Climate Corner: AI, data centers a dangerous spreading plague
Local columns
May 16, 2026
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Silicon Valley wants to control every single aspect of your life. They want to tell you what you can and can’t think. They want to control your movements. They want to monitor your every word. They want to strip the masses of their critical thinking skills, and to be able to crush any sign of dissent with the push of a button. They want us to be totally and helplessly dependent on them.
And now they’re coming for our communities.
The large-scale data center buildout we’re seeing spread across the country like a particularly virulent strain of plague is the latest mechanism through which big tech seeks to expand its empire of control over us lowly consumer peons. These data centers are, of course, being built to facilitate the ubiquitous and largely unwanted insinuation of artificial intelligence into every conceivable facet of our lives.
There’s a deeply perverted irony to the fact that tech giants are seducing their way into communities by promising data center job booms through one side of their mouths, while proudly boasting about how artificial intelligence is expected to eliminate entire workforce sectors with the other.
Said CEO and AI consultant Elijah Clark, in an interview with Gizmodo last year: “CEOs are extremely excited about the opportunities that AI brings. As a CEO myself, I can tell you, I’m extremely excited about it. I’ve laid off employees myself because of AI. AI doesn’t go on strike. It doesn’t ask for a pay raise. These things that you don’t have to deal with as a CEO.”
As for the purported jobs we’re to expect will come rolling into town with the construction of these facilities? In one pitiful instance reported by Cleveland.com back in March, a $136 million data center in Northeast Ohio receiving a $4.5 million sales tax exemption was slated to create a whopping ten new full-time positions. And this is supposed to somehow even remotely compensate for the immense damage being done to our communities by these resource hungry behemoths?
The buildout of data centers is rapidly becoming an ecological catastrophe. Environmental tolls from these facilities can include cancer-causing forever chemicals, the draining of critical water resources, infrasound and light pollution, wildlife habitat loss, deadly air pollution including smog and acid rain, along with a vast array of other issues. That includes, most notably, a massive explosion in greenhouse gas emissions, with WIRED recently estimating that dirty power sources for planned data center facilities could emit some 129 million tons per year — handily eclipsing the greenhouse gas outputs of numerous entire nations.
Famed Epstein associate Bill Gates at one point went to great lengths to style himself as some sort of benevolent climate savior, even authoring the best-selling book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” in 2021. Then, all at once, he appeared to have an abrupt change of heart in October of last year.
“Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” he wrote. “This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives.”
Suddenly, it seemed, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a climate disaster wasn’t all that important to Gates. It’s surely no coincidence that Microsoft was now stumbling headlong into the AI race, with the company currently poised to abandon its 2030 clean energy targets as a result of increased energy demands. I would also be remiss not to point out that around this time, Microsoft’s AI was being implemented by Israel to carry out its barbaric campaign of genocide and ecocide in Gaza — a chilling portent of how we can likely expect these dystopian technologies to be used once conflict and social unrest brought on by environmental collapse begin to manifest in ernest.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp, whom I genuinely believe to be a sociopath, was pressed last year about the unconstitutionality of the Trump Administration’s horrific attacks on Venezuelan fishing boats, blatant war crimes carried out with the aim of invading the country and pillaging its 300 billion barrels of oil.
“Part of the reason why I like this questioning,” Karp replied, “is the more constitutional you want to make it, the more precise you want to make it, the more you’re going to need my product. So you keep pushing on making it constitutional. I’m totally supportive of that.”
Palantir, for the uninitiated, is a nearious tech company with its tentacles in everything from healthcare to mass surveillance, farmland management to autonomous weapons, the CIA, the U.S. military, and more. In March, Palantir’s Anthony Bak and Mehdi Alhassani published a column in the billionaire-owned Washington Post entitled “Don’t forget who wins in the fight against data centers,” arguing that “Bipartisan efforts to stop the build-out will make AI accessible only to the wealthy.”
“The surest way to guarantee that artificial intelligence becomes a tool of the wealthy elite,” they claim, “is to block the infrastructure that would make it cheap for everyone else. Across the country, though, a growing coalition of activists, local officials and leaders on both the left and right are fighting explicitly to halt data center construction, restrict energy development, stop microchip production and slow the build-out of the backbone upon which cheap AI will depend.”
In other words, these two stooges for the wealthy elite, writing in a propaganda rag owned by the wealthy elite, truly think you’re stupid enough to believe that they have your best interests at heart. The best way to shield ourselves from being exploited by the wealthy elite, they argue, is to welcome them into our communities with open arms.
I don’t know about you, but the future these people are creating for us is not a future I want to live in.
I don’t want data center hubs leaking PFAS into the water supply so that my government can spy on me. I don’t want to be exposed to constant air, noise, and light pollution so that half the country’s jobs can be replaced by artificial intelligence. I don’t want to see ecosystems and natural resources destroyed to help companies like Palantir and Anthropic commit large-scale massacres of Iranian schoolchildren. I don’t want to cede the precious last fumes of Earth’s remaining carbon budget so that an elite cadre of megalomaniacs can reign supreme over the tattered remnants of our world.
And that’s why I’m doing something about it.
I’m proud to say that I’m a part of the aforementioned “growing coalition of activists fighting explicitly to halt data center construction.”
