A report from the Wyoming government has identified the prime causes of a massive fracking well blowout in the Eastern part of the state.

The report cites human error and mechanical failure as the cause for the blowout which affected 52 acres of land, and released 2 million cubic feet of gas into the air – becoming smog and asthma causing compounds – and untold amounts of toxic fracking chemicals over 3 days.

With mechanical and human error at the root cause of this blowout, it is only a matter of time until a similar or larger accident occurs in Ohio. The failure of the ODNR and Ohio EPA to effectively monitor or regulate the gas industry means that we can expect accidents of this size and larger in Ohio. Considering that Eastern Ohio atop the Utica shale is more densely populated than Montana, what was an expensive but injury-free accident could turn into an outright disaster under other circumstances.

Gov. Kasich will be meeting with Aubery McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake, the company that owned the well, next week in Columbus.

Click here to read more about the accident.

This is an image from Charleston Fall Nature Preserve in Tipp City, Miami County Ohio, where a public park has been given over to an international oil corporation with a deadly safety record. As fracking comes to Ohio, we can expect to see more and more signs like this popping up in parks around the state. If you think public parks should be for people, not BP, sign up to join us in Columbus, June 17th.

The fracking industry is fanning out across the state, buying up leases and applying for more permits to drill. But everywhere they go, citizens and grassroots groups are mobilizing to stop them.

In May, I’ll be leading strategy sessions in communities resisting fracking across the state to help build and strengthenthe statewide movement against fracking in Ohio. 

These sessions will include discussions on the impacts of fracking in our state, training on how to design strategic actions that move local campaigns forward, and we’ll talk more about our plans for the largest action against fracking in our country’s history to take place in Columbus this June 17th

These strategy sessions will be great opportunities for us to come together as a movement and gain new action organizing skills in the fight to stop fracking in Ohio. 

Here is the schedule of the strategy sessions in May:

May 12th—Cincinnati, OH  (2-5pm)

May 13th—Athens, OH  (2-5pm)

May 14th—Youngstown, OH  (6-9pm)

May 15th—Canton, OH  (6-9pm)

May 16th—Ashtabula, OH  (6-9pm)

May 17th—Cleveland, OH  (6-9pm)

May 18th—Mansfield, OH  (6-9pm)

May 19th—Oberlin, OH  (2-5pm)

May 20th—Columbus, OH  (2-5pm)

Sign up here for the session nearest to you, and we’ll send you updates on pertinent details such as specific venue locations, directions, parking, agenda, and more.

I hope to see you next month, and in action this Summer,

–Danny

Dressed as citizen referees, activists “blow the whistle” on gas industry’s influence over Ohio legislators and repression of the public’s voice on a critical issue for Ohioans.

Columbus, OH- Frustrated after several months of deliberate stonewalling of six bills to slow or halt fracking and deep waste injection, students, farmers, small business owners, and community members ensured their presence was felt as the bills were given their first ever introductory hearing at the Ohio Statehouse yesterday. Activists believe the delay on hearings of these bills is directly linked with the $2.8 million the Gas Industry has poured into the Ohio Legislature, including $213,000 in campaign contributions allotted to Governor Kasich. Hearing rumors that the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Chair had no intention of allowing further hearings or opportunities for public comment, activists–many dressed in referee jerseys–packed the hearing room to call foul on the the gas industry’s corruption of the legislative process.

“I came here today to hold our representatives accountable to the people they’re supposed to represent. A majority of Ohioans want to see a halt to fracking until it can be proven to be safe. The frackers have a lot of money, but we have truth and people power on our side. I’m hoping that will prevail today” said local small business owner Jennie Scheinbach.

Fracking is quickly becoming a top tier issue for Ohioans due to growing concern over the local environmental and health impacts. Two hundred marched against the industry’s first Ohio conference in Youngstown last November. Over three hundred rallied on the steps of the Statehouse in January calling for a halt to fracking and waste injection throughout the state. Activists have even been arrested in recent months for disrupting industry operations in efforts to protect impacted communities.

