Group seeks to keep anti-fracking item off ballot


YOUNGSTOWN — A group of local labor leaders and business owners want officials with the city and the Mahoning County Board of Elections to keep a proposed anti-fracking charter amendment off the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Members of Voters for Ballot Integrity spoke today in opposition to the anti-fracking proposal, called the Community Bill of Rights by its supporters, that’s been rejected four times by city voters.

Proposal supporters are circulating petitions to put it on the ballot for the fifth time, and have more than a month to finish getting the needed signatures.

The ballot integrity group points to a Feb. 17 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court that the state constitution’s home-rule amendment doesn’t grant local governments the power to regulate oil and gas operations in their limits, and that state law gives state government the exclusive authority to regulate oil and gas wells.

“We’re calling on the local board of elections and Youngstown leaders to prohibit this from the ballot,” said Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO Labor Council, and a member of Voters for Ballot Integrity. “It’s time for this to stop.”

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com

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