Victory in Highland Heights

Note to readers:  Ken Messinger Rapport wrote this article for Euclid Creek Chronicles, the newsletter of the Friends of Euclid Creek.    

    

As some of you may be aware, for the past five years, the residents of Highland Heights, including many past and present officers and board members of the Friends of Euclid Creek, have been doing battle to prevent oil and gas wells from being drilled in the Highland Heights Community Park. 

The entrance to the park is located off of Wilson Mills Road west of Lander, and it contains vital portions of the Euclid Creek Watershed as it is composed of nearly 35 acres,  approximately a quarter of which remains heavily wooded.  

These woods, as you read in your last newsletter, are critical to catching rain and allowing it to percolate slowly into the ground, recharging underground aquifers, and preventing surging stormwater runoffs which are a primary cause of raw sewage overflows into the creek, and thence into Lake Erie.  So it is that the park and its wooded areas comprise one of the last remaining natural sources of water for the Euclid Creek, and thus drinking water from Lake Erie.  Unfortunately, it was precisely these wooded areas that would have borne the greatest impact from the installation of two hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells as planned by the Highland Heights City Council under a lease contract with Bass Energy. 

The City entered into the contract late in 2006 with plans to erect the wells in 2007, but nearby residents, and fate, intervened. 

Initially neighbors of the park organized to oppose the final authorization of the wells by City Council, but in the midst of that process a gas well explosion in Bainbridge, Ohio caused the Highland Heights Mayor, Scott Coleman, and the members of City Council to reconsider the wisdom of placing wells in the City’s park so close to residents’ homes. 

Thereupon the City attempted to rescind the lease with Bass but eight months later a lawsuit was filed by Bass alleging breach of contract.    In the meantime, city residents organized with the help of FOEC President, Frank Skala; and, Treasurer, Ken Messinger-Rapport; and local activist Amy Feran placed a Charter Amendment on the 2008 general election ballot to clearly ban oil and gas development in the City’s parks. 

That ballot initiative passed by a whopping 73% margin sending a strong, clear message to the Mayor and City Council that residents overwhelmingly opposed oil and gas wells in the Community Park.   

Despite this victory, the lawsuit dragged on—the suit had been filed prior to the passage of the Charter Amendment and therefore, the Amendment could not legally affect the rights of the parties to the suit.  

Thus, although residents generally regarded the matter as resolved they were surprised to learn after this most recent fall election, that in fact it was not.   City leaders proposed a settlement with Bass that would have allowed two hydraulically fractured wells to be drilled in the park.   Once again residents responded with unbounded opposition to the plan for wells. 

The Friends of Euclid Creek presented a letter to Council and the Mayor outlining the many hazards of oil and gas drilling, and particularly fracking, in such an environmentally critical area.  

Among the speakers,  Ken Messinger-Rapport explained that given the proposed locations of these wells any escape of fracking fluid would inevitably end up flowing into Euclid Creek and then into Lake Erie the primary source of drinking water for northeastern Ohio. 

At a later meeting, past FOEC president and current board member (and past Highland Heights Mayor)Fran Hogg demonstrated before Council how just a small amount of fracking fluid contamination can completely taint the drinking water sources we all depend on for our survival. 

With overwhelming opposition to the proposed settlement again apparent, Council voted unanimously on March 27th to oppose the installation of wells in the Park sending the matter back to the legal arena, this time for arbitration.  The matter is once again negotiations, and reportedly, a monetary settlement is near.   

With the wells blocked once and for all, this is a victory for citizens who demonstrated that when determined and organized, they can get politicians to pay attention and act for the environment and the public good rather than the lure of monetary gain. 

Additional note to readers: Ken notes that the $600,000 settlement has been finalized.