Distinguished Speaker Series Anne Caruso p1 Beauty Inside Us: Honoring Climate Activists FracTracker p2 Fracking in Ohio State Parks Dr. Randi Pokladnik p3-4 Climate Change, Farming, SPAN p5 Annual Campaign Ron Prosek p6
In this month's newsletter:
Fact Ohio Distinguished Speaker Series presents: Dr. Mary Finley-Brook Dr. Stephen Metts
December 2022 Newsletter
Fact Ohio Faith communities together for a sustainable future
In our November newsletter we introduced author Mary Finley-Brooks, co-author of Climate Crisis, Energy Violence, and Environmental Racism with Stephen Metts. We are excited to host both of these authors in January as part of our FaCTOhio Distinguished Speaker Series. Their book is scheduled for release on June 1, 2023. In this issue of our newsletter, we’d like to introduce Stephen Metts. Stephen is a Geographic Information System (GIS) analyst. He designs ways to map information about communities, land, and the build-out of infrastructure. He received his M.A. from Clark University and is an associate professor at the New School in New York. Stephen Metts is the founding principal of Geospex, a GIS consultancy specializing in cartographic design. His work focuses on ways communities are impacted by fracking, coal mining, natural disasters, and other intrusions. His work can give researchers information they need to understand about what went wrong when a pipeline leaked, or when there was a natural gas explosion. His data maps can tell us if only older pipelines are in danger of leaking or if newer ones are, too. After a natural disaster, he can help determine the most sustainable approach to rebuilding structures while maximizing the future success of the impacted community. When a new pipeline or fracking well is proposed, there is a regulatory process that requires consideration of Environmental Justice issues. Stephen’s work can detect if there was a breach of this requirement. He has assisted vulnerable communities here in the states as well as around the world. Stephen’s wide experience is used in Climate Crisis, Energy Violence, and Environmental Racism by providing case studies of the impact on nearby communities of energy systems from coal mining to solar panel construction. Consequently he and Mary Finley-Brook have provided a comprehensive account of the consequences of our energy sources, including the extent of energy violence we’re inflicting and who is most impacted. Please join us on Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 3 pm to hear about the often tragic costs of energy today with Mary Finley-Brooks and Stephen Metts. Register for this online event HERE.
{{page}}
Musical performance by Billy Traynor with video homage by Nathan Hendrie
Cesar Aguirre(He/Him), Senior Community Organizer,Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), California Jo Banner (She/Her) and Joy Banner (She/Her), Co-Directors and Co-Founders of The Descendants Project, Louisiana Laurie Barr (She/Her), Co-Founder, Save our Streams PA, Pennsylvania, Dr. Crystal Ann Cavalier-Keck (She/Her), Co-Founder of 7 Directions of Service, North Carolina, ChantéDavis (She/Her), Movement Lead Organizer, Sunrise Movement, Texas Jill Hunkler (She/Her), Served as Executive Director of Concerned Ohio River Residents/ Ohio Valley Allies, Ohio
The impacts of the oil and gas industry are palpable across the United States: farms and forests are carved open by dangerous pipelines, communities are invaded with fracked wells, towns are choked by petrochemical emissions, streams are littered with throwaway plastics, states in every region are plagued by extreme weather and a rapidly changing climate. Though environmental injustices abound, we continue to find hope in the environmental advocates and community activists working to document, report, and confront fossil fuel harms and injustice in their communities. To honor these environmental heroes, FracTracker Alliance created the Community Sentinel Award for Environmental Stewardship, Now in its eighth year, the annual award ceremony co-hosted by Halt the Harm Network celebrates individuals whose noble actions exemplify the transformative power of committed and engaged people. In collaboration with our sponsors and partners, the award is presented to multiple recipients at a virtual reception before fellow activists, allies and conspirators, all of whom are working towards a healthier and more just future. Each awardee receives $1,000 and is recognized at the Community Sentinel Awards ceremony, held this year on Thursday, December 8, 2022. We also welcome our partners and community members to submit the names of activists who have passed away over the last year, so that we may honor their lives and their work during the Legacy of Heroes presentation during the awards ceremony. 2022 Award Winners are listed below. Please find more details about their amazing work at: https://www.fractracker.org/get-involved/sentinel-award/
