You're invited!
Join us for Turn Medina County Blue Summer Picnic!!
Sunday, August 6th 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Hubbard Valley Park, 8600 Hubbard Valley Rd, Seville, OH 44273
Bring your family and friends, shake some local candidates hands,
​and enjoy a picnic with like-minded friends!
There will be a hot grill cooking hots dogs (or whatever you want to add) along with buns, condiments and water as well as plates, cups, silverware and napkins.

Bring a dish to share.  Anything is welcome but if you are stuck,  here is an idea: 
A-L : meat or meat less vegan
M-Z : side dish, desert or beverage
(Reminder: Medina County Parks prohibits alcohol in their parks)

You might want to bring: lawn chairs/blanket
games (e.g. frisbees and other outdoor games)
a fishing pole for the pond
​
In an effort to be as eco-friendly as possible,
there will be a recycling station near the trash bins.

 




 

Letter  submitted by Robin. Kocher  to the Akron Beacon Journal and published in their July 22st, 2017 issue :

I raise my cup to you — those who are making money from the oil and gas industry, particularly the Nexus pipeline — the ones “infringing on the rights of others.” Enjoy your good life — for you are above the noise and the fumes and the fallout that is to come to Medina County.
The Environmental Protection Agency — what’s left of it — will issue permits for the atmospheric release of higher-than-recommended amounts of various volatiles, carcinogens, air particulates and an assortment of other goodies into our community 24/7 when the Nexus pipeline and compressor station are operational. 
Cancers, heart and lung disease, asthma, headaches and sinus problems will increase. It is always the sick, the very young and the very old who get hit hardest in these environmental fallouts. Some 12,000 people are in the five-mile radius for greatest exposure, along with those communities positioned downwind from the compressor station.
With the county charter petitions being found invalid, Medina County voters have no say. This issue is about handcuffing and gagging the rights of homeowners and citizens by denying them a vote and burdening them with a toxic, explosive pipeline not utilized by anyone in the community. 
The Medina County Prosecutor’s Office found every way to discredit the charter petitions signed by 6,495 registered voters demanding democracy and a right to vote on the pipeline issue. It allied with corporate greed at the expense of those it claims to serve. 
Robin Kocher

Following the vote by the Medina County Board of Elections to keep the Charter initiative off the November ballot, the case will be appealed in front of the Court of Commons Pleas.
The public hearing is scheduled :  Tue. July 18, 2017 11:00 am
Court of Common Pleas
​93 Public Square Medina, OH 44256
Come and support the 6494 signatures on the petition for the County Charter initiative!

 
​

NO NEXUS PIPELINE IN MICHIGAN & OHIO SHARES THE FOLLOWING.  TIME IS SHORT.  PLEASE SHARE THIS pEMAIL!

Energy CEOs say if FERC isn't functional by the August Congressional Recess, they might have to pull the plug on multiple pipelines.

This could impact the NEXUS Gas Transport Project, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and the Penn East Pipeline, among others. 
Let’s take them at their word and re-double our efforts to prevent the Senate vote on Trump's FERC nominees.

There are two things to do.
Although these items are indeed for you to do personally, the important thing is to share them with people in your network. 

1.) Contact your senators. Contact them daily. Demand they vote "No" on Trump's nominations to FERC.
Call, Email, Tweet at, Fax, and Visit your Senators as often as you can. Tell them to vote NO on Trump's appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission! A vote is eminent.
Sample Script: I am calling to demand that Senator _____ vote NO on President Trump’s two FERC nominees, Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson. Their records make it clear that they will do little or nothing to stop FERC’s rubber-stamping of fracked gas infrastructure. Such infrastructure will hurt communities and the climate. Senator _____ needs to stand up for us, the climate, clean air, drinkable water, and against eminent domain seizures of land.

2.) Join the July 20th Senate Parade to Stop FERC and the Pipelines in Washington, DC.
On July 20, we will parade through the Senate hallways to protest FERC, their tremendous abuses of process, and all the pipelines they love to approve.  We'll urge the Senate to keep FERC in legal limbo until steps are taken to investigate and address abuses of power and law at FERC.  

