Today is a BIG DAY.
As promised, I’m adding a new feature to Pepperspectives: a Podcast!
And I’m thrilled to launch the first episode today: “Leaking Wells and Phony Letters: A Stacked Deck Against the Public.”
In recent weeks, I’ve highlighted the outrageous situation playing out in Eastern Ohio, where injection wells from the fracking industry (from Ohio and elsewhere) have been found to be leaking toxic “brine” to surrounding areas. What’s happening is a case study of just how broken Ohio government is—where private interests are prioritized over the public good in so many ways, including here.
In one post, I explained how Ohio’s Oil and Gas Commission—which allowed a known leak to continue for six additional months—is stacked in favor of the industry, with no voice for the public.
And over the weekend, we learned from Cleveland.Com that one of the members of that commission, and now a state senator, owns a company which itself owns wells that have been found to leak.
To understand more how all this has happened, the impact on the communities and region where this is happening, and what can done long-term to solve it, I spoke to Roxanne Groff—a former Athens County Commissioner who has been leading the charge to expose all this, prevent what is happening, and clean it up.
You will NOT want to miss what she has to say. It is both stunning and disturbing. It calls out for action and more exposure. But it also makes me appreciate how hard heroes like Roxanne have been working to draw attention and stop what’s happening. Their work needs even more attention and support.
(My goal is to have these run about 20 minutes or so, but you’ll see that what Roxanne had to say was so important, and disturbing, we went on for a little longer).
* To offset production and other costs to do these podcasts, this will ultimately be a feature for paid subscribers. But I wanted to make this one available to all subscribers to give everyone a sense of the type of conversations I hope to have. Please become a paid subscriber to help support more podcasts in the future.
And feel free to comment below what topics you’d like me to cover with these….
Podcast Debut! "Leaking Wells and Phony Letters"