Please write the U.S. Coast Guard to support the call for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before approval of barging of liquid frack waste on the Ohio River. Attorney Terry Lodge, working with Elisa Young, has submitted a request for an EIS on behalf of Meigs Citizens Action Now. Please tell the Coast Guard that it does have legal authority to require an EIS and should do so due to the highly toxic, radioactive and vast (and unlimited) volumes of waste that will be transported and the potential impact of spills on the drinking water of millions of people. Because the contents of frack waste are highly toxic but are not regulated as hazardous due to the industry’s exemptions from regulation, the EIS is necessary so that actual potential harm can be evaluated before this potentially catastrophic decision is made.

If you write, you may wish to use the formal request and this letter for talking points.

Please address letters to Rear Admiral Roy Nash, Eighth Coast Guard District, Hale Boggs Federal Building, 500 Poydras Street, Suite 1240, New Orleans, LA 70130-3310. If e-mailing, please send to Mr. Nash’s secretary at Angela.H.Songy@uscg.mil. Please cc: Carlos Diaz <Carlos.A.Diaz@uscg.mil>, Cdr. Michael Roldan <Luis.M.Roldan@uscg.mil>, Cdr. Jeffrey Morgan <Jeffrey.R.Morgan@uscg.mil>, Richard Walter <Richard.W.Walter@uscg.mil>, Cdr. Christopher Woodle <Christopher.T.Woodle@uscg.mil>, and Cdr. Emily Saddler <Emily.C.Saddler@uscg.mil>.  

Also see Meigs CAN press release re Coast Guard and GreenHunter. Thanks to Terry and Elisa for this important work!

And more from Julie Weatherington-Rice, here, and Sasha White, here about the hazards of this waste, which is already coming into Ohio at tens of millions of gallons per year, more than is produced in Ohio itself.