THE FOLLOWING PROVIDES MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHY WE CONTINUE TO FIGHT.
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Faced with the growing scourge of pipeline expansion nationwide, 180 groups -- including Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Green America, the Center for Biological Diversity, and community-level organizations -- are calling for the full Senate to vote "no" on President Trump's nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  The full list of 180 groups is available online at http://bit.ly/2r1xSSk.
The coalition of organizations is opposing the nominations of Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelsonbecause both nominees would increase FERC's bias towards the fossil fuel industry and further marginalize communities that oppose pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure that damage people's homes, livelihoods and communities.
Natural gas pipelines and infrastructure represent a clear danger to communities nationwide, and in just the past two years, explosions at transmission pipelines have caused 12 deaths and 10 injuries, as well as extensive property damage (http://bit.ly/2tSeI0h). In addition, the construction process puts communities at risk. Recently, the Rover pipeline, under construction and approved by FERC, resulted in two million gallons of drilling fluids leaking into Ohio wetlands.
Community opposition to pipelines, based on data documenting the real risks, is regularly rejected by FERC, which has approved all but one pipeline under review in the past 30 years. FERC's rubber stamping of industry pipelines has been documented in a People's Dossier: FERC's Abuses of Power and Law created by Delaware Riverkeeper Network that has been presented to all US Senators (http://bit.ly/DossierofFERCAbuse).
In a related development, over 200 groups nationwide are calling on senators to hold hearings into FERC's rubber stamping of natural gas pipelines and infrastructure nationwide and the need for reforms (http://bit.ly/2sOmUQN). 
"While Democrats and Republicans in the Senate bemoan the lack of a quorum at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Beyond Extreme Energy joins with frontline communities across the nation that are fighting fracked gas pipelines, compressor stations and gas export terminals in relief that no new infrastructure can be approved without that quorum," said Melinda Tuhus of Beyond Extreme Energy.  "We carried out non-violent direct action every month at FERC for more than two years, interrupting its rubber stamping meetings, and we did it again at both the Senate hearing and the committee vote for Trump's two nominees. This is a climate crisis and a health and safety crisis for frontline communities and we will not accept the status quo."
"Communities in the crosshairs of natural gas infrastructure projects get educated very fast about the potential adverse impacts, yet their valid concerns are ignored by FERC," said Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth.  "When disasters occur like the Texas Eastern pipeline explosion in Pennsylvania last year that nearly killed a man, they are reflections of not only problems with the infrastructure itself, but of problems with the process that allowed the infrastructure to be built in the first place. It is that broken process that has brought hundreds of organizations together to pressure Congress to vote no on two FERC nominees who will make one of the worst Commissions much worse."
"FERC is a regulator in name only," said Todd Larsen, executive co-director of Green America. "The reality is that FERC routinely ignores the very real risks of pipelines to communities and approves pipelines and infrastructure that can cause death, injury, and millions of dollars in property damage, all while accelerating fracking in the U.S. and contributing to the climate crisis. That is why the Senate needs to vote "no" on FERC nominees and instead hold hearings into FERC's abuses."

Please join
 Dr. Joseph Arpad
 
For a meet and greet with 
 Betty Sutton
 Democratic Candidate for Governor of Ohio
 
Saturday, July 22nd, 2017
2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
 THE HOME OF DR. JOSEPH ARPAD
 280 Woodland Avenue, Wadsworth, OH 44281
 
PLEASE RSVP TO: 
               Dr. Joseph Arpad at (330) 334-6985 or joearpad@gmail.com
 Wendy Balodis at (440) 476-2106 or wendy@balodisgroup.com
 
Contributions are encouraged but not required.
 To support Betty Sutton’s campaign, please make checks payable to:
 Betty Sutton Works for Ohio
4100 Regent Street, Suite A
Columbus, OH 43219
 Or contribute on-line at:  www.bettysutton.com/donate

 Paid for by Betty Sutton Works for Ohio
 FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
 www.BettySutton.com

Athens and Medina County residents vow to continue fighting for right to initiative, right to ban fracking
 
Broadview Heights, OH:  Last week, Athens and Medina County resident submitted petitions to place community rights county charter initiatives on the November ballot, well exceeding the required number of signatures. Through the proposed charters, community members are asserting their right to local community self-government, and their right to safeguard their counties from fracking activities and infrastructure. The charters codify specific rights, such as clean air and water, and ban fracking projects as a violation of those rights.
 
