Commissioners should pass strict resolution against fracking

To the Editor:

This is an open letter to Athens County Commissioners Eliason, Payne and Sullivan.

I write to express support for the "Resolution on Deep Shale Drilling and Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing" presented to the Athens County Commissioners on Jan. 24. Apparently you have returned the resolution to its citizen advocates. You have asked for changes in the resolution that would considerably weaken protections of our air and water as a condition of support. As a deeply concerned resident of Athens County, I urge you to reconsider your resistance to the protections called for by the resolution.

The resolution as submitted last week does not demand air and water free of all potential health threats. It calls for minimal protections from very dangerous substances. If these substances are allowed into our air and water without meaningful regulation and restriction, they will cause irreparable damage to our land and grave threats to our health. Indeed, these threats make the environmental damage from previous plundering of Appalachia seem like a child's scraped knee.

%u2028We know from OSU economics researchers that estimates of job production associated with horizontal hydraulic fracturing are wildly over-inflated. Over-estimates of job creation encourage the current gold-rush mentality. With the smell of money in the air, it can be hard to think straight, especially in tough times.

So what is certain? Every child, woman and man in the county is being held hostage to the decisions of the very few: the fraction of people who own mineral rights and those who would exploit them without a care for the impact on those who hope to remain on the land. The vast majority of your constituents have no say in this matter except through your voice. Please support the proposed resolution and all reasonable efforts to protect our county from irreparable damage.

Thanks very much for your attention.

Austin Babrow
Peach Ridge Road
Athens