[Green] Kudos to George for his presentation before gas & oil tonight

[Dawn Hewitt]

Thank you, George, for your well-prepared report on injection wells in Washington County, and lack of accountability and transparency at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. I think your comments made environmentalists and gas & oil industry people realize that we are on the same side when it comes to endorsing a moratorium on fracking waste in old production wells here. Those oil and gas guys who are mostly concerned about losing money as their wells become contaminated  also see that if brine is seeping to the surface, it’s passing through the aquifer. The oil and gas guy sitting next to me said, “I can’t pass contaminated drinking water on to my great-grandson.”  He said he’s enjoyed making money on petroleum, but clean water is more important!! (Whoa!!) 

Green friends, now would be a great time to email our county commissioners and encourage them to protect our grandchildren’s drinking water by refusing fracking waste—especially out-of-state brine—from being stored in wells not designed for that purpose. Our commissioners should also insist that ODNR staff do their job —regularly—in inspecting injection wells, and report any problems to the local community. Responsible parties must be responsible. 

Brine is migrating, and it’s freaking out the gas and oil profiteers. 

What a fascinating, disturbing, encouraging meeting!

—dawn