When eight local fracking protesters were arrested and dropped the signs they were holding, Athens County Fracking Action Network member Andrea Reik picked one up.
“Here, grab the end,” Reik said to another protester. “We’re not done with this yet.”
The eight were arrested for trespassing Saturday while blocking the driveway of K&H Partners injection well near Coolville, said protest organizer Cusi Ballew.
“O-H-I-O, injection wells have got to go,” the protesters shouted into bullhorns in response to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources recently permitting the drilling of a second injection well by the Parkersburg-based company.
Christine Hughes, a local fracking activist who owns Village Bakery on East State Street, said that while the protesters were there they blocked two trucks hauling fracking waste from entering the driveway.
One event organizer, Crissa Cummings, estimated 150 people attended the protest. Cummings said the protest was about “having local control” because ODNR “went ahead and allowed the second (injection) well.”
“When they came into Appalachia and took our lumber the first time, did that make us rich? When they took our coal for the first time? When they took our oil for the first time? So why would this time be any different?” asked Kip Rondy, one of the eight arrested.
Rondy, an organic farmer from Amesville, said the injection wells are especially dangerous to farmers.
“When wells are located near other farms, it affects them,” Rondy said. “As organic farmers, we can’t jeopardize our environment on the idea that (injection wells) might be OK for 10 years or 20 years. They might fail in the first five months.”
Alexander Township Trustee Brian Grubbs said in a previous Post article that he believes fracking might not be that bad.
“I don’t see anything as being a problem as long as it’s regulated,” Grubbs said. “The environment was among our biggest concerns, but so was the safety of the public.”
Stay-at-home mom and business owner Space Welch echoed Rondy’s sentiment that endangering the environment isn’t worth it.
“I apologize to my kids every week or two for the way we’re leaving the world to them, on behalf of my generation,” said Welch, a county resident who brought her children to the protest.
Welch, like many other protesters who brought children, said it was important to bring her kids because she wanted to show them how to “stand up for justice.”
“It’s part of my parenting,” Welch said. “I want to teach them to be people who stand up for the rights of the oppressed. I’m raising warriors.”
Former County Commissioner Roxanne Groff encouraged people to talk directly to their lawmakers.
“Take your hearts and minds and write letters — no, call your representatives,” Groff said. “Contact your lawmakers. They’re why those tanks are up there.”
@gingerbower13
ob023312@ohiou.edu
This article appeared in print under the headline "Fracking protestors arrested for trespassing"