Everyday people across Ohio are engaged in an ambitious effort to amend our state’s Constitution, in order to ban the construction of large scale data centers that consume over 25 megawatts of energy per month. Under the banner of Conserve Ohio, volunteers are working hard to collect signatures that would put this initiative on the ballot to be voted on in our November election.
Together, we hold the power to prevent Silicon Valley from steamrolling small communities to enact their dystopian vision of the future.
For more information on where to sign the petition, or to get involved in our efforts, please visit conserveohio.com. The petition is also available to sign during business hours at Cobbler John’s in Marietta.
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: May 16, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: AI, data centers a dangerous spreading plague
Climate Corner: AI, data centers a dangerous spreading plague
Local columns
May 16, 2026
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Silicon Valley wants to control every single aspect of your life. They want to tell you what you can and can’t think. They want to control your movements. They want to monitor your every word. They want to strip the masses of their critical thinking skills, and to be able to crush any sign of dissent with the push of a button. They want us to be totally and helplessly dependent on them.
And now they’re coming for our communities.
The large-scale data center buildout we’re seeing spread across the country like a particularly virulent strain of plague is the latest mechanism through which big tech seeks to expand its empire of control over us lowly consumer peons. These data centers are, of course, being built to facilitate the ubiquitous and largely unwanted insinuation of artificial intelligence into every conceivable facet of our lives.
There’s a deeply perverted irony to the fact that tech giants are seducing their way into communities by promising data center job booms through one side of their mouths, while proudly boasting about how artificial intelligence is expected to eliminate entire workforce sectors with the other.
Said CEO and AI consultant Elijah Clark, in an interview with Gizmodo last year: “CEOs are extremely excited about the opportunities that AI brings. As a CEO myself, I can tell you, I’m extremely excited about it. I’ve laid off employees myself because of AI. AI doesn’t go on strike. It doesn’t ask for a pay raise. These things that you don’t have to deal with as a CEO.”
As for the purported jobs we’re to expect will come rolling into town with the construction of these facilities? In one pitiful instance reported by Cleveland.com back in March, a $136 million data center in Northeast Ohio receiving a $4.5 million sales tax exemption was slated to create a whopping ten new full-time positions. And this is supposed to somehow even remotely compensate for the immense damage being done to our communities by these resource hungry behemoths?
The buildout of data centers is rapidly becoming an ecological catastrophe. Environmental tolls from these facilities can include cancer-causing forever chemicals, the draining of critical water resources, infrasound and light pollution, wildlife habitat loss, deadly air pollution including smog and acid rain, along with a vast array of other issues. That includes, most notably, a massive explosion in greenhouse gas emissions, with WIRED recently estimating that dirty power sources for planned data center facilities could emit some 129 million tons per year — handily eclipsing the greenhouse gas outputs of numerous entire nations.
Famed Epstein associate Bill Gates at one point went to great lengths to style himself as some sort of benevolent climate savior, even authoring the best-selling book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” in 2021. Then, all at once, he appeared to have an abrupt change of heart in October of last year.
“Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” he wrote. “This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives.”
Suddenly, it seemed, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a climate disaster wasn’t all that important to Gates. It’s surely no coincidence that Microsoft was now stumbling headlong into the AI race, with the company currently poised to abandon its 2030 clean energy targets as a result of increased energy demands. I would also be remiss not to point out that around this time, Microsoft’s AI was being implemented by Israel to carry out its barbaric campaign of genocide and ecocide in Gaza — a chilling portent of how we can likely expect these dystopian technologies to be used once conflict and social unrest brought on by environmental collapse begin to manifest in ernest.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp, whom I genuinely believe to be a sociopath, was pressed last year about the unconstitutionality of the Trump Administration’s horrific attacks on Venezuelan fishing boats, blatant war crimes carried out with the aim of invading the country and pillaging its 300 billion barrels of oil.
“Part of the reason why I like this questioning,” Karp replied, “is the more constitutional you want to make it, the more precise you want to make it, the more you’re going to need my product. So you keep pushing on making it constitutional. I’m totally supportive of that.”
Palantir, for the uninitiated, is a nearious tech company with its tentacles in everything from healthcare to mass surveillance, farmland management to autonomous weapons, the CIA, the U.S. military, and more. In March, Palantir’s Anthony Bak and Mehdi Alhassani published a column in the billionaire-owned Washington Post entitled “Don’t forget who wins in the fight against data centers,” arguing that “Bipartisan efforts to stop the build-out will make AI accessible only to the wealthy.”
“The surest way to guarantee that artificial intelligence becomes a tool of the wealthy elite,” they claim, “is to block the infrastructure that would make it cheap for everyone else. Across the country, though, a growing coalition of activists, local officials and leaders on both the left and right are fighting explicitly to halt data center construction, restrict energy development, stop microchip production and slow the build-out of the backbone upon which cheap AI will depend.”
In other words, these two stooges for the wealthy elite, writing in a propaganda rag owned by the wealthy elite, truly think you’re stupid enough to believe that they have your best interests at heart. The best way to shield ourselves from being exploited by the wealthy elite, they argue, is to welcome them into our communities with open arms.
I don’t know about you, but the future these people are creating for us is not a future I want to live in.
