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Common Dreams

Protest Shuts Down Fracking Wastewater Facility

'No Frack Waste By Truck, No Frack Waste By Boat, No Greenhunter Waste Down Ohio’s Throat'

by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Anti-fracking activists in Ohio shut down operations at a wastewater storage facility Tuesday after one demonstrator ascended a 30 foot pole anchored to a truck in the process of unloading frack wastewater, hindering all other trucks from entering the site.

While Nate Ebert—a 33-year-old Ohio resident and member of Appalachia Resist!—clung to the 'monopod', more than one hundred supporters gathered at its base at the Greenhunter Water hydraulic fracturing waste storage facility in the town of Matamoros, protesting the company's plans to increase capacity for toxic frack wastewater dumping in Ohio.

Part of Greenwater's proposal includes an outstanding request to the US Coast Guard to permit frack wastewater to be shipped across essential drinking water source, the Ohio River, via barge.

During Tuesday's demonstration, activists unfurled a banner on one of the halted trucks which read: “No Frack Waste By Truck, No Frack Waste By Boat, No Greenhunter Waste Down Ohio’s Throat #DrSeuss."

“Our governor, legislature and regulatory agencies have all failed in their obligation to protect Ohioans from the predatory gas industry,” said Ebert. “Greenhunter wants to use our water sources as dumping grounds for their toxic, radioactive waste. We are here to send a message that the people of Ohio and Appalachia will not sit idly by and watch our homes be turned into a sacrifice zone.”

Reports confirm that at least ten protestors were arrested and will allegedly be charged with breaking and entering. Supporters can donate to the arrested demonstrators' bail fund here.

Ohio has become a popular dumping ground for toxic frack waste. According to Appalachia Resist!, the waste is injected underground into over 170 wells statewide, contaminating water and causing numerous earthquakes across the state. Resistance, however, has been growing since the discovery of the intentional dumping of hundreds of thousands of gallons waste into the Mahoning River.

Other groups participating in Tuesday’s action include Tar Sands Blockade, Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival (RAMPS), a coalition of indigenous leaders including representatives from No Line 9 and the Unis’tot’en Camp, Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, and Earth First!.

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