Hello petition signatories,
I am excited to share that I, along with Camille and Ryan McPeek, paid a visit to the Ohio Statehouse yesterday at the invitation of Sen. Andrew Brenner. During our meeting, we focused on four policy changes that we see as important, feasible, and holding broad appeal:
- Propose legislation that prevents new injection wells from being permitted in areas that are at high risk for groundwater pollution.
- Ban injection into formations where injected fluids have migrated significant distances and/or escaped their confining zones.
- Use taxes to appropriately compensate communities that are forced to take on the risks of injection wells.
- Give local governments a say in the siting of injection wells.
Brenner had a legislative aide and a policy advisor present at the meeting, and he seemed to take what we had to say seriously. He asked good questions and had his staff people take plenty of notes. He seemed most concerned with threats to drinking water, and he said he planned to follow up with both the Ohio EPA and ODNR regarding the information we shared with him. He also pointed out that he is a member of JCARR, the committee that does the final review of administrative rules. Given that the Ohio EPA is in the process of reviewing its rules for injection wells, that is good news for us. He appeared less enthusiastic about the community compensation and community consent points, but I see any step to better regulate wells is a step in the right direction. Change takes time and it has to start somewhere.
As for how changes might be made, he mentioned three possible avenues:
- Rule changes made by regulatory agencies
- Legislation
- Executive orders issued by the governor
While we were at the Capitol, we also met with one of Rep. Darrell Kick's staff people. We hope that will open the door to more conversation. We plan to follow up with both legislators in a few weeks to see if any progress has been made. In the meantime, if you happen to see (or call or write) Sen. Brenner, thank him for meeting with us and encourage him to advocate for the changes we discussed.
Take care,
Lucy Bryan Malenke