A graduate student argues that those who are against tracking in Wayne National Forest are not "extremists," but rather are concerned residents who care about the environment.
Athens County is my home, and one of the most beautiful places in the USA. The foothills and forests that we have here are priceless and worth protecting. However, that is only one reason why I am angry about the proposal to frack Wayne National Forest.
However small Wayne is, it is the only federal conservation in the state of Ohio. The watersheds and aquifers located in Wayne help provide water to this region, as well as to the tributaries that feed the Ohio River. Many residents here also rely on wells and cisterns for drinking water, leading to legitimate concerns about contamination from frack waste-water spills and chemicals leaching into the groundwater.
Opponents have been calling us environmental “extremists” and “radicals” because that is how they try to justify their views about injuring and destroying our natural systems. The truth is, the people who are standing up and speaking out against fracking are doing so because they have the biggest hearts. They are concerned citizens, and they care about what happens to this community. They care about the health of this region, its people and the wildlife.
The people here worship fishing and hunting season, and they traditionally garden, forage and gather. All of these activities help us to be resilient and survive, and all of these activities are intimately linked to water. If our water system is damaged, then everything else in our ecosystem will become damaged as well, including our health and the health of our children.
Sarah Kaplan is a graduate student at Ohio University.
