritize the appropriate remedial solutions for sites on the NPL and assure the continued support from regional staff to local community members dealing with the hazardous situations.”
Josue Ramirez
Texas Low Income Housing Information Service
(956) 295-6868
Josue@texashousing.org
Texashousing.org
“A toxic plume is spreading through Pensacola’s drinking water aquifer because the Superfund Program is starved for money. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt must make polluters pay for cleanup though the Superfund Tax.”
Francine Ishmael, Executive Director
Citizens Against Toxic Exposure,Inc
(850) 432-2228
fishmael@cate.gccoxmail.com
Pensacola, FL
“We need a strong EPA with strong enforcement authority to ensure our Superfund Alternative Site cleanup will be protective of our health and our environment. Now is not the time to cut either EPA’s enforcement authority or community involvement in ensuring the best possible cleanup.”
Marilyn Welker
People for Safe Water
937-484-6988
mwelker@ctcn.net
Tremont City Barrel Fill – Ohio
“The Tar Creek Superfund Site needs a strong EPA that is fully funded if it is to ever finish our three- decades long cleanup.”
Rebecca Jim
LEAD Agency, Inc.
(918) 542-9399
leadagency@att.net
Tar Creek Superfund Site
“Superfund is the only chance we have at getting the Waste Pits fully cleaned-up before a major hurricane strikes our coast. The parties responsible for the Pits don’t want to clean them up as the EPA has proposed and we need the EPA to hold the companies responsible to protect our environment and future generations!”
Jackie Young
San Jacinto River Coalition
(281) 608-6213
jyoung@txhea.org
San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site
“All Americans deserve the right to clean air and clean water. Hold corporate polluters accountable and give our children a healthy future.”
Michele Baker,
Founding Member, New York Water Project
(518) 461-7270
michele.baker@
“Public health and constituent welfare need to become the top priority in all Superfund legislation to ensure that inexcusable events like those which occurred in Sellersville, Pennsylvania won’t ever happen again.”
Gregory Bulfaro
Sellersville x 3 / Sellersville Truth
(267) 227-8433
gbulfaro@aol.com
“Scott Pruitt’s plan to streamline the Superfund process in favor of cutting costs will lead to incomplete cleanups of contaminated neighborhoods, as demonstrated in the past at sites like MDI in Houston’s 5th Ward. Painted as a quick way to boost economic development, Pruitt’s recommendations are more akin to a fast track to injustice.”
Rosanne Barone
Texas Campaign for the Environment
713-337-4192
rosanne@texasenvironment.org
San Jacinto River Waste Pits
# # #
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice has been on the frontlines in the fight for environmental health for 40 years. We train and support local activists across the country and build local, state and national initiatives that win on issues from Superfund to climate change.
People’s Action Institute is a national organization of more than a million people across 29 states working for economic, racial, gender and climate justice – with a goal of reversing the growing economic inequality by building an economy that expands opportunity for low-income families.
Teamsters Attend Waste Company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting; Republic Board of Directors a No-Show
(PHOENIX) — Teamsters with the Solid Waste and Recycling Division, and Beth Roach, a community activist from Wayne County, Ga., attended Republic Services Inc.’s [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][NYSE: RSG] annual shareholders’ meeting in Phoenix on Friday, decrying the company’s serial mismanagement of its landfills and the lack of care and respect for affected communities.
“Republic Services management and the company’s biggest shareholder, Bill Gates, are making money today by building up huge environmental liabilities and sowing discord. This is not sustainable behavior,” said Chuck Stiles, Assistant Director of the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division.
The company’s evident indifference seems to extend to its board of directors who, other than the CEO, failed to attend the annual shareholders’ meeting in person or by phone. Mismanagement at Republic’s landfills is stoking rising costs and the company is facing an intensified push for greater accountability, remediation and relocation of those communities directly impacted.
“The board’s lack of involvement is deeply troubling and unacceptable,” said Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer. “Shareholders demand our directors be present and accountable. How can we be confident that Republic’s board of directors is representing the shareholders’ interests and effectively overseeing management when they do not even show up for the annual meeting?”
The Teamsters Union represents thousands of sanitation workers at the company in many locations throughout the country.
An underground fire has been raging for five years at Republic’s West Lake complex in Bridgeton, Mo. The complex contains thousands of tons of illegally-dumped radioactive nuclear wastes in an unlined landfill. The subsurface fire is moving closer to the nuclear waste and is releasing toxic chemicals impacting residents and workers.