I don’t want data center hubs leaking PFAS into the water supply so that my government can spy on me. I don’t want to be exposed to constant air, noise, and light pollution so that half the country’s jobs can be replaced by artificial intelligence. I don’t want to see ecosystems and natural resources destroyed to help companies like Palantir and Anthropic commit large-scale massacres of Iranian schoolchildren. I don’t want to cede the precious last fumes of Earth’s remaining carbon budget so that an elite cadre of megalomaniacs can reign supreme over the tattered remnants of our world.
And that’s why I’m doing something about it.
I’m proud to say that I’m a part of the aforementioned “growing coalition of activists fighting explicitly to halt data center construction.”
Everyday people across Ohio are engaged in an ambitious effort to amend our state’s Constitution, in order to ban the construction of large scale data centers that consume over 25 megawatts of energy per month. Under the banner of Conserve Ohio, volunteers are working hard to collect signatures that would put this initiative on the ballot to be voted on in our November election.
Together, we hold the power to prevent Silicon Valley from steamrolling small communities to enact their dystopian vision of the future.
For more information on where to sign the petition, or to get involved in our efforts, please visit conserveohio.com. The petition is also available to sign during business hours at Cobbler John’s in Marietta.
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: May 9, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: The ‘scare’
May 9, 2026
Callie Lyons
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For many years, the story of C8 or PFOA contamination in the Mid-Ohio Valley was framed as nothing more than a “scare.” Journalists who covered it were accused of using inflammatory and irresponsible language to frighten people.
Calling it a “scare” became a way to dismiss the message without ever confronting the contamination. Because if this was a scare, the problem wasn’t the poison — it was the reaction.
This framing had consequences.
Critical health advisories were withheld from the public because officials did not want to cause a “scare.”
We are talking about guidance that involved the most vulnerable — infants, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems — all advised by a federal agency not to drink the water. The directives were never provided to those it was intended to protect.
And, they were never revoked.
What is actually more frightening? The poison or the way it was covered up?
Calling the crisis a “scare” undermined its significance. Attempts to define the crisis were limited to words that were safe and palatable, diluting the truth.
The message was watered down — which only served to prolong the deception.
We are, after all, talking about a silent killer, an invisible crime scene, the mass poisoning of millions, and generations of victims with no end in sight. How can such an enormous, ongoing problem be communicated effectively? For me, the answer was a new approach. So, recently I launched a true crime science podcast “Killer Chemistry” to tell the story in a different way to new audiences.
Presenting this vast environmental crisis in this way does nothing to diminish the science.
Instead, it is absorbed incidentally.
And that matters.
Because the people living with the consequences of this crisis who were incidentally exposed should not have to navigate technical language to understand what happened to them.
By using the language and mechanism of a true crime podcast, I am turning to a genre I have come to understand and respect as a journalist — a genre that most effectively communicates the kinds of truths people would rather not face.
The poison was the problem, but instead of addressing it, the response was to filter the information, diluting the truth in the process.
The reality is — this story is offensive. Not because of how it’s told but because of what actually happened.
More than 20 years into this public crisis and more than 40 years after industry and regulatory authorities became aware of the poison in the water, it occurs to me that the diluted versions of this story were not scary enough — because the threat continues. It hasn’t been handled or remediated. Industry is allowed to continue to discharge the poison into the river by virtue of their permits. Water systems that were not included in the 2002 class action lawsuit — communities like Parkersburg — are still without filtration. The poison is still being consumed.
Here’s what you need to know:
* If you live in the Mid-Ohio Valley, you are being exposed through multiple pathways — and drinking water is a major concern.
* As a result of the class action lawsuit filed in Wood County over contaminated water, treatment facilities were built to filter the water for Belpre, Little Hocking, Tuppers Plains, Pomeroy, Lubeck, and Mason County, W.Va. Vienna later added a filtration system in accordance with federal health advisories.
* People who do not live in areas with filtered tap water can use carbon filtration systems to reduce exposure.
* If you have any questions about water quality, look up your utility on the Environmental Working Group’s tap water database — which provides information about contaminants and filtration. You can find the database at ewg.org.
Has the pervasive presence of this danger made us too comfortable to notice the threat?
It’s time to stop worrying about causing a scare and start telling the truth with the clarity people need to understand what’s at stake.
***
Callie Lyons is an author and investigative journalist who began covering the story of PFAS or forever chemicals more than 20 years ago. She launched the Killer Chemistry podcast this year — a true crime science podcast exploring the legacy of forever chemicals developed for the Manhattan project, which subsequently made their way into the biology of nearly every living thing on Earth.
Last Updated: May 2, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Time to step up on injection wells
Local columns
May 2, 2026
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Last fall I received a phone call from someone in Parkersburg who reported that she witnessed brine waste (production waste from high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking) being transported from railway freight cars in Parkersburg to trucks, which were taking the waste to the Deep Rock Disposal LLC facility in Warren Township, just outside Marietta. On receiving this news, I contacted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management (DOGRM), to ask about this issue. I was told that this process of shipping brine waste from West Virginia to Ohio is legal. This is one of the several ways that ODNR is failing Washington County — that is, the legal transport of brine waste from West Virginia to Washington County.
