Ohio's Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments - and will answer questions in virtual sessions today and tomorrow, on a draft environmental assessment about the impacts of opening up 40,000 acres of Wayne National Forest to oil and gas leasing.

The lands are located primarily in Monroe, Noble and Washington counties.

Environmental advocates - like Roxanne Groff, a member of the Athens County's Future Action Network - said they don't believe the assessment fully captures the widespread loss of habitat or recreational opportunities fracking on public lands would unleash.

Groff said research shows fracking comes with serious environmental degradation and water contamination.

"We've got methane release, we've got toxic radioactive waste that has to be disposed of from the fracking extraction," said Groff. "We've got impacts to streams from water withdrawals, or possible contamination with spills."

The latest draft assessment comes after a federal court ruled in 2020 that an earlier version of the document did not consider potential impacts on federally protected species and waterways.

The Bureau says it's accepting public comments until May 6.

Randi Pokladnik, a member of Save Ohio Parks, said she's concerned about air pollution from fracking.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the process can release dangerous petroleum hydrocarbons into the air - and increase ground-level ozone, heightening residents' risk of developing asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

"People that live in areas, we know from peer-reviewed studies that are impacted by fracking," said Pokladnik, "have higher levels of radon in their basements."

Recent polling shows most Ohio residents are either strongly or somewhat opposed to fracking as a means to increase energy production in the state.





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Indigenous water protectors and allies met at Michigan's Straits of Mackinac last week, to spotlight the dangers of the 71-year-old Line 5, deemed North America's riskiest crude oil pipeline.

Headlined by the nonprofit Oil and Water Don't Mix, the protests featured two main events: The "Pipe Out Paddle Up" in St. Ignace which showcased a flotilla against Enbridge's Line Five oil spill risk, followed by the "Water is Life Festival" in Petoskey, celebrating local music and advocacy for ending Line Five's threat.

Nichole Keway Biber, Michigan organizer for Clean Water Action, a member of the Oil and Water Don't Mix coalition, explained Indigenous people have been given stewardship over the waters.

"Also really critical to us having lived relationship to our culture and what our teachings are and our instructions are," Keway Biber explained. "So much of that is to protect and oversee the water and the wildlife."

Keway Biber emphasized the events focused on the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. Enbridge has maintained Line Five's safety is exclusively regulated by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Keway Biber noted there are many individuals, both from Michigan and beyond, who treasure and deeply value the Great Lakes but remain unaware of the significant threats posed by Line Five.

"They may not know we're constantly just a moment away from this catastrophic kind of ruination of those precious fresh waters," Keway Biber stressed. "It's powerful for them to first and foremost here about it from people who are committed to protecting the water and the people and the wildlife."

Enbridge moves up to 540,000 barrels of light crude oil, light synthetic crude oil and liquefied natural gas through Line Five.

The Biden Administration issued an executive order in 2022 to strengthen and protect America's forests and old-growth trees.

Old-growth trees have grown and survived beyond the traditional age of harvest.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are pushing for more clarity from federal agencies on their strategy for protecting old-growth forests.

Illinois Environmental Council Conservation Director Lindsey Keeney said those agencies manage forests with various goals in mind.

"We trust our evidence-based science partners to decide what sort of management practices make sense within each of these forested areas," said Keeney. "Whether that is removing diseased trees through logging, using prescribed fire as an invasive species treatment, or other conservation practices, to manage those forests."

The council acknowledges that forest stewardship practices are so fragmented that invasive species encroach on the trees.

The agency says the best way to help preserve old-growth trees is through logging and other forms of restoration to keep these threats in check.

A new Sierra Club report says research confirms mature trees reduce carbon emissions - but also remain at risk for wildfires, disease, climate change, and invasive species.

Keeney said forested sands in Illinois do a great job capturing and holding carbon.

Many local economies thrive, she acknowledged, because of forest management activities - including in the sustainable forest product sector.

"We are the Prairie State, but we are definitely a forested state too," said Keeney. "Even up in Chicago, the Forest Preserve systems have really healthy forests. Downstate all the way through Central Illinois, we have forests that are protected by our land trust organizations. And then we have the Shawnee National Forest down at the bottom third of our state."

A U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service analysis reports Illinois has nearly 4,900,000 acres of forestland.

It says wildfires disturb 3,700 acres of forestland in Illinois every year. And weather impacts nearly 8,500 acres of forestland in the state.




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Climate and environmental activists along the Texas Coast are celebrating after receiving favorable news from an insurance company covering liquefied natural gas terminals.

Melanie Oldham, director of the group Better Brazoria Clean Air and Water, said after a meeting with members of their front line community, Chubb Insurance denied coverage for the expansion of one project and they are hopeful the same will be true for a planned plant expansion in Freeport.

"They said keep track of all the operational problems of Freeport LNG and we will keep looking at them," Oldham explained. "And we're hoping Chubb takes the lead and stops insuring these LNG's."

The plant in Freeport is the second-largest in the United States. It was shut down for several months in 2022 following an explosion, which federal investigators said was caused by inadequate operating and testing procedures, human error and fatigue.

Oldham lives about four miles from the Freeport plant and multiple petrochemical companies. Two oil export projects are also proposed for the area. She pointed out the community of around 13,000 people suffers from many illnesses due to the hazardous chemicals released from the plants.

"We have 65% Hispanic, Black, White, Asian; very low-income community," Oldham noted. "I'm a health care professional, I helped Texas Department of State Health do a cancer cluster study here in 2018. We have eight types of cancers higher than to be expected. COPD, it just goes on and on."

Oldham and others said further permitting of oil and gas infrastructure on the Gulf Coast would quadruple gas exports and likely cause hurricanes to hit the region even harder and they are calling on the Biden administration to permanently ban such facilities.


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