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Coalition again calls on city residents to vote no on anti-fracking in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
A group of business, labor, political and religious leaders is again calling for Youngstown residents to vote against the so-called “Community Bill of Rights” charter-amendment proposal – and not just because of its fracking ban.
Members of the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth said at a Tuesday news conference at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 377 at 1223 Teamsters Drive that the ballot language gives people the authority to file lawsuits against anyone they believe is violating their rights to clean air and water.
Mayor John A. McNally, a member of the coalition, said the “well-intentioned people” behind the anti-fracking proposal – which has failed five previous times – are “trying to outlaw what is already legal and out of local control.”
Fracking is regulated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Rocky DiGennaro, president of the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trade Council and coalition member, said, “If this destructive bill passes, it will devastate our local contractors and local [union] members.”
But Susie Beiersdorfer, a member of the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights committee and Frackfree Mahoning Valley, which are backing the issue, said it strengthens people’s rights to drink clean water, breathe clean air and to self-govern.
“We have the right to alter, reform or abolish our government,” she said.
In addition to banning fracking – none of which exists in the city – the proposal makes it illegal for any government or corporation to engage in the “depositing, disposal, storage and transportation of water or chemicals to be used in the extraction of oil and gas, and the disposal or processing of waste products from the extraction of oil and gas,” according to ballot language.
But the proposal doesn’t prohibit the manufacturing, production, sale or distribution of materials and components used in fracking as long as the materials and components aren’t used in Youngstown.
Thomas Humphries, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s president and chief executive officer, and a coalition member, said, “If someone puts in a footer to start a building, [someone would] have the right to say that footer impacts the environment and can challenge it in court. It’s not good for business and the public.”
Beiersdorfer said of Humphries’ statement: “That is propaganda.”
This is the sixth time the proposal has been in front of city voters. It failed twice in both 2013 and 2014, and in the November 2015 election. The ballot issue lost by only 2.46 percentage points the last time it was on the ballot.
McNally said, “This could again be a close issue.”
John Williams, who was outside the Teamsters hall in support of the charter amendment, said if it fails in November, “we’ll be back and back and back. [The other ballot initiatives] keep fracking out. It’s kept Youngstown free of fracking.”