As much as half of the brine waste that comes to Washington County is from out of state (West Virginia and Pennsylvania). West Virginia has little injection-well activity because it requires companies to reveal the contents of brine waste. Federal law, by the so-called Haliburton Rule, allows companies to keep secret what is actually in brine waste. Of course, independent studies have noted that brine waste is radioactive and contains forever chemicals, heavy metals like arsenic, carcinogenic materials, and lead.
This practice of interstate shipment of brine waste by DOGRM is one of the several ways that this agency has failed us in Washington County. DOGRM continues to apply old (more lax) standards to the review of Class II injection well requests for permits; several permits have been approved since 2022 using the pre-2022 standards. This agency has typically refused to hold public hearings about permit requests. Furthermore, the DOGRM has not followed up on violations of its own rules. The county commissioners’ constituents in opposition to injection wells are represented by five water authorities, two townships, one village, the city of Marietta and the hundreds of people who attended injection-well events at Warren High School last April, at Marietta High School last fall (about a permit request for a Class I injection well at Ohio EPA), and the event at Washington State College where three nationally recognized experts on injection wells made presentations about the dangers and risks of injection wells.
Washington County now ranks number one in the state in the volume of brine waste injected into its grounds. From 2010-2025 over 3 billion gallons of brine waste were injected, one-third within two miles of the water protection area. What is important about injection wells is that the brine waste injected (albeit over 6,000 feet underground) does not stay where it is placed. Paid advocates and apologists for the oil and gas industry claim that brine waste stays permanently in the place where it is injected.
But this is not the case — it migrates. Traditional vertical production wells (not fracking wells) and orphan wells provide pathways for this migration. In 2020 a huge blow out of brine waste occurred in Noble County, for which Ohio taxpayers had to pay clean-up costs. Vertical production wells in Washington and Athens counties have been destroyed or damaged by brine waste (a legal suit on this issue is pending in Ohio courts). An investigative report on a major leak of raw petroleum at Veto Lake has still not yet been provided by DOGRM; it is likely that pressurized brine waste followed a pathway and pushed the petroleum to cause that breach, described as an “unprecedented migration.” Brine waste has migrated into water supplies in Oklahoma. It is just a matter of time before that happens here.
At its April 9 public meeting the Washington County commissioners were each asked by a member of Washington County for Safe Drinking Water whether they would step up and ask for a moratorium on injection wells in the county. Each commissioner made the same comment: that they do not believe that they are experts in this field of geology and engineering and that they trust the agency experts to make the appropriate judgments about the safety of injection wells. In light of the failures of DOGRM cited above to serve the interest of the citizens of Washington County, there is little reason to warrant this trust. We as members of Washington County for Safe Drinking Water and the hundreds of other residents of the county who oppose the proliferation of brine waste disposal in the county do not expect the county commissioners to review permit requests or to monitor injection wells. We are just asking them to join the Marietta City Council and many other agencies in the county to declare a moratorium on injection wells until assurances of safety of water aquifers and other resources can be made. Under the courageous leadership of Republican City Council President, Susan Vessels, a writ of mandamus signed by city council members and other city officials was delivered to Gov. Mike DeWine’s office November 2025. The governor has yet to respond. It is time for other elected officials in the county to step up or suffer the consequences at the ballot box!
***
George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, a member of the Washington County for Safe Drinking Water, and a contributor to Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
Last Updated: May 2, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Why West Virginia’s rivers deserve a voice
Local columns
Apr 25, 2026
Charlise Robinson
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
I’ve stood on the banks of the Ohio River at sunrise, watching the water move steadily past. In moments like that it is easy to believe our rivers will always be there for us, unchanged. But working with communities across West Virginia has shown me a different reality. Our water shapes our health, our economy and our future.
In West Virginia, water is more than a resource. It’s part of our identity. It’s where families gather, where kids learn to fish and where generations have built their lives. It’s also the source of drinking water for communities that depend on it every single day. When that water is threatened, it’s not an abstract environmental issue, it’s personal.
That’s why the work of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition matters. Every day, we advocate for stronger protections and work alongside communities to ensure their voices are heard. Our role is not just to respond when something goes wrong, but to push for the kind of long-term solutions that prevent crises in the first place.
I’ve spoken with families who don’t take clean water for granted because they’ve seen what happens when it’s compromised. I’ve heard the frustration, the worry and the determination from people who simply want to trust their water again. Those conversations stay with you. They’re a reminder that this work is not about policies on paper, it’s about people.
Progress is possible but doesn’t happen on its own. It takes consistent advocacy, public awareness and the willingness to prioritize clean water even when it’s not the easiest choice. West Virginia has already seen the consequences of waiting too long to act. We know better now and that means we have a responsibility to do better.
There is a path forward. We can invest in stronger protections, modernize our water systems and ensure that every community has access to safe, reliable water. We can choose to value our rivers not just for what they provide today, but for what they can sustain tomorrow.
Supporting efforts to protect our rivers or speaking up when it matters are steps anyone can take. You don’t have to be a scientist or a policymaker to make a difference. You just have to care about the water that connects us all’
To learn more about our work visit our website at Wvrivers.org
***
Charlise Robinson is Ohio River coordinator.