In what activists deemed to be an effort to quell resistance yesterday, the Ohio House pushed back the hearings of the six bills for hours until many activists could no longer stay. Although originally notified the bills would receive a first hearing between 3pm and 5pm, hearing attendees were informed only at 4pm that the bills would not be heard until 7pm.

“As a student at Ohio State, I felt called to participate in this action.  Just as the administration at Ohio State isn’t honoring the voices of students in their decision to frack on university land, our representatives aren’t honoring the voices of distressed citizens across Ohio. They demonstrated their preference for the gas industry today in further delaying the hearing on bills that would slow or put a halt to toxic fracking operations in our state” said OSU junior, Adrian Jusdanis.

Undeterred by the further delay, about a dozen remained at the Statehouse ensuring the voices of concerned Ohioans were represented. The growing collective power brought by students, farmers, and community members will be showcased this summer in a mobilization called Don’t Frack Ohio. A coalition of Ohio grassroots groups, environmental and progressive organizations, national movement leaders, and concerned citizens are calling for the largest mobilization against fracking in the country’s history to take place in Columbus this June 14-17. Details of the June mobilization against fracking can be viewed at www.dontfrackoh.org.

Click here to sign up to join the action.

“We need to make this summer the high water mark for the fracking industry. We just don’t have time to lose.”

That’s Bill McKibben on why this action is so important – with the nation’s attention (and Presidential candidates) focusing on Ohio, we have an unprecedented opportunity to send a strong message that fracking is the wrong answer for our country. Also, fracking wastewater disposal is the industry’s achilles heel, and shutting down operations in Ohio will slow the march towards more dangerous drilling in other states as well.

Read the whole interview with Bill at by clicking here.

If you’re tired of fossil fuel industry corruption, join us in Columbus in June by clicking here.

This weekend the Cleveland Plain Dealer posted a very revealing article that shows just how deeply fracking industry money has corrupted Ohio’s political system. Here are some amazing facts from the article:

While the added lobbying muscle of Ohio’s oil and gas industry is still emerging, campaign finance reports show five of the major oil and gas industry PACs poured nearly $600,000 into politician coffers since 2010, including nearly $100,000 since last March to state lawmakers from Chesapeake Energy.

And:

Since March 2011, Chesapeake’s PAC or members of its Statehouse lobbying team have donated nearly $100,000 to 19 House members and 14 Senate members, a group that includes 30 Republicans and three Democrats. Most of the contributions to lawmakers have come in the last six months, with Chesapeake giving a total of $84,350 since October.

The industry is surprisingly frank about why they’re spending so big: to put their friends back in office, and to get exclusive access to lawmakers. Another quote:

Companies new to Ohio merely “want to get known,” and giving campaign contributions helps them get face time at fundraisers with lawmakers, Batchelder said.

“We have a number of people who are knowledgeable about the oil industry, people who want to see that industry grow and create jobs and so forth, and sometimes they are very articulate about that,” Batchelder said. “The oil interests want to encourage them and want them to be in the legislature.”

Read the whole thing here.

Last week in a private fundraiser Gov. Kasich announced that he agrees with the scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change. Here’s his quote:

“This isn’t popular to always say, but I believe there is a problem with climates, climate change in the atmosphere … I believe it. I don’t know how much there is, but I also know the good Lord wants us to be good stewards of his creation. And so, at the end of the day, if we can find these breakthroughs to help us have a cleaner environment, I’m all for it.”

Fortunately, Gov. Kasich has a homegrown industry that he can embrace if he chooses: Ohio is a budding leader in renewable energy production. However it means that he will need to make a choice – as we already know, not only does fracking mean more greenhouse gas emissions than coal, but expanding natural gas fracking trades off directly with the ability to expand Ohio’s renewable energy industry.

Now the question for Gov. Kasich is simple: will he continue listening to climate scientists who say that we need renewable energy to be good stewards of creation, or will he knowingly embrace climate catastrophe? This summer we will find out.

Click here to join us in Columbus to tell Gov. Kasich: Don’t Frack Ohio!