Anti-fracking charter amendment backers are seeking to put proposal on Youngstown ballot

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

With supporters of an anti-fracking charter amendment seeking to put the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot for the fifth time, a group has formed to fight it yet again.

Called the Voters for Ballot Integrity, the group wrote in a statement that it “seeks to halt abuse of Youngstown’s charter amendment process by supporters of the so-called ‘Community Bill of Rights’ charter amendment.”

The group says a November 2014 Ohio Supreme Court decision makes it improper for the issue to be on the ballot again because the issue is outside the authority of the city, and the Ohio Constitution prohibits such items from being on the ballot.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulates fracking in the state.

The group, consisting of local labor and business officials, will speak further about the anti-fracking ballot proposal outside the Mahoning County Board of Elections, 345 Oak Hill Ave., at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The fracking ban failed twice in 2013 and two more times in 2014.