Don’t discount fracking moratorium; it can happen in Ohio

I would like to respond to your editorial in The Athens NEWS of Thursday, Dec. 29. 2011, in which you assert that people who are demanding, "a ban or moratorium [on fracking] are betraying their ignorance of politics in this state." While you claim that "it makes more practical sense to work toward achievable goals, including higher taxes and stricter regulations for fracking," I would like to suggest that you are missing some important points here.

To validate your flawed argument, you cite an unnamed local businessman who visited Pennsylvania to get "some first-hand knowledge of the facts surrounding oil and gas production" and found the local landscape pretty much the same as it (give or take a few fast food joints) did 30 years ago." As if appearance tells the story.

It is astonishing that you present this as a "positive account" of fracking. I would like to remind you that this area once experienced a coal boom that has left us a legacy of acid mine drainage. We have all seen the orange-colored creeks saturated with minerals leeched out of the underground mines. One only has to travel to The Plains or Millfield to first-hand observe this legacy. There are also times when the water in Sunday Creek is crystal clear. However, due to its acidity, the water is lifeless. So much for appearances. One would hope for a more informed assessment of the potential dangers to our aquifer when embarking on a fracking boom that you believe is "coming to Ohio whether we like it or not."

This brings me to my second point. We should all have learned in our social studies classes that all mass movements have begun with a small group of individuals dedicated to a cause. Do you seriously believe that, for example, the civil rights movement would have happened without inspired organizers? To dismiss opponents of fracking as deluded when it comes to political reality is simply na ve. What about Senate Bill 5? Did that bill just get rejected because a few folks were against it? What happened there?

Many individuals in our community have serious concerns about fracking while others are rushing to sign mineral leases without considering not only short-term legal and environmental concerns, but potential long-term environmental damage as well, which will then have to be dealt with by our children and future generations.

I urge you to give serious consideration to these legitimate concerns rather than dismiss them as delusions. When "the people" become educated about the potential downsides of fracking, the day may well come the "masses will rise" as they did to defeat SB 5. An informative Athens-based website to begin one's education can be found at: http://slowdownfracking.wordpress.com/. I urge you to do the same.

Additional websites that may interest you and The Athens News readers are:

• Pro Publica Journalism in the Public Interest. This investigative journalism website features a series of special reports on the environmental threats posed by fracking at: www.propublica.org/series/fracking

• A recently released study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that "fracking" caused contamination of the water supply near Pavillion, Wyo. Results of this study can be found at: www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/PavillionWyomingFactSheet.pdf

• Results from a Duke University study found methane levels 17 times higher in well water collected near shale-gas drilling and fracking sites and can be found at: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi.10.1073.pnas.1100682108

• An Ohio State University study found that shale gas will create 20,000 jobs over the next four years, not the 200,000 job forecasted by the industry, as reported by the Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/12/shale_gas_will_not_create_2000.html

• Information about the suspension of operations at one of Ohio's 177 injection wells after an earthquake near Youngstown on Dec. 31, as reported by the New York Times, can be found at: www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/youngstown-injection-well-stays-shut-after-earthquake.html

Thank you for your consideration of multiple perspectives on this issue and your newspaper's participation in this local, state, national and global dialogue. Let us continue to work toward creating an informed citizenry so that we may all — as a community — make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good.

Editor's note: Dr. Frans H. Doppen is an assistant professor of middle childhood and social studies education at Ohio University.