A company wants to lease land in the tri-state region of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to store industrial carbon dioxide emissions deep underground.
The commission approved bids to frack under Salt Fork State Park as well as wildlife areas and other state property, while protestors yelled and held signs.
The case heard Wednesday could put a rule on hold that reduces smog-forming pollution from states like Ohio that wafts downwind to states like Pennsylvania.
The effort will help municipal governments in a 10-county region access the billions of dollars available from the Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure law.
Public health researchers say officials should have done blood and urine testing in the early days after the train derailment in East Palestine and follow residents for long-term health problems.
A mother and her young son escaped from the fiery derailment in East Palestine, but mysterious health issues and uncertainty still plague them a year later.
Vinyl chloride, used to make PVC pipe and other products, is a known carcinogen. It was vented and burned after a Norfolk Southern trained derailed in East Palestine.
Environmental and hunting groups claim an Ohio commission failed to consider impacts of fracking on the environment, users of the properties and other factors required by Ohio law.
A crowd shouted and chanted "Save our parks!" as an Ohio commission approved fracking under the state’s largest park and two wildlife areas in the eastern part of the state.
Julie Grant got her start in public radio at age 19 while at Miami University in Ohio. After studying land ethics in graduate school at Kent State University, Julie covered environmental issues in the Great Lakes region for Michigan Radio’s "The Environment Report" and North Country Public Radio in New York. She’s won many awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award in New York, and was named “Best Reporter” in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists. Her stories have aired on NPR’s "Morning Edition," "The Splendid Table" and "Studio 360." Julie loves covering agricultural issues for the Allegheny Front—exploring what we eat, who produces it and how it’s related to the natural environment.