UPDATE:
PHOTO ALBUM (all photos here): https://www.flickr.com/photos/frackfreeamerica/sets/72157651035772180/
Frackfree Mahoning Valley News Release
PHOTO ALBUM (all photos here): https://www.flickr.com/photos/frackfreeamerica/sets/72157651035772180/
Frackfree Mahoning Valley News Release
_______________________________________________________
For Immediate
Release: March 5, 2015
or e-mail: frackfreemahoning@gmail.com
______________________________________________________
Nationally
renowned leader who led the Love Canal, New York community out of harm’s way, author,
and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Lois Gibbs, is coming to Youngstown, Ohio
to share her story and address citizens’ concerns about man-made earthquakes,
fracking waste injection wells, and drinking water:
A
Townhall-style meeting featuring Lois Gibbs will be held on Friday, March 13,
2015, at 7 PM to 9 PM, at the The First Unitarian Universalist Church of
Youngstown, located at 1105 Elm St., Youngstown, Ohio. (Elm &
Illinois.)
Youngstown, Ohio, March 5, 2015 – Nationally renowned leader, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee,
environmental justice advocate, author, and speaker, Lois Gibbs, is coming to
Youngstown, Ohio. Lois Gibbs will
be the keynote speaker at a Frackfree Mahoning Valley townhall-style meeting
where citizen concerns related to man-made earthquakes, fracking waste
injection wells, and drinking water will be the topic of lively discussion.
Lois Gibbs is founder and
Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), a
national nonprofit who “mentors a movement, empowering people to build healthy
communities, and preventing harm to human health caused by exposure to
environmental threats.” www.chej.org
(Quote is from the CHEJ mission statement: http://chej.org/about/mission/
Teresa Mills, longtime
environmental justice advocate and colleague of Lois Gibbs, will also be in
attendance at the townhall. Teresa
Mills is the Ohio organizer for the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
and consultant for the Buckeye Forest Council.
Lois Gibbs led a heroic,
historic, and successful effort to protect her family and community from toxic
waste pollution at Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, New York, in 1978 to 1980.
Lois Gibbs is an author, winner of the 1990 Goldman Environmental Prize,
environmental justice advocate, and the subject of a movie about her life
titled, “Lois Gibbs: The Love Canal Story.“ She has done local and national media interviews or
appearances including with Oprah Winfrey and The Today Show. She has been
called “The Mother of Superfund,” a federal program to clean up toxic waste.
In the years 1978 to the early
1980s, Lois Gibbs’ efforts as leader of the Love Canal community, led to the
evacuation of residents who did not know that their neighborhood and elementary
school had been built upon or near a toxic industrial chemical waste dump. Under Gibbs’ leadership, the Love Canal
crisis got the attention of President Jimmy Carter and other national and local
officials. Through great effort,
Gibbs was able to obtain evacuations for 833 Love Canal families affected by
leaking toxic chemicals in their neighborhood.
The story of Love Canal
is an icon for what can happen when extensive industrial pollution and neglect
invade a residential community, unbeknownst to the people. It also shows what
can happen when public officials fail to protect the public health, safety, and
public interest.
The March 13, 2015 townhall
program is titled, “A Dialogue with Lois Gibbs: Fracking Waste, Drinking Water,
and Man-made Earthquakes: Where will the waste go and what can communities do
about it?”
The public townhall-style
meeting will take place on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 7 PM to 9 PM at The First
Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, located at 1105 Elm St.,
Youngstown, Ohio. (Elm & Illinois.)
It is free and open to the public.
All media and the public are
invited to attend this very important meeting.
At the townhall, citizens can
share their ideas for solutions on how communities can protect themselves,
their water supplies, and their rights, especially in relation to induced
seismic activity, the increasing number of injection wells and millions of
gallons and tons of fracking waste being brought into Ohio.
“We are extremely pleased that
Lois Gibbs and Teresa Mills are coming to Youngstown to share their knowledge
and experience in environmental justice issues. This is a significant event for
Youngstown and surrounding communities, especially since Weathersfield, Niles,
Brookfield, Vienna, and other areas in Ohio are facing injection well
issues. We hope citizens
take advantage of this unique opportunity to voice their concerns and to get
information. Learning the history of Love Canal from Lois Gibbs herself will
help us stop repeating the mistakes of the past and enable us to find positive
solutions for current local issues,” said Susie Beiersdorfer of Frackfree
Mahoning Valley.
Lois Gibbs biographical information at “About Lois”: http://chej.org/about/our-story/about-lois/
Website for Center for Health, Environment and Justice: www.chej.org
“From homemaker to hell-raiser in Love Canal,” by Ronnie
Greene, The Center for Public Integrity, April 16, 2013, updated May 19,
2014, article at:
See a March 2, 2015 Frackfree
Mahoning Valley news release about ODNR’s denial of an injection permit for a
Mahoning County injection well:
“Study says
Weathersfield earthquake and injection well are linked Expert: Seismic events dwindled
after ODNR ordered shutdown,” by Ed Runyan, Vindicator, February 17, 2015:
For media
inquiries or for more information, e-mail:
frackfreemahoning@gmail.com or call:
Also see:
Frackfree America National Coalition
Frackfree America National Coalition
# # #
FLIERS TO PRINT
Event page on Facebook - please add to the "Invite/Attendees" list:
https://www.facebook.com/events/579453548824926/
Above photos via http://www.afiercegreenfire.com A Fierce Green Fire
FLIERS TO PRINT
and EVENT where one may add to "Invite" list:
Event page on Facebook - please add to the "Invite/Attendees" list:
https://www.facebook.com/events/579453548824926/
 |
| Young residents in Love Canal joined the protest. (Center for Health and Environmental Justice) |
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| In 1978 when EPA officials visited the community, Lois Gibbs led the activists that refused to let the officials leave until the federal government promised to relocate the families. |
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| Lois Gibbs and daughter Melissa, 1979 |
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| Lois Gibbs, 1978, trying to obtain information about why her two small children are so sick. Didn't know about Love Canal. |
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