Athens County Fracking Action Network will host a party and fundraiser for Buckeye Forest Council, Sunday, Oct. 14, 4-7 p.m., at Purple Chopstix, 371 Richland Ave., Athens. Nathan Johnson, BFC staff attorney, and Teresa Mills, BFC Fracking Coordinator, will speak. Jim Wachtel will provide live music. Food will be donated by Village Bakery, Purple Chopstix, Salaam, and other local cooks and farmers. E-mail acfanohio@gmail.com for more information.

“BFC is the legal and technical backbone of our efforts to protect our drinking water from fracking on Wayne National Forest and from injection wells,” as ACFAN member and former Athens County Commissioner Roxanne Groff put it. “With the Wayne having decided to go ahead and lease parcels for fracking along the Hocking River aquifer used by public drinking water systems that serve over 70,000 people in Athens, Morgan, and Perry counties, we will depend on BFC’s coordination of litigation to fight these dangerous plans. We also depend on Teresa Mills, BFC’s fracking coordinator, for her technical expertise on injection wells.” The Wayne’s recent decision came in spite of enormous public concern and vast amounts of scientific data provided painstakingly by local officials and concerned citizens as well as national environmental organizations, led by the BFC over the past year.

BFC has heard from national partners, including Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice, that they are interested in providing support for litigation. BFC staff attorney Nathan Johnson will coordinate the efforts.

The party is the kick-off event for a local fundraising campaign. “We hope to raise $25,000 locally for BFC and be a model for the rest of the state,” Paul Tescher, longtime BFC volunteer, explained. The 20-year old statewide group was based in Athens for a decade. Its office is currently in Columbus.

Please help us keep Buckeye Forest Council healthy so it can continue to help our community stay a healthy, safe place to live.