Public land being stollen

April 24 Columbus Dispatch

Letter to the Editor

Aaron Dunbar

I testified at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources April 10, voicing my opposition to the theft of Ohio’s state parks and public lands for oil and gas extraction.

The decision to allow fracking on our shared land, without the public’s consent, is unacceptable. These actions will destroy wildlife habitats, poison visitors to Ohio’s state parks, and strongly impact tourism to these beautiful green spaces.

Opinion:Fracking in Ohio’s state parks is a recipe for disaster

All this comes alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent and starkest warning that we must immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the catastrophic heating of the planet.

The methane released by fracking in particular is a catalyst for rapid and intense heating, and its swift removal from our energy systems is necessary to keep heating below crucial tipping points — a far cry from the definition of methane as “green energy” as fraudulently pushed by House Bill 507.

Environmental organizations are currently taking legal action to prevent the desecration of our public lands. In the meantime, I urge Ohioans everywhere to speak out strongly against this this legislation.

More:Opinion: Politicians have put interests of oil, gas industries before Ohioans, parks

Where does it end if we let them get away with an act of theft from the public this shameless and brazen?

Aaron Dunbar, Lowell