Athens County is one of three counties that could be affected.
Joanne Prisley doesn’t like to say she “led” the opposition against the Athens County Charter proposal, a measure that attempts to take aim at state fracking laws.
“I think I was just the first one to protest,” she said.
The proposal, which was drafted this summer by the Athens County Bill of Rights Committee, has already come up against several roadblocks and now sits before the Ohio Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court approves the measure, it will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Supporters of the bill hope the court will reach a decision before Sept. 19, which is the day soldiers overseas are allowed to send in their ballots.
“They’re trying to get it done before it’s too late to get on the ballot,” Dick McGinn, a member of the Bill of Rights Committee, said. “There’s no requirement that they do that. They said they would and usually they do.”
The proposal advocates against state fracking laws by declaring that Athens County is allowed to forbid hydraulic fracturing and injection wells within its boundaries.
In doing so, it will change the county from a statutory form of government to a charter form of government, meaning the Athens County Commissioners will be allowed to pass ordinances.
The problem, as far as Prisley is concerned, is that the proposal fails to follow the proper protocol required in forming a charter.
“The number one thing is when you want to change government from statutory to a charter … you have to follow the requirements for a charter,” she said. “You can’t change things that the state has put in effect.”
Prisley said she is afraid the proposal will open up the county to costly legal battles with wealthy corporations, which could potentially bankrupt Athens.
Athens County isn’t the only municipality at risk.
Medina and Fulton counties have also formulated their own charters.
The fates of their proposed bills will also be determined by the Ohio Supreme Court alongside the Athens charter.
Legal struggles began for the Athens County charter when the Athens County Board of Elections turned the proposal down in July.
The Bill of Rights Committee took that decision to court, and Athens County Judge George McCarthy ruled against the Board of Elections.
Then, in August, Prisley and her lawyer, Michael Hollingsworth, appealed to Secretary of State Jon Husted to try to get the bill overturned again.
“Allowing these proposals to proceed will only serve a false promise that wastes taxpayer's time and money and will eventually end in sending the charters to certain death in the courts,” Husted said in a news release on Aug. 13.
The Bill of Rights Committee, represented by attorney Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, filed in the Supreme Court in late August.
“We feel that the law is on our side,” McGinn said. “I guess that’s an opinion, but we’ve looked at the law.”
Prisley called Linzey a “snake oil salesman” and a “carpet bagger” and said she believed he was just hoping to line his pockets through a series of legal battles.
“The community here, they’re intelligent people, and I can’t see how they bought this,” Prisley said. “I think maybe they’re ... so taken with this problem of fracking — which it is a problem — that they can’t see anything but that.”
She said she feels so strongly about the issue because she cares about Athens and the people who live there.
“When I’m on one side and a lot of people are on the other side … that doesn’t mean I don’t like those people,” Prisley said. “But my father always said that if you feel strongly about something, you should stand up for it.”
Andrea Rike, who serves on the Bill of Rights Committee and the Athens County Fracking Action Network, said it was important to take a stand against fracking immediately.
“I believe that we use every method we have available and every strategy to stop this flood of frack waste in our county,” she said. “If someone can come up to me with another way to attempt to stop this, then fine ... So what do you do? Do you sit there and do nothing? I can’t do that.”
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