The authors continue to add meaning, advice and warnings!

From the Announcement by Mary Anne Hitt, Author & Activist, Shepherdstown, April 5, 2023

Its publication day! I have an essay in this book edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young-Lutunatabua, and the title sums up everything Ive ever tried to say about climate change in three words Not Too Late.

I practically fell out of my chair when Rebecca reached out and asked me to contribute an essay to this new climate anthology. The full title of the book is Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Conversation from Despair to Possibility, and Rebecca is one of my favorite writers because shes constantly changing important conversations from despair to possibility. In her work she reminds us the future has not yet been written, and persuasively makes the case that each one of us can be its author, inspiring us with the stories of those before us who built a better world against the odds, who are doing so alongside us even today.

My essay is a love letter from our clean energy future, imagining a day in the all-important year of 2030 when were looking back at the better world weve created, because we actually stepped up and tackled the climate crisis. I think this is possible down in my bones, with every fiber of my being, and every morning I wake up trying to live and love and work from that place. Were the last generation of people with the power and opportunity to turn this crisis around, if we can block out the cynical voices telling us nothing can be done.

Im astounded by the amazing company Im in here, writers and leaders I love and admire including Leah Stokes, Adrienne Maree Brown, Mary Annase Heglar, Nikayla Jefferson, Jacquelyn Gill, and many more. Thank you Rebecca and Thelma for bringing this vision to life, and for including me as part of it. I think its just what the world needs right now.

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Hocking Hills State Park is unusually popular for hiking in Ohio

From an Article by Julie Grant, The Allegheny Front, April 14, 2023

While Pennsylvania has a moratorium on new drilling leases in state parks and forests, a controversial new law in Ohio requires state agencies to lease land for gas drilling. The law went into effect on April 7 and is designed to accelerate gas drilling under state-owned lands, like state parks.

State agencies have had the authority to do this since a 2011 law allowed for it, but the difference with this new law is the language. The previous law stated that agencies may lease state lands for gas production; the new law says they shall lease it.

Sponsors of the bill say they changed the language in response to requests by the gas industry because energy companies were frustrated by the lack of movement on their drilling requests.

Environmental groups sue to prevent wild west drilling permits ~ Four environmental groups filed a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, trying to stop the law from going into effect until the state creates rules to regulate drilling on state lands. Those rules were not created after the 2011 law was passed. The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission recently started that process.

According to attorney Megan Hunter of EarthJustice, the rules could cover how parcels would be put forward for leasing, how the state would decide which leases to grant, and which parcels and bidders to move forward with. Currently, she said, the law is in effect without rules to govern how drilling applications will be decided.

And that process includes a certain number of protections the commission would have to consider environmental issues, economic issues, impacts to tourism, the current uses of the public lands before they would make a decision on what lease is going to move forward, Megan Hunter said. Theres also a requirement that the leases would go to the highest and best bid.

Without rules in place, Megan Hunter doesnt think that will necessarily happen. She described it as a wild west moment, meaning a time for the worst and most dangerous bids to come forward.

According to the Cle...

Clay-based absorbent material applied to miles of highway

From an Article by Gianna Dapra, WCHS News 8 (WTOV News 9), March 13, 2023

MARSHALL COUNTY, W.Va. Multiple roads in Marshall County were closed throughout the day because of an oil spill. Around 10 oclock on Sunday night, a Tug Hill truck was transporting materials that included fracking, or drilling sludge.

Roberts Ridge Road from Lindsay Lane to Snedeker Drive are all closed for cleanup. The West Virginia Department of Highways is urging commuters to use alternate routes.

Natures broom, or floor dry, is kind of the brand name for what it is material that we put down to provide traction and to absorb the oil, DOH District 6 Engineer Tony Clark said.

But that is not all being done, as Tug Hill has committed to an environmental cleanup. Clark says its important a proper cleanup is completed before the roadways can be re-opened, as oil is more dangerous than you might think. (Video clip is in the Article.)

Its extremely slick, so its no different than driving on black ice, for instance, for where you dont necessarily think its going to be slick until youre sliding off the road, Clark said.

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Several roads in Marshall County remain closed following truck oil leak

From the Article of WV Transportation News, March 13, 2023

The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) is assisting with the cleanup of several roadways in Marshall County following an oil mud leakage from an oil and gas truck on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
The truck traveled more than 14 miles, on WV 2 and county routes, while leaking drilling fluid.

The following roadways are closed on Monday, March 13, 2023, as a result of the spillage: Roberts Ridge Road (CR 21) from Fallen Timber Lane to Lindsay Lane Road (CR 88/5), all of Lindsay Lane Road and Round Bottom Hill Road (WV 2 ALT).

WV 2 just south of Moundsville wa...