Group Sues Meigs County Commissioners to Get Charter Banning "Fracking Infrastructure Projects" on the Ballot
From the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund:
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Frustrated by the efforts of the Meigs County Commissioners to keep residents’ community rights county charter initiative off the November ballot, the Meigs County Home Rule Committee (MCHRC) has sued the Commissioners to force the measure on to the ballot. On July 20, they filed a lawsuit in the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Chillicothe, claiming the Commissioners have illegally refused to take action on the measure in order to block a vote by the people.
Meigs County residents are threatened with fracking wastewater injection wells and a wastewater dock on the Ohio River. Determined to protect themselves, MCHRC partnered with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to draft a community rights county charter. In addition to recognizing the right of county residents to initiative and referendum, the proposed county charter bans fracking infrastructure projects – including injection wells and the planned dock. As well, it empowers the County Commissioners to pass general local laws throughout the unincorporated areas of Meigs County.
However, rather than advancing the will of the people, the Commissioners have persisted in sheer gamesmanship, claim MCHRC members. Days after they filed suit, MCHRC’s lawyers filed a motion for summary judgment and an immediate order requiring the Commissioners to halt all further delays and put the charter proposal to a vote. No decision has as yet been made by the Court.Click here to read the whole press release from the CELDF.
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