Posted: April 18, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Electrifying case studies, concepts for energy resilience
Apr 18, 2026
Jonathan Brier
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner
I was talking with a farmer in March and a few things about that conversation stuck out, which I wanted to share more broadly.
Forest Lodge Orchard in New Zealand serves as a compelling case study by being the world’s first 100% electric, zero fossil fuel cherry farm, powered by its own 160kW solar array and 300kWh battery system. The 6-hectare farm achieved this by replacing 20 fossil fuel machines with electric versions, including the country’s first electric tractor, which drastically reduced operational costs to about $2 per hour. Ultimately, the orchard demonstrates that electrification is both environmentally sustainable and profitable, securing NZ0 Certification and seeing consumers pay a 15% premium for its produce. YouTtube has a 5 minute interview about the farm: tinyurl.com/jdah546
If you would like to talk more about these or other climate corner topics, stop by the MOVCA tent at the Marietta Armory in Marietta between 10 a.m. and 1p.m. on Saturday, April 25.
Last Updated: April 18, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Public lands need protection
Apr 11, 2026
Randi Pokladnik
For the first eight years of my life, our family lived in a small rented house in Steubenville, Ohio. We had a tiny yard lacking any trees, so my mom would take my siblings and me to a local park. She would pack us a picnic lunch complete with a thermos of lemonade and we would ride the bus to Steubenville’s Beatty Park.
The time we spent at the park was magical. I think it makes me appreciate how valuable public lands like state parks and wildlife areas are today. In SE Ohio, parks also help our local economy. The outdoor recreation economy netted Ohio $20 billion in 2024 and employed more than 150,000 people. So why do Ohio’s politicians continue to support fracking our parks and wildlife areas, risking economic losses and degradation of the land?
For over three years, Ohio citizens have tried in vain to stop the leasing of Ohio’s State parks and wildlife areas to out-of-state oil and gas companies. If Ohioans had been able to submit public comments for HB 507, the bill that opened up the public lands to fracking, they would have said NO to fracking our public lands. But HB 507 was passed during a lame duck session in December 2022, with no public input. Ohioans continue to be excluded from fracking decisions, as the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meets in Columbus, a 2-hour drive from the communities where most of the parks targeted for fracking are located.
The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) is a five-member group responsible for deciding whether or not nominated portions of public lands or parks will be leased. The commission’s five members deciding the fate of Ohio’s parks and wildlife areas were all appointed by Governor DeWine. There has been considerable turnover of commission members during the past year, but the commission make-up remains primarily that of lawyers. The newest member, Chair Theresa White, is also the chief operating officer of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
No one on the OGLMC has any significant background in health or science. Additionally, there are no doctoral degree scientists working at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Science is not guiding the decisions to frack our parks; money is. On March 31, 2026, the OGLMC decided to lease more than 8,000 acres at Egypt Valley Wildlife Area and more than 500 acres at Salt Fork State Park, during a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes.
What was discussed during that 20-minute period? The OGLMC are supposedly guided by the statute ORC 155.33, which says the commission can “approve or disapprove” lease nominations on the basis of nine considerations, including economic benefit, environmental impact, geological impact, impact on visitors, and public comments and objections. Considering the number of leases “rubber stamped” since this process began, it begs the question of what is really considered behind closed doors. During a January meeting this year, Theresa White said, “nothing legally requires the commission to explain its decisions.”
I live in Harrison County where there are approximately 3,700 active oil and gas wells, making us the #1 oil and gas producing county in the state. Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, a biodiverse ecosystem located in our county, has been leased for fracking. As a scientist with a background in forest ecology as well as chemistry, I take exception to a recent comment from Theresa White: “None of the fracking is going to have well pads or production units on state property. So, this is for the oil and gas that is underneath state parks, underneath the wildlife areas. There’s oversight by the DNR division of oil and gas or resources management.”
Just because a well pad is not directly on a piece of land does not mean it doesn’t affect the surrounding area. Studies show that “living within about 3 miles of well pad flaring is associated with increased risk of preterm birth.” There isn’t a glass enclosure around well pads, so any air emissions float freely from the well pad. These emissions include methane and other volatile organic species like ethane, propane, n-hexane, n-octane, benzene and ethyne. A FLIR GF320 optical gas imaging camera can detect 19 different hydrocarbons that are released during a fracking operation.
Frack pads also contaminate local water sources. Chemical leaks and leaks of produced water from well pads contain contaminants like oil, grease, hydrocarbons, as well as heavy metals like arsenic, antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc. Leaks from chemical additives stored on-site in tanks and radioactive radium isotopes in produced waste also threaten local water quality. These contaminants will make their way to streams and surface water in our parks regardless of where the well pad is located.
Fracking requires millions of gallons of surface water. Ohio law allows stream withdrawals of up to 2 million gallons a day for a 30-day period. ODNR records show that fracking by far uses a large percentage of surface water in fracked counties, the same counties that experienced record droughts in 2024 and 2025. A drive past well pads often reveal water lines pumping water from local streams.
Lastly, park visitors and wildlife will find it difficult to communicate once fracking has started. The noise from a well pad less than a mile from our home sounds like the Cleveland Airport runway; constant 24-hour noise. Ms. White and the OGLMC need to visit a well pad so they can experience first hand the damage that a frack pad has on a forested ecosystem.
