Ohio EPA Fast-Tracking Shale Projects Despite Community Concerns
From The Columbus Dispatch:
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Read the whole article here.The shale-gas company wanted a pollution permit in less than four months.To help it meet that goal, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials had to do two things: avoid a public hearing and make sure the feds didn’t get involved.After NiSource officials applied for a permit last February, they told the Ohio EPA that they needed it by June 1 so they could build a shale-gas refinery in Mahoning County by December.They got the permit on June 5 and completed building their Hickory Bend refinery on Dec. 31.Then-Ohio EPA Director Scott Nally lauded his staff for quickly approving that permit and at least six others last year.“This is brand new for Ohio. This is a game-changer,” Nally said last year while touring a new plant in Columbiana County. “Obviously, everybody wanted it yesterday.”Not everybody.“They just come into a community and cram these things down their throats and then wonder why people are upset,” said Patti Gorcheff, a Beaver Township resident and member of an advocacy group called Frack-Free Mahoning.
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