Mahoning commissioners hear opposition from fracking opponent

Mahoning commissioners hear opposition from fracking opponent

YOUNGSTOWN

An anti-fracking activist chastised the Mahoning County commissioners this morning for agreeing last week to sell county water to CNX Gas Co. for a well drilling site off Blott Road in Jackson Township.

“We urge the county commissioners not to sell any water to them,” Lynn Anderson of Youngstown, who appeared with a group of local environmental activists, said at this morning’s commissioners’ meeting.

“We do not need our MVSD water sold to frackers,” she said, adding that she opposes the drilling, which she said could adversely affect the Meander Reservoir watershed.

She was referring to the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which sells treated Meander Reservoir water to Youngstown, which sells it to the county’s distribution system in Jackson and Milton Townships.

“I believe that there are no environmental issues,” for the county’s water and sanitary sewer system in connection with the county’s sale of the water to CNX, said Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti.

But Righetti said she wants to discuss the matter further with county sanitary engineering officials.

Under the water service agreement, the county agrees to supply up to 500,000 gallons a day to the drilling site, with the county charging the company $6 per thousand gallons.