“Over the past eight years, approximately 2,000 recorded incidents associated with oil and gas wells occurred in Ohio.” Given the number of accidents and spills at well pads, it is obvious that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources cannot be counted on to protect our parks.
Ohio’s public lands should not be sacrificed at the altar of the oil and gas industry, but sadly they are. As Earth Day approaches, isn’t it time for all Ohioans to push back against the politicians that are willing to sacrifice our precious public lands for a buck?
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Posted: April 4, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: No kings, no exceptions
Apr 4, 2026
Jean Ambrose
Easter is the most important day in the year for Christians. It commemorates the state torture and execution of a political protester and agitator, Jesus of Nazareth, more than 2,000 years ago — and the disappearance of his body two days later.
No one could have anticipated that minor event would become the foundation of a religious and political movement spanning millennia, one that today claims about 62% of Americans as followers.
In historical terms Christianity’s spread was remarkable. Early Christianity created a radical community rooted in the belief that all people were made in the image of God and therefore deserving of dignity and respect. Their compassion was widely noticed. They cared for the sick, shared resources with the poor, and offered women, widows, and single people a place of honor and leadership that was rare in the ancient world. They challenged practices such as infanticide and caste systems.
Their faith spread not through force or political power, but through networks of relationships. They demonstrated their beliefs through the way they lived — through humility, generosity, and courage in the face of persecution. They offered hope: a vision of a loving God and a future shaped by redemption rather than endless cycles of suffering.
By the time the Roman emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the year 313, the groundwork had already been laid by generations of ordinary people living out a countercultural ethic of compassion and justice.
Political scientists have identified a striking threshold known as the 3.5% rule. Research popularized by political scientist Erica Chenoweth suggests that nonviolent, sustained protests involving this percentage of a population almost always succeed in achieving political change. It is considered a tipping point — one that governments find nearly impossible to ignore.
Fast forward to the state of Christianity today. A years-long Pew Research Center study shows a clear trend. In 2007, 78% of adults in West Virginia identified as Christian. By 2023, that figure had fallen to 64%. Nationwide, only 62% of Americans identified as Christian. Belief in God also declined. In 2023, 86% of West Virginians said they believed in God, down from 93% in 2007. The number who were absolutely certain of God’s existence dropped sharply, from 76% to 56%.
In 2023, 70% of West Virginians said religion was important in their lives, compared with 89% in 2007. In the same period, the share who seldom or never attended services rose from 41% to 51%. There has also been a major increase in the number of people who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated. In West Virginia, that figure grew from 19% in 2007 to 31% in 2023. Nationally, it reached 29%.
Another telling shift concerns morality. When asked whether belief in God is necessary to be moral and have good values, a majority said no. Increasingly, people believe they can make up their own minds about what is right and wrong without requiring an intermediary to tell them what to do.
According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus reduced the law to two commandments: love God and love your neighbor. That is the whole of it — no exceptions. The necessity for last weekend’s protests around the country would have been clearly understood by the early Christians.
And the question of who our neighbor is is about to become far more urgent.
Climate change is already displacing people from their homes through drought, wildfire, flooding, and rising seas. In the coming decades, millions — perhaps tens of millions — will become climate refugees, forced to leave the places they love not because of war or crime, but because their land can no longer sustain life.
Some will come to our borders. Some will move within our own country. All will be vulnerable.
How we respond to them will be one of the defining moral tests of this century.
So why are so many people who call themselves Christians making exceptions to Jesus’ command to love our neighbor? Why are they supporting mass arrests, incarceration in detention camps, and deportations, or policies that separate families and turn away the vulnerable — now, when the number of displaced people is only beginning to grow?
If we claim the name Christian, honesty requires that we measure ourselves against the teachings we profess to follow.
The qualities that allowed Christianity to grow so quickly are the very qualities that now seem diminished. It is not a coincidence that religion is declining in importance in the United States and in West Virginia. What once attracted people was not doctrine or political power, but the radical life that Jesus lived — and the example he inspired others to follow. His way of being a king was to enter Jerusalem on a donkey. He sided with the poor and sick. He told his disciples, before he was executed, that the true leader is the “servant of all.”
Who can doubt that he would have been a protester last Saturday?
***
Jean Ambrose is a member of the MOV Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Stewardship of the earth is one of six Quaker testimonies for living.
Posted: March 28, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner: World Water Day
Mar 28, 2026
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Last Sunday, March 22, was proclaimed by the United Nations as World Water Day. The theme this year was “Where Water Flows Equality Grows.” This year, attention was given to the plight of women around the world. Globally, more than 1 billion women lack access to safely managed drinking water services. In 53 countries that collect the data, women and girls spend 250 million hours per day on water collection – more than 3 times that of men and boys. Unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene are responsible for the deaths of about 1,000 children under 5 years of age every day.
Groundwater provides almost half of the drinking water supply in the U.S. and around half of the drinking water supply worldwide. Groundwater and aquifers are closely linked. Seventy percent of groundwater extracted worldwide including in the U.S. is for agriculture. I will refer to groundwater and aquifers as the same in this article going forward. Many aquifers are in severe decline. The Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer is one of the most heavily pumped aquifers in the U.S. with an average annual extraction of roughly 10 million acre-feet, or more than 3 trillion gallons. Much of that is mismanaged and excess water flows off to the Mississippi River. In fact approximately 75 trillion gallons of water is removed from aquifers each year, displaced into oceans and causing sea level rise. The weight shift of the extraction of all this water unevenly around the globe has caused the planet to wobble and the earth’s axis has tilted 31.5″ as a result.
