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Thu. 10:56 p.m.: Fracking foes sue Ohio elections chief over ballot ruling

Staff, wire reports

Residents in three Ohio counties contend in a lawsuit that Secretary of State Jon Husted violated their rights when he invalidated ballot proposals they offered that would have restricted development projects related to the gas-drilling technique known as fracking.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund helped the residents in Fulton, Medina and Athens counties to craft the ballot proposals and to sue Husted in the Ohio Supreme Court.

They’re challenging his decision last week to remove from the Nov. 3 ballots a series of “community rights county charters” that contain bans on fracking-related infrastructure projects. Such projects include pipelines and injection wells for disposing of wastewater created in the fracking process, also known as hydraulic fracturing.

Susie Beiersdorfer with FrackFree Mahoning Valley said the residents in the counties suing Husted are simply asking for the ability to govern themselves. Residents should have the chance to vote on the ballot initiatives themselves, without state interference, she said.

Guy C. Coviello, vice president of government affairs and the media for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, said, “We agree with the secretary of state’s ruling and feel that it also applies to the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights.

“Based on the state Supreme Court’s decision against Munroe Falls, Ohio, it is clear that this is a state issue,” Coviello said. “When these proposals pass, they lead to very costly and unnecessary extra expenses to defend something that is already determined to indefensible.”

Read more in the Friday Tribune Chronicle.

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