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Athens County Commissioners will host public hearing on Wayne/BLM frack plans

Since Wayne National Forest Supervisor Tony Scardina has stated that he will not hold a public hearing in Athens County, Athens County Commissioners have agreed to host a public hearing on Wayne National Forest and BLM plans to frack the Forest.

WHEN:  Tuesday evening, June 28, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Athens Community Center
WHAT: Public Hearing

Hosted by Athens County Commissioners, the hearing will allow members of the public to sign up to give an oral presentation, 2 minutes, max. Longer written  comments will also be accepted. If you can’t attend, you can send comments (use subject line: Wayne comments) to the Commissioners at jsikorski@athensoh.org.
Wayne National Forest Supervisor Tony Scardina has been invited to attend. Comments will be submitted to the BLM and Wayne to be entered into the public administrative record.
Please tell Tony Scardina: DO THE RIGHT THING. NO CONSENT! 
 
Important information for those wishing to speak or to contact Mr. Scardina directly (phone 740-753-0880 or e-mail
ascardina@fs.fed.us): In spite of his claims to the contrary, Mr. Scardina has the authority and the responsibility to WITHHOLD CONSENT to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to auction off Wayne land for oil and gas leasing. Given the highly significant impacts of opening the Wayne to fracking and the extremely inadequate, highly flawed Environmental Assessment just conducted, Mr. Scardina must withhold consent.

Fracking the Wayne has NOT been thoroughly studied as federal law requires. Please speak to your concerns about fracking in our region (climate, waste production, water use, air pollution, economic impacts, etc. etc.) and tell Tony Scardina not to shirk his clear legal and ethical responsibility to say NO to the BLM and to fracking.

Like Anne Carey before him (the Wayne Supervisor in 2011 when local opposition resulted in Ms. Carey withdrawing Wayne consent for the BLM lease sale scheduled for December that year), Mr. Scardina’s sign-off is required for Forest Service consent. Like Anne Carey before him, he also has the power to refuse and block consent. He then can either authorize a full SEIS (supplemental Environmental Impact Statement) or wait until the next Forest Plan is conducted and do a thorough analysis of fracking within that process. Either way, he MUST wait until fracking has been fully evaluated with complete up-to-date research data and full public input , as required by NEPA, before considering fracking anywhere on the Wayne.

Please tell Tony Scardina: DO THE RIGHT THING. NO CONSENT! 

See previous posts and ACFAN’s Wayne page for background information.