Climate change has had a large impact on the water cycle worldwide, with water levels declining in 36% of studied aquifers. Climate change slows the rate of aquifer recharge by decreasing the amount of water available to seep into the ground, driven by increased evaporation, reduced precipitation in many areas, and altered snowmelt patterns. Intense, fast-moving rainfall often runs off into rivers rather than soaking into the soil. Run off is exacerbated by the proliferation of impervious surfaces across the landscape (rooftops, streets, parking areas, etc.), and agricultural practices that leave bare ground after harvests – bare ground sheds water quickly, whereas fields with cover crops allow rainfall to stay on the land longer, soak in and recharge aquifers.
Data centers are emerging as a serious threat to our water supply. A 200 mega-watt data center proposed for the Waterford, OH, area provides a good example of what to expect. All the information shared here is corroborated by multiple information sources. An average 200MW data center uses 1-2 million gallons of water a day for cooling. To provide the energy for that data center a gas-powered power plant would use an average of about 860,000 gallons each day. To provide the gas for that power plant would require many hydraulically fractured wells and a constant supply of new wells that require an average of 5 million gallons of water to produce. There is also the problem of where to dispose of resurfaced frack and production water, but that is for another article.
Another threat to the future of abundant clean water in the U.S. is the outcome of the legal battle of Sackett v. EPA. In 2023 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sackett regarding the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). Under the new interpretation a waterway is under the jurisdiction of the federal government only if it is adjacent to navigable waters. Under this much narrower interpretation of WOTUS, protection for tens of millions of acres of wetlands, nearly half of the wetlands in the U.S. are vulnerable to drainage. Wetlands serve as the kidneys of the environment, removing contaminants, recharging aquifers, and providing storage capacity, thereby reducing flooding.
Beef and ethanol production are concerns because of the amount of corn production required to support those industries and the related irrigation needs. Industrial cattle operations which produce 70-75% of the beef in the U.S. rely on corn and soybeans. 5-15 million acres of corn are grown each year for the concentrated animal feeding operations. 30 million acres of corn are grown each year for bio-fuel (ethanol) production.
This is by no means an attempt to present all of the threats to our water, but a sample of a few.
Here is the good news.
Many people are becoming aware of the threats to water quantity and quality and are becoming advocates for the protection of water.
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar use a little water during production but once in service use little to no water.
Farmers are selecting more appropriate crops to avoid or lessen irrigation and employing other water conservation measures – some are even taking marginal land out of production in areas where the aquifer is in danger of drying up.
Our earth is amazingly resilient.
Some things you can do:
Reduce beef consumption and choose grass fed, which uses water in a more natural way, making it easier on the environment and less damaging to water quality.
Adopt energy saving practices such as solar installation.
Not mow grass too short to keep the ground surface shaded and help retain water – also, gasoline powered mowers are large air polluters because they have no emissions controls.
Avoid lawn watering by converting lawn to native plants, especially pollinators.
Get involved, organizations such as Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action welcome you to join in their efforts.
I leave you with a quote from Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring,” “Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world.”
***
Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment, including Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: March 21, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: An icy desert
Mar 21, 2026
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Antarctica, known as the South Pole, is the coldest, windiest and most remote of the seven continents. Its name comes from the Greek meaning “opposite to the bear.” It has no native peoples and no polar bears but is home to about five million penguins. Whales, seals and sea birds are important parts of the ecosystem. In the 1770s, Captain James Cook was the first person to circumnavigate the continent. Later expeditions were searching for commercial opportunities, hunting for seals or whales. In the early 20th Century, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackelton each led major scientific expeditions racing to be the first to arrive. Amundsen’s was the first on Dec. 14, 1911. Scott arrived over a month later, Jan. 17, 1912. He and his companions perished on the return journey. Shackelton, who held the “furthest south” record set in January 1909, turned around for the second time.
Scientific expeditions to Antarctica are a continuing tradition. Twenty nine countries operate over 70 year-round and/or seasonal summer-only scientific research stations, which are scattered across the continent and the surrounding islands. Most humans are deployed to the stations during the Antarctic summer which includes 24 hour day light and mild temperatures of 32°F. From November through March about 5,000 scientists and research support staff work there. During the harsher winter months of April through October, with total darkness and extreme cold temperatures of -76°F and lower, only about 1,000 are in residence. The United States operates three permanent year-round bases and two research vessels as well as constructing additional temporary field stations during the summer.
The US. Antarctic Program (USAP) is led by the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs (OPP). OPP staff manage the operation of U.S. research programs that deploy roughly 3,000 people to Antarctica annually. These participants include scientists, support staff, military personnel and other federal agencies. Also included are artists, writers, and educators who partner with researchers to broaden public awareness of Antarctica as well as members of the media who report on Antarctic science. USAP deploys only the participants who contribute directly to duties related to. research. Other staff who help support scientific operations but are not involved in research tasks are hired, trained and transported under the Antarctic Support Contract, managed by a private contractor.
