This video was taken at a September meeting sponsored by the Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga Counties Farmers Union. Joe Logan of the Ohio Environmental Council – and himself an Ohio Farmers Union member – discussed what hyraulic fracturing is, explained the Utica and Marcellus Shale natural gas play and outlined many of the environmental issues revolving around “fracking” for natural gas.
NE Ohio Farmers Union Leaders to Hold Informational Meeting on Fracking Tonight
Family Farmers Sponsor Public Meeting on Fracking in NE Ohio
COLEBROOK – Leadership of the Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Counties Farmers Union and the Trumbull County Farmers Union will hold an information sharing meeting tonight on the subject What Fracking Will Mean to Us.
The meeting will be held at the Colebrook Community Center at the corner of SR 322 and SR 46 in Ashtabula County from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be a question and answer period. The event is free and open to the public.
Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing – a drilling method employed to extract natural gas or oil from wells in hard rock strata thousands of feet below the ground. Fracking will be used during the drilling of the Marcellus and Utica shales in Eastern Ohio for natural gas extraction.
Joe Logan, Trumbull County Farmers Union president and director of agricultural issues for the Ohio Environmental Council will discuss possible impacts of fracking on agriculture and natural resources with a focus on fresh water supplies.
Vanessa Pesec, president of the Network for Oil and Gas Accountability and Protection (NEOGAP), will present a detailed lecture on what fracking will mean to us as individuals, landholders and communities. Pesec will also talk about what landholders should look for in a fair lease should they decide to lease their mineral rights.
Event: NE Ohio Farmers Union Members to Hold Fracking Information Meeting
What Fracking will Mean to Us
Monday, September 26, 2011
7-9pm
Colebrook Community Center
Colebrook (northeast corner of state routes 322 and 46)
Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake Counties Farmers Union and Trumbull County Farmers Union are presenting a joint educational meeting: What Fracking will Mean to Us? Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing – a drilling method employed to extract natural gas or oil from wells in hard rock strata thousands of feet below the ground. Fracking will be used during the drilling of the Marcellus and Utica shales in Eastern Ohio for natural gas extraction.
Commentary: Budget Austerity – At the Point of Diminishing Return
by Joe Logan, OFU Executive Committeeman
As the global economy teetered at the point of collapse in 2008, governmental leaders in the administrations of both the out-going President Bush and the in-coming President Obama, took the types of actions which virtually all economists advocated. They made massive investments in crucial financial and industrial corporations that were deemed to be crucial to our economic survival.
No good deed goes unpunished.
OFU Members Alert: Save Ohio Consumers Counsel Funding
The Ohio Farmers Union is urging members to take action this week and contact members of the Ohio General Assembly regarding funding cuts for the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel (OCC).
Established in 1976, the OCC was formed to represent residential customer interests in matters regarding their public utility services including, water, natural gas, electric and telephone services.
The OCC serves as the residential consumers’ lawyer in rate cases and other actions which come before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. When the large utility corporations propose rate changes for instance, the OCC is the statutorily authorized representative of homeowners and family farmers before the PUCO. OCC also provides educational and policy services and operates a residential utility customer call center serving as a problem solver and go-between for citizen consumers and the utility companies.
According to a recent op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch by OCC leader Janine Migden-Ostrander, the OCC has established a solid track record of representing the public’s interest:
During the current budget period, the Consumers’ Counsel, through its direct efforts, has saved customers $54.8 million in potential rate increases. Through its collaboration with other stakeholders, including advocacy organizations for business, senior citizens, low-income residents and others, the Consumers’ Counsel has produced shared savings of $1.9 billion. Often, we have participated in negotiated agreements that have provided benefits that helped keep people connected to their electric or natural-gas service or produced energy-efficiency programs aimed at lowering their utility costs.
Further, when we succeed in reducing rate increases, the benefits flow not only to residential customers but to business and industrial customers, as well. For example, if we negotiate a revenue savings of $10 million in an electric-rate case, 60 percent of those savings go to businesses, small and large. Our work helps to keep energy costs down for all utility customers and, therefore, contributes to job retention and economic development.
So, what’s the problem?