Beauty Inside Us: Honoring Climate Activists FracTracker Alliance
Ohio House Bill 507 Fracking in Our State Parks Dr. Randi Pokladnik
Ohio Senate Republicans recently passed the Amended HB 507 bill. The bill was originally intended to address poultry sales and food safety, however, at the last minute an amendment (134-3853) was added to HB 507 in the Senate. Basically, the amendment will force state agencies to open their land to oil and gas drilling with no exceptions. The amendment creates an atmosphere where citizens are effectively locked out of any public review process and refused the ability to make comments on the leasing process. It by-passes any considerations of impacts to the environment and recreation. Pre-19th century, Ohio was 95 percent forested. Today only 30 percent of forested land remains (8.0 million acres) and only 11 percent is owned by state and local governments. The Ohio State Park system encompasses about 170,000 acres of land and over 31 million visitors come to Ohio parks each year. For many people, both in and out of the state, state parks and forests remain a sanctuary; a place for them to escape their hectic lives and find the peace that nature offers. It also provides a space for recreating, bird watching, fishing, hunting, hiking, canoeing and biking. Additionally, a study by The Ohio State University determined that outdoor recreationalists’ trips bring in $8.1 billion to Ohio’s economy and the sector employs 133,000 workers. Fracking and all the build-out that this industry requires will dramatically change the landscape of Ohio’s parks and forests. Who wants to hike through a park with frack pads and fracking infrastructure? Who wants to ingest wild game and fish taken from areas where fracking is occurring? Since 2005, and the passage of the Energy Policy Act, also known as the Haliburton Loophole, fracking remains virtually unregulated. Who will guarantee that every stage of the process will be conducted in a way so as not to disrupt the state lands that supposedly belong to Ohio’s citizens? A study in West Virginia showed forest ecosystems are negatively affected by forest clearing, erosion, and road building during fracking. Vegetation death was also noted after frack fluids were sprayed on the surrounding trees. Peer reviewed studies show that watersheds surrounding frack well pads test positive for the radioactive substances found in frack waste water, which consists of fracturing fluid and salts, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and radioactive material accumulated from natural underground sources. Fracking well pads and infrastructure will require clearing areas (cutting trees and vegetation). This will require areas of anywhere from four to twenty-five acres. Not only will this fragment the forest it will cause other effects that to date are still not clearly understood or studied. This includes additional fragmentation that will negatively affect plant reproduction. Fracking can also introduce and encourage the spread of invasive species via the gravel delivered to build pads and roads, and in mud on the tires and undercarriages of trucks traveling those roads. Traffic in the region will increase tremendously, becoming a maintenance burden on roads, and also a hazard to local citizens and visitors. Each well drilled requires approximately 592 one-way trips, with a truck that carries between 80-100,000 lbs. The traffic from the development of one well is equivalent to 3.4 million car trips. The process of high-pressure hydraulic fracking necessitates the use of 4-6 million gallons of water per well. This surface water will no doubt be withdrawn from the local streams, resulting in harm to aquatic organisms. Fracking fluids contain chemical additives, e.g. friction reducers, biocides and surfactants, many of which are known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. Very little is known about the potential effects of the chemicals, metals, organics or other contaminants once they enter terrestrial or aquatic food webs. Climate change, the elephant in the room, is being exacerbated by our reliance on fossil fuels. Fracking operations release fugitive methane emissions and are much higher than the industry reports. Methane gas is about 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide in magnifying heat related to climate change. The aesthetic beauty as well as biodiversity of the forest will be impacted by allowing fossil fuel companies to frack the landscape. Once again, Ohio’s politicians place the interests of the oil and gas industry ahead of Ohio’s citizens.