Boards of Elections in both counties swiftly moved to block the measures yesterday. The Ohio state constitution specifies that the people of Ohio have the right to alter or reform their government, and recognizes the right of the people to establish county charters. The Boards of Elections disregarded the state constitution, and cited the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) to justify blocking the measures from the ballot.
 
This is the third year the county residents have duly qualified their charter initiatives. With each attempt, residents find their own government elevating the ORC – written by the corporate state legislature – above the people’s state constitution. 
 
Fracking projects threaten counties across Ohio. In Athens, wastewater injection wells place communities at risk for earthquakes and threaten water sources. In Medina, the Nexus pipeline and compressor station project places communities at risk for leaks, explosions, and polluted air and water. 
 
In 2015, residents requested the support of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) as they organized to protect themselves and local ecosystems from fracking. In both 2015 and 2016, oil and gas industry allies at local Boards of Elections, Secretary of State Jon Husted, and the Ohio Supreme Court blocked the county charter measures based on content and technicalities. While the Court did not allow content to be the criteria for qualification, it created technical justifications to keep the measures off the ballot. However, the Court neglected to provide clear guidelines for future attempts.
 
Athens and Medina County residents are determined to exercise their right to initiative and to protect their communities from fracking. Working again to advance rights, last week Athens County submitted 2,445 signatures (1,441 are required). Medina County submitted 6,494 signatures (4,814 are required). 
 
Kathie Jones of Medina County stated, “The right to alter or reform our own government is enshrined in our state constitution. How can we alter or reform our government, when that same government tells us we are disallowed from altering or reforming it? The absurdity only makes sense when we look at who objects to our charters: the oil and gas industry allies in our own Boards of Elections, and as seen the last two years in Secretary of State Husted. The false veneer of democracy is exposed.”
 
Tish O’Dell, Ohio CELDF Organizer added, “For three years, these communities have determined to advance rights and create the county government they envisioned. In that time, almost 50,000 signatures have been gathered – signatures of people seeking to vote on their own charter. It’s unsurprising that the corporate state will do anything to keep charters that threaten the oil and gas industry by giving the people a voice in decision making off the ballot.”
 
Athens and Medina residents are determining next steps, and plan to challenge the actions of the Boards of Elections. 
 
Ohio Communities Part of Growing Movement 
Ohio residents are advancing Community Rights as part of the broader Community Rights Movement building across the United States, where other localities are advancing similar measures to establish and protect their rights to a healthy climate, clean air and water, and the right to local community self-government. 
 
Local communities and state Community Rights Networks are partnering with CELDF to advance these fundamental democratic and environmental rights. They are working with CELDF to establish Community Rights and the Rights of Nature in law, and prohibit extraction, fracking, factory farming, water privatization, and other industrial activities as violations of those rights. Communities are joining together within and across states, working with CELDF to advance systemic change - recognizing our existing system of law and governance as inherently undemocratic and unsustainable.
 
 
Additional InformationFor additional information regarding petitioning communities, contact CELDF at info@celdf.org. To learn about the Ohio Community Rights Network, visit ohiocrn.org. To learn about the Community Rights Movement, visit www.celdf.org.   
 
 
About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense FundThe Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, public interest law firm providing free and affordable legal services to communities facing threats to their local environment, local agriculture, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature.
 
 

 

Robbin Rogers

Sustainable Medina County wishes to thank the 6494 voters who signed the County Charter Initiative Petition and all those who supported it. As the signatures are now undergoing the certification process, we would like to encourage all who can to follow on these next steps to successfully bring the initiative as a ballot issue for the November election :

​