THE COSHOCTON BEACON
Nov. 3, 2022
For decades the people of our state have been hearing
false narratives and misinformation from Ohio legislators and lobbyists. The
gas and oil industry in particular has been misrepresenting the risks to
Ohioans from its production and waste disposal operations.
Our State House has been loaded with people who will pass any law, regulation,
or policy the lobbyists hand them, regardless of the impact on our families or
our environment. The greed, the power grabbing, and the corruption are real as
evidenced by the recent arrest of Coshocton’s State House Speaker, Larry
Householder. He and his cohorts have been indicted in a multi-million dollar
bribery scam. They are accused of attempting to use your tax dollars to line
the pockets of energy industry executives as well as their own.
But our politicians are engaged in much worse practices
than just taking money. Most Ohioans are not aware of how indifferent our
policy makers have become to the health and welfare of Ohio working people.
They are currently allowing radioactive oilfield waste derivatives to be dumped
on our neighborhood roadways to control ice and dust. It is being marketed
under the name Aqua Salina. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources took
samples and tested them for radioactivity. They found dangerously high levels
of radioactive cancer causing Radium 226 and Radium 228. All samples were found
to exceed the Federal drinking water standards and averaged 346 times higher
than the EPA legal limits. This carcinogen is being spread on land near drinking
water sources and on dusty roads and will remain radioactive for thousands of
years. Radium is able to accumulate within the body with repeated exposures.
Your risk increases every time you use water sources, roads, parking lots,
sidewalks or driveways that are exposed to radioactive oilfield waste
contamination. But ODNR still allows dumping to continue.
This disregard for the wellbeing of Ohio citizens is
typical of the kinds of policies our legislatures are enacting and ODNR is
allowing.
For this reason Coshocton Environmental and Community Awareness has
joined a coalition of state and national environmental groups who have sent a
petition to the US EPA. We are asking that the EPA assume regulatory control
over Ohio’s class II injection wells and the disposal of radioactive oilfield
waste in our state. For more information go to www.RadiumValley.org
Nick Teti
CECA
