December 18 Munroe Falls Council Meeting

At tonight's council meeting:

Mayor Larson referenced the news item from Bainbridge about problems traced to a recently drilled gas/oil well. (For more detail, please see yesterday's post on this blog.)

Councilman-elect Ron Meyer spoke before council and suggested that the city pass a resolution signed by the mayor, opposing the proposed gas/oil well. He also suggested that we contact the CEO of Sonoco; send a letter to the editor of the local paper in their home city of Hartsville, S.C.; and circulate a petition opposed to the drilling, signed by at least 500 Munroe Falls residents.

A petition might be particularly effective. However, gathering 500 signatures on such short notice would be difficult enough without the holiday season, so I suggest that we consider the following:

Pass a resolution in Munroe Falls co-sponsored by CF and Silver Lake that opposes any drilling until:
1) the issue is opened to a 90 day public comment period with at least two public meetings;
2) a more detailed site study is completed by an impartial third party;
3) Ohio EPA is consulted for a thorough evaluation of the proposed drilling site to assess any potential threat it may pose to our water supply.

Since the permit is already issued, time is of the essence. The resolution needs be passed quickly and forwarded as soon as possible to Sonoco and Governor Strickland's office with a request that the actual drilling be delayed until these conditions are met.

I have talked with a CF council member and the head of the CF water department, and they are concerned. I suspect their cooperation is available for the asking.