Fracking In Our State Parks, continued from page 3
The Ohio countryside continues to be torn up for commercial profits. Pipelines like this one in Harris County will take ethane to cracker plants near the Ohio River to make even more unneeded single use plastics, poisoning our air, water and soil in the process. (New, 2022)
The build-out of fracking infrastructure in farm fields and wooded areas has became a familiar site throughout Ohio's Carroll and Harrison county. Unmarked tanker trucks are continuously coming and going around this new frack pad just north of Tappan Lake. (New, 2022)
With all the drilling that is taking place in Harrison County, and with the lack of regulation, the city of Bowerston has posted warning signs and requests for help with water surveillance. (New, 2022)
Fight Climate Change with Farming - COP27
Please join our Single Payer Action Network (SPAN) Zoom Conference Our Environment and Our Heath: Air Pollution and Fracking Brine January 14, 2023 at 10 to 11:30 AM Eastern Dr. Gillian Goobie MD PhD FRCPC Clinical Assistant Professor Division of Respiratory Medicine University of British Columbia Dr. Ted Auch, PhD The Health Effects of Fracking and Fracking Waste Using Fracking Waste on our Roads Dr. Auch’s interests include topics such as environmental justice, ecosystem services, watershed resilience, and landscape alteration(s). He is Adjunct Faculty, Department of Biology at John Carroll University in Cleveland. He is associated with FracTracker Alliance as Great Lakes Program Director and serves as Board Member of FaCT. Registration is required to attend this meeting.RegisterHERE After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Ohio is full of rolling hills and cleared farm fields. We have enough here to feed our entire state, to rebuild our forests and natural areas, and to develop our own brands of local fruits and vegetables that could bring visitors into the area year-round. Small farms like Marshy Meadows in Ashtabula County, Red Wagon in Lorain County, and Vermilion Valley Vineyards in Erie County could provide food security and income for people throughout Ohio. We could establish these healthy and equitable lifestyles for ourselves and our communities, or we could fall prey to industrial agriculture and commodity farming. Fighting against corporations and Combined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that are threatening our state is a big task, but we are not working alone. There is a growing international awareness of the problem and support for equitable solutions. Last month Egypt hosted the UN Climate talks, also known as the 27th Conference of Parties or COP27. A disturbing trend was noted by many this year. DeSmog International reported, “The number of delegates representing big agribusiness has more than doubled at the UN climate talks since last year, leading to concerns from campaigners at access enjoyed by high-carbon companies attending the Egypt summit.” Pro-industry participants included pesticide producers, meat lobby groups, dairy companies, and agribusiness representatives. Unsustainable agricultural practices are estimated to be responsible for one third of all global emissions. The solution to this agribusiness climate threat is through local economies. International regulations are needed to protect small farmers who could be leading this shift in food sources and farming practices. Fight climate change and support small Ohio farms by buying locally sourced organic foods, by sharing this information with your community, and by contacting your elected officials in Ohio’s General Assembly to make your voice heard.
Thank you! End-of-year Annual Fund Campaign a Success! Ron Prosek, Treasurer
Thank you for your generosity in making our End-of-the-Year Annual Fund Campaign a great success. Several of you went above and beyond and increased your giving significantly as compared to past campaigns. Your generosity enabled us to surpass our $14,000 goal! We actually raised a bit more than $15,000 in the period from mid-November up to the writing of this article, December 26. These funds will help us expand our education program through faith communities on the spreading of toxic and radioactive brine on Ohio roads, and they will also help establish our upcoming Climate Change Education Program. These two programs and other efforts will help us expand and diversify our constituency to more faith communities throughout Ohio. The more participation we have from all the faith groups in Ohio the stronger influence we will have in the public square to affect necessary policy changes to protect our land and Ohio families. If you missed the December 31 deadline for a tax-deductible donation to FaCT for 2022, you can still donate. Your dollars will be put to good use in 2023, and they are fully tax-deductible for 2023. Finally, as you may know, the dollars we receive from individual donors like you help us to convince granting foundations that we are worth their consideration for major grants in the range of $50,000 and above. These are the kinds of grants FaCT will need to strengthen its structure and operations by employing paid professional leadership. In other words, your dollars help us to leverage foundation dollars that FaCT needs to grow into a powerful statewide organization that will bring the power of faith to the fight for environmental justice. Again, thank you for your continued support, and best wishes for a great year in 2023.