Appalachia Resist!, RAMPS, and Earth First! take over the Green Hunter frack waste transfer facility in New Metamoras.
New Matamoras OH – Ohio residents and allies from numerous environmental groups including Earth First! have disrupted operations at Greenhunter Water’s hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” waste storage site along the Ohio River in Washington County. Nate Ebert, a 33-year-old Athens County resident and member of Appalachia Resist!, ascended a 30 foot pole anchored to a brine truck in the process of unloading frack waste, preventing all trucks carrying frack waste from entering the site.
Over one hundred supporters gathered at the facility, protesting Greenhunter’s plans to increase capacity for toxic frack waste dumping in Ohio. Greenhunter is seeking approval from the Coast Guard to ship frack waste across the Ohio River via barge at a rate of up to half a million gallons per load. The Ohio River is a drinking source for more than 5 million people, including residents of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Test results from multiple frack waste samples reveal high levels of benzene, toluene, arsenic, barium, and radium, among other carcinogenic and radioactive chemicals.
“Our governor, legislature, and regulatory agencies have all failed in their obligation to protect Ohioans from the predatory gas industry,” said Ebert. “Greenhunter wants to use our water sources as dumping grounds for their toxic, radioactive waste. We are here to send a message that the people of Ohio and Appalachia will not sit idly by and watch our homes be turned into a sacrifice zone!”
Frack waste dumping has generated resistance across Ohio, including direct actions disrupting waste disposal operations from Youngstown to Athens County. The waste is injected underground into over 170 wells statewide, contaminating water and causing numerous earthquakes across the state from Marietta to Ashtabula, most notably a 4.0 earthquake in Youngstown. Surface spills are commonplace across Ohio, including the recently uncovered intentional dumping of an estimated hundreds of thousands of gallons of frack waste into the Mahoning River.
Appalachia Resist! 
As a resident of Washington County —- Thank You!
After seeing what you guys did in New Mat, I’ve done some looking and reading up. You’ve really opened my (and others, it would appear) eyes. For days afterward, in the local gas station ‘old-man’ morning klatches, and in my office at lunch, and other places I’m sure, people were talking. Many disagreed, of course, but more than I thought were saying, “Now wait…will this affect my hunting grounds, will this affect where we camp, will this affect our fishing spots? ”
You’ve started to get people thinking, which is usually the hardest part of any kind of resistance movement. Please dont stop. The iron is hot, the fruit ripe, etc,etc. When the opportunity arises, which I anticipate is fairly soon, I should be able to make at least a modest contribution to your excellent organization.
Again, thank you for taking the first, drastic steps that need to be taken, and for making a personal sacrifice many of us living here and impacted are (at least for now) unwilling to commit to.
At least for now.