Mailer to Mansfield voters from the American Petroleum Institute, the political arm of the U.S. oil and gas industry.
MANSFIELD — “Questions raised by an eleventh-hour flurry of political ads opposed to the city’s proposed environmental ‘bill of rights’ ballot issue dominated a public elections forum Monday at the Mansfield-Richland County Public Library.
South-side resident Barbara Walter referred to ads — which have appeared in mailboxes and on broadcasts — when she asked city officials whether it was true that Charter Amendment A, which will be decided by the city’s voters Tuesday, could hurt job creation in the city.
‘