Beth Roach is from a community affected by a toxic spill arising from Republic’s landfilling of out of state coal ash, behind the backs of the local residents.
“They’ve already spilled beryllium and who knows whatever else into our water,” Roach said. “And now Republic wants to get a permit to massively expand toxic coal ash dumping in our community. They already have shown they can’t handle this waste in an appropriate manner.”
Mismanagement at Republic’s landfills is stoking rising costs overall and the company is facing an increased push for greater accountability, remediation and relocation of those communities directly impacted.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has ordered Republic to submit amended closure plans for the Bridgeton landfill by April 16, and corrective action plans by May 16, along with associated cost estimates for both.
As recently as May 3, St. Louis residents Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel, founders of JustMoms STL, and Lois Gibbs, founder of the Center for Health Environment and Justice, met with United Nations Human Rights Council representatives.
The delegation delivered a formal human rights complaint to the attention of the United Nations Rapporteur for Human Rights and the Environment, John Knox, with whom they have been corresponding regarding the effects of Republic’s ongoing West Lake Bridgeton landfill environmental crisis. The complaint outlines the need for corporate accountability and government action.
“We see that these problems in the workplace carry over into surrounding communities. We want an apology from Bill Gates and we want Republic to halt its Wayne County coal ash plans,” Roach said.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.
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“This place is disease. It takes your heart away; it takes your spirit away. And something’s got to end. Somebody has got to help us because there are people stranded here. My kids are stranded here. Somebody from the outside has got to come and save us.”
–-Bob Terry a local resident pleading to the United Nations for help in his testimony
May 3, 2016 — This afternoon Dawn Chapman, Karen Nickel, from Just Moms StL in St. Louis, Missouri, Lois Gibbs, Center for Health, Environment & Justice delivered a request on behalf of American families living in harm’s way of a Chernobyl like event to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Mr. John Knox. Ms. Nicole Bjerler, Mr. Knox’s colleague will be meeting with the Just Moms STL delegation to accept the Tribunal Summary Documents, Complaint and Transcript as he is currently in Switzerland.
The community has exhausted every possible government and non-governmental option for relief within the United States leaving the United Nations as the next level of authority.
Community has asked the state to act but only have been informed of the pending crisis of a “Chernobyl like event,” (Attorney General, MO). The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has done little since 1990 and done little to date to stop the fire from reaching the radioactive wastes. State and federal legislators have introduced a federal bill that would transfer the cleanup from USEPA to the Corps of Engineers because of no confidence in US EPA. The bill passed the Senate and is in the house committee being queried. This bill does nothing to relieve the daily exposures and urgent need to get out of the area before an explosion or other disastrous event.
- On a daily basis flares around the Bridgeton landfill, which is burning beneath the surface, release chemicals that are toxic to human health at levels above permitted health based standards. These chemicals travel through the air and into the surrounding community. Children waiting at bus stops and playing outside must breathe this toxic air.
- Although there is cover over the burning landfill, however when materials below the surface burn and reduce in size, the cover material collapses causing a rupture in the cover material. This results in smoke containing toxic chemicals to be released into the air of the surrounding community. Smoke at times is so thick that it is difficult to maneuver an automobile due to visibility and travels across the street blanketing adjacent homes and playground.
- The entire site which was designated a U.S. federal Superfund site in 1990. Yet the USEPA has failed to complete mapping of the site to define where the buried radioactive waste is located. After more than two decades no one understands where the radioactive wastes are.
- Children are suffering and dying from cancer at an alarming rate. State health studies have clearly documented increased childhood brain cancer risks in nearby neighborhoods. Today the number of children with brain cancer is over 300 times what would be expected.
- Public schools are concerned about an event which will cause students and school employees to remain in a “shelter in place” situation for a long period of time. Parents were asked to bring to school a supply of medications that children take before and after school in the event they cannot go home. This is an unacceptable situation especially for preschool children ages 3 to 4 to be without their parents overnight.
- Families with members that are vulnerable to respiratory impacts are at risk daily. Windows must remain closed year round. Outdoor activities such as yard work, home repairs and organized sports are near impossible. Quality of life standards are negatively impacted as a result of not being able to sit outdoors, decorate for holidays or enjoy a child’s sporting event.
