Category
May 17, 2025
FaCT protests frack waste at rally in Warren, OH Photo by: Ron Prosek
Of course, the Oil/Gas industry says we ARE radical already. That’s why they have gotten their enablers in the General Assembly to pass legislation that threatens the rights of peaceful protesters. But I am thinking of radical in its most original meaning of the word which is derived from Late Latin: radicalis, which means root. I am saying that we need to get to the root of things.
By “things” I mean the whole system of a General Assembly (Ohio legislature) that, with its supermajority, chooses its voters rather than the voters choosing them (gerrymandering). I mean the Oil/Gas industry that buys its politicians and its state and federal regulatory agencies. I mean also the propaganda machine that lies to the public and hides its nefarious actions behind false promises and hollow platitudes—"Fracking create more jobs.” “We have to drill to be energy independent.” “Regulations hurt businesses and destroy jobs.”
President Biden, in his farewell speech, warned of a "dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy."
Sadly, this kind of abuse has already been enacted over and over again in Ohio with regard to the Oil/Gas-Legislature-Money complex and the public be damned. Just look at some of the data.
FrackTracker Alliance recently reported that there have been nearly 2,000 Oil and Gas incidents in Ohio since 2015. Their analysis reveals that between 2015 and 2017 alone there were “severe reporting discrepancies such as inconsistent incident classification, omitted location data, and a downplaying of incident severity.”
What’s the closest thing to de-regulation? Answer: mis-regulation; really it’s fake regulation, which serves as a cloak for an unleashed industrial greed machine. And of course, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most—for example, Appalachian communities in eastern Ohio and all the Ohioans yet to be born who will have to bear the full brunt of lasting environmental damage and degradation.
Most Ohioans get their drinking water from the ground. Yet, we are pumping toxic and radioactive brine waste into the ground like there’s no tomorrow. And perhaps that will, indeed, be the consequence—an Ohio short of potable water, and thus an Ohio that is unlivable. The industry would have us believe that the waste pumped into the ground just remains where we pump it, but geologists tell us otherwise.
Recently, we saw ODNR forced to close injection wells in Athens County because the wastes pumped into them were coming up production wells a couple miles away. But get this: It wasn’t that they were trying to protect the public. They closed the injection wells because they threatened the integrity of nearby production wells!
And so it goes. The money goes round and round. The waste goes into the ground. The pols get paid. The laws get made. The rich and powerful get more rich and more powerful, and the rest of us get screwed.
Once you get radical (get to the root of things), hopefully you’ll get angry – angry enough to fight the good fight, which really means to work and work to get things right. Work to spread correct information on these issues. Work on informing yourself about what our legislators are doing and not doing.
Perhaps most importantly, join, support, and work with one or more organizations that are working on these issues—FaCT, FracTracker Alliance, Sierra Club, 350.org, Buckeye Environmental Network, Save Ohio Parks. Collective efforts are always more effective than a lone effort. You can choose to work in your own faith community as well. Join the environmental action group or earth care group in your church, mosque, synagogue, or temple. If there isn’t such a group, reach out for a partner in your congregation, and start such a group.
Did I mention: you can get involved with and support FaCT – Faith Communities Together for a Sustainable Future? [ factsustain.org ] Your congregation, likewise, can work with FaCT in our FaCT Anchors program (https://factsustain.org/fact_anchor ) In FaCT and FaCT Anchors, you will meet wonderfully inspired people of faith who live out their spiritual commitment to preserve and protect the Creation. We’re eager to meet you, dear friends!
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FaCT – factsustain.org
BEN – Buckeye Environmental Network – benohio.org
Sierra Club of Ohio – https://www.sierraclub.org/ohio
Save Ohio Parks – https://saveohioparks.org/
FracTracker Alliance - fractracker.org