The scale of Antarctic science is immense and includes studying the crisis of global warming. The archive locked in the thick ice sheet tells what the planets climate has been like over almost a million years. Ice core records have unprecedented detail about the causes of changes. Marine and lake sediments reveal patterns that are key to unraveling the effects of these changes on species. Sadly, Antarctica’s ice is melting at an accelerating rate. This is driven by warming oceans eroding the ice shelves. This ice sheet loss is a major contributor to sea levels rising twice as fast as previous decades. Also, Antarctic ice’s purity was unmatched anywhere else in the world but it is no longer considered “pristine.” It now contains measurable amounts of microplastics and pollutants from global industrial activity.
Although it is very costly, thousands of tourists visit Antarctica during the summer months to enjoy the spectacular scenery and wildlife. These visitors book travel through private companies for sightseeing, adventuring and similar activities. Visitors must not disrupt the long-term residents in any way, whether wildlife or human. Special boots are required and while outdoors, touching anything, kneeling or sitting are strictly forbidden. The Antarctic Treaty, in force since 1959, regulates all activities and designates the continent as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.” All military and industrial activities are banned. While the present treaty is in force, no acts or activities taking place shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica. The environmental standards are set forth by the Protocol on Environmental Protection, which was developed by consensus by representatives of the Antarctic Treaty nations. The protocol designates the basic guidelines for all human activity on the continent and all have laws in force in their respective home legislation to govern their citizens accordingly. Antarctica is a model of international cooperation for the common good.
***
Giulia Mannarino of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned about her two granddaughters’ futures and a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: March 26, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Yes, we have no bananas
Mar 14, 2026
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A banana is an elongated, edible frui — botanically a berry — produced by several kinds of large treelike, herbaceous flowering plants.
Bananas are the world’s most consumed fruit – and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice and maize. About 80% of bananas grown globally are for local consumption, and more than 400 million people rely on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories. They are a staple food as well as a major export commodity for many tropical nations. Affordable and nutritious, bananas have long been a supermarket staple for consumers around the globe. But that could soon change, as climate change is contributing to a global shortage of the world’s most consumed fruit.
Bananas, as we know them, are in danger of going extinct.
More than 1,000,000,000 bananas are consumed worldwide each year making this the world’s most popular fruit, but that number could be shrinking. By 2080 it’s expected that almost two-thirds of the banana growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean will no longer be suitable to grow bananas because of rising annual temperatures in the region.
Bananas need warm, humid conditions. Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall/droughts stress plants, reducing photosynthesis and yield, making them vulnerable.
Climate change severely threatens bananas through rising temperatures, extreme weather (droughts, floods, storms), and the accelerated spread of fungal diseases — reducing suitable growing land, increasing costs, and risking the dominant Cavendish variety, suggesting the need for urgent adaptation via new resilient varieties and sustainable farming practices.
These tropical yellow fruits need a temperature range of between 60-95 degrees Fahrenheit to thrive but are also very sensitive to water shortages. Storms are a big problem with shredding leaves, making it much harder for the crop to photosynthesize. Floods erode soil, while strong winds and storms damage plants, spreading diseases and disrupting supply chains, leading to shortages and higher prices
In each of the banana-producing countries, climate change poses a significant threat to banana production by raising temperatures, altering rainfall patterns, and increasing the spread of fungal diseases, which thrive in these conditions and can devastate plantations.
Shifting climate patterns–including warming temperatures and humidity–are exposing crops around the world to a variety of fungal diseases. Experts expect that over time further spread of those diseases will have a large impact on supply. This is a trend that will continue to accelerate.
Temperatures in the 90s and above, even for brief amounts of time during the entire growing season, can cause large losses in the yield you get from a given plot of land at the end of the growing season.
Bananas are at a critical junction right now, with their future firmly in the hands of science. And while there may be a solution, it could forever change how the iconic fruit tastes.
Scientists are working on a solution. They are using a genetic bank from 150 different species of banana to breed an edible, disease-resistant fruit. While it would save the fruit, it would taste, and potentially feel, different to the ones we’re used to.
Most bananas sold in the U.S. come from Latin American countries like Costa Rica and Colombia. India produces the most bananas in the world, growing over 30 million tons annually, primarily for domestic consumption. As the climate warms, these countries may no longer be optimal locations for growing the fruit. The tropics, which are already very, very hot, are becoming hotter.
The possibility of adapting by moving the industry to other parts of Latin America may be difficult. Growing bananas requires people to work on the banana plantations, needs water to irrigate banana plants, and depends upon ports to ship bananas all over the world. The regions that will be most suitable in terms of climate will be further away from ports, they may not be as well supplied with irrigation, and they may not have the people there to work in those regions. These other factors are going to constrain the industry’s ability to adapt.
Bananas are not just the world’s favorite fruit; they are also an essential food for millions of people. The climate change-induced shortage doesn’t necessarily mean empty shelves at the grocery store — but it does mean higher prices.
Bananas, like other favorite American comestibles — coffee, apples, chocolate, tequila — are demonstrating their susceptibility to the impact of Climate Change.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
***
Linda Eve Seth, SLP, M.Ed., is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen and member of Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action.
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