To the editor:
As a recent graduate from Ohio University and a new resident of the area, I wanted to write in response to Dani Kington and Eric Boll’s article on Senator Brian Chavez and the Ethics Complaint filed against him.
I’ve spent the last six months working with Buckeye Environmental Network and learning the hard truths about our “Swiss cheese” geography. I’ve seen firsthand that Washington County is at a breaking point.
I’ve met local oil well owners who are watching their family businesses go under because of “brine migration.” Basically, salty waste fluid from other injection wells are leaking into theirs and ruining them. These aren’t just numbers on a page; these are neighbors losing their life savings.
With 19 injection wells in one county and thousands of old, abandoned wells everywhere else, our geography is fighting back.
This is not a “liberal” or “conservative” fight. I work alongside people of each political party. This is an issue where Republicans and Democrats can all agree on one thing: Washington County needs a break.
This brings me to the recent ethics complaint against Ohio Senator Brian Chavez.
As a young professional entering the environmental field, I was taught that our government relies on a system of checks and balances. However, Senator Chavez appears to be operating without them. The ethics complaint filed against him is not a request for an immediate conviction, it’s a request for the truth.
Local residents of Washington County have spent months with support from the staff at Buckeye Environmental Network to compile this evidence. The support for an investigation is loud, bipartisan, and growing across Ohio. We aren’t asking for a miracle, we are asking for the Ethics Committee to do its job. It’s time we hold them to that standard.
Senator Chavez should be looking out for the people who live here, not his own bank account. If we let this slide, it tells every politician in Ohio that they can get away with putting profit over people. We can’t let this just disappear.
Please, go to WashingtonCountyForSafeDrinkingWater.org to see the complaint filing for yourself, and then tell your neighbors. Your clean water and your property values depend on us standing up for ourselves.
Kate Richards
Shade, Ohio
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