- Lastly, tucking your child into bed at night or sending them to school in the morning and not knowing if an event will occur that day, as a result of the fire reaching the radioactive wastes.
FrackFree Mahoning Valley schedules April 26 media event
From a Monday press release:
Frackfree Mahoning Valley (FMV) Will Hold A Tuesday, April 26, 2016, 1:15 PM Press Conference in Youngstown’s Mill Creek Park To React to Comments Made By Ohio Department of Natural Resources Officials Regarding Utica Shale Fracking, And To Present Recently Received Troubling Documents Regarding Spills in Mahoning County:
Geology Professor, Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer and Concerned Citizens of Vienna and Mahoning County Will Speak Briefly To Provide Updated Local, Man-made Earthquake And Fracking Waste Injection Well Information, And To Answer Media Questions
All Media Are Invited To Attend
Youngstown, Ohio, April 25, 2016 – Concerned citizens of Frackfree Mahoning Valley (FMV) will hold a press conference in Youngstown, Ohio, on the public sidewalk in front of Mill Creek Park’s “D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center” in Fellows Riverside Gardens on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at 1:15 PM, to give their reaction to statements made by Ohio Department of Natural Resources(ODNR) officials at an event to be held at Mill Creek Park on Tuesday. (The address of Fellows Riverside Gardens is 123 McKinley Avenue, Youngstown, Ohio, 44509.)
At their press conference, FMV will distribute and discuss troubling, newly received Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) well inspection documents. Speakers will provide recent information and concerns about local fracking waste injection wells and the potential for more injection-well related, man-made earthquakes and their risks to public health, safety and well-being.
Teresa Mills of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) recently received the ODNR documents (copies of which will be distributed at the press conference) as part of an Ohio Open Records request.
According to the Vindicator, ODNR Chief Simmers will address “… recent advancements in the regulation and production of the Utica Shale.” (Vindicator, 4/10/16, “ODNR official at event”) http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/apr/10/odnr-official-at-event/
Frackfree Mahoning Valley says ODNR promotes unconventional fracking, a process which results in the constant creation of millions of gallons of toxic fracking waste. There is no good or safe solution to the problem of where all of this waste will go. This enormous waste problem cannot be ignored especially considering our local history of negative impacts that have already occurred in Youngstown and the surrounding area. FMV points out that we are situated in an area of known seismic activity, therefore, injection wells must be stopped.
On Tuesday, FMV will call for ODNR to deny an injection permit for a recently drilled Vienna injection well near a family home and the Youngstown-Warren Regional airport. The group says two Weathersfield/Niles injection wells already linked to earthquakes must remain shut down.
Frackfree Mahoning Valley says that they do not have confidence in ODNR fracking or injection well regulations, especially in light of local and national spills, man-made earthquakes, and air, water, and soil pollution. They do not trust so-called “advancements” in regulations to protect public health, safety, and well-being, since, even though there were allegedly “strict” regulations already in place, they failed to prevent the 2015 Vienna injection well fiasco where extensive water contamination still occurred despite rules and regulations.
Furthermore, local fracking and injection well – related earthquakes still occurred with regulations already in place. Regulations failed to prevent man-made earthquakes in Weathersfield/Niles, Youngstown, and Poland Township. FMV wonders whether the injection wells in North Lima, also too near homes, will be the next to trigger earthquakes. Obviously, earthquakes cannot be regulated. It is wrong for regulators to pretend that they can control earthquakes. Injection must stop.
FMV says the unprecedented increase in induced seismicity in Oklahoma could be a preview of what might happen locally if Ohio regulators stay on their current path, i.e., permitting more and more injection wells, which is making Ohio essentially a toxic fracking waste dump and risking more water contamination and earthquakes. This is unacceptable.
Geologist Ray Beiersdorfer, Ph.D., Professor of Geology at Youngstown State University, will give a brief statement at the press conference and address any media questions. Concerned citizens of Mahoning County and Vienna, Ohio, will give brief presentations and be available for any media questions afterward.
Copies of documents will be provided for media.
All media are invited to attend.
For more information, please see:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/protect-youngstown/notes-for-april-26/1055807957799473
and:
Frackfree Mahoning Valley: http://frackfreemahoning.blogspot.com/
For media inquiries or more information, please contact Frackfree Mahoning Valley at:
234-201-0402 or e-mail: frackfreemahoning@gmail.com
Read the release on Ohio.com.