News

This week, members of Frack Free Mahoning (FFM) presented a petition asking for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s (CELDF) Community Bill of Rights (CBR) to be placed on Youngstown’s November ballot…again. And when we say again, this isn’t merely the second time the ban would appear on the ballot in Youngstown. It’s not even the third time. This push for the rights of nature including, but not limited to, a ban on injection and any oil and gas development within the city’s limits, has already been defeated five times since 2013!

In response to the group’s fifth attempt in 2015, Mahoning County Democrat Party Chairman, David Betras stated,

“The members of the executive committee were unanimous in opposition to amending the charter banning fracking. The group knows full well this is a total waste of the taxpayers’ precious funds. ” (emphasis added)

EID evaluated just how costly each initiative has been to taxpayers earlier this year following talk of this sixth round of voting that activists have threatened to do up to “43 times” if necessary. The findings showed that each time the CBR appears on the ballot, it costs the city—yes, taxpayers, not the activists– more than $16,000, according to the Board of Elections and the City of Youngstown Clerk. It was actually the fifth most expensive ballot measure out of 52 total in Mahoning County last year. The grand total for all five initiatives has been at least $80,000!

And yet the measure...