Action Needed: Ohio Legislature Playing "Beat the Clock" w/ Fracking Bill

The following is from an email I received from Ohio Citizen Action (probably the best in-state environmental group at getting stuff done--they're really good and really persistent; consider making a donation to them). The fracking bill has passed both the House and Senate here in Ohio but still has several more steps before Gov. Kasich can sign it into law. Please contact your legislators, ideally today (Friday 5/25), and let them know what you think of gag orders for doctors and the lack of transparency re the chemicals being used in the fracking process. As I've written before in this blog, I get nervous when politicians are in such a hurry--it almost always means bad things . Stand up!

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from Ohio Citizen Action:

There's still a short window of opportunity to tell the Ohio legislature that we need both the right to know and the right to say "no" to fracking in Ohio.
Here are the latest developments on SB 315’s lickety-split journey through the Ohio legislature:

• Ohioans like Mt. Gilead nurse and mother Donna Carver testified against the bill and the broken process of developing Ohio’s oil and gas regulation in general
• The Ohio Senate passed the bill, including a last minute “gag order” on doctors who treat victims of exposure to fracking fluids and elimination of citizen appeals to fracking permits
• Editorials critical of the bill and specifically calling for the public’s right to know appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Akron Beacon-Journal
• The Ohio House of Representatives passed the bill out of committee with a few changes, but still lacking full, public disclosure of chemicals used in fracking and without returning to communities the power to say no to fracking through local zoning.

We expect the House to vote on the bill today, with a few small changes to the Senate bill  The next step will be a joint Senate/House conference committee, and one more round of voting by both houses.

Please, find your legislators here and make a call right now. Be sure to include your name and address in your message, so they know you are from their district.

Tell them Ohio should require drillers to disclose fracking chemicals before they drill, they should remove the "gag order" on doctors, and they should allow communities to say "no" to fracking through local zoning.. Thanks. Your participation makes the strength-in-numbers strategy work.