Drilling bill drained of impact

The Mahoning Valley knows all too well the dangers tied to inadequate oversight of the state’s oil and gas industry. The adverse environmental and public-health impact of Ben Lupo’s unconscionable dumping of 30,000 gallons of brine waste into a Mahoning River tributary in Youngstown 12 months ago has left a painful and lasting legacy.

It also has educated many in the industry and in government of the need for tightened rules over drilling and associated activities and for heightened penalties for those who defy them.

Gov. John Kasich got it right earlier this year in proposing to the General Assembly legislation to revoke or suspend drilling and related activities of those who break the state’s environmental laws, to toughen requirements for transporting and disposing of brine and to lengthen prison time for violators.

Unfortunately, a group of members in the GOP-controlled state Legislature has gotten it all wrong. They’ve gutted the legislation — House Bill 490 — of most of Kasich’s tough and taut provisions.

RESTORE FIRMNESS TO BILL

Before the bill heads for a final vote this week in the state Senate, we urge public-minded and environmentally-conscious legislators to restore the meatier provisions to give the state broader authority to suspend permits for violators and to boost criminal penalties for the most flagrant polluters, a la Lupo.

The Ohio Environmental Council also has it right in opposing the watered-down provisions. “The governor’s plan would have brought the hammer of justice against the most flagrant violators of human health and safety laws,” said Trent Dougherty of the OEC. “The amended bill replaces the hammer with a tattered white flag.”

State senators should refuse to surrender and speedily restore Gov. Kasich’s intent to HB 490. In so doing, some long-term good can eke out of the adversity and embarrassment that Lupo dumped on Mahoning County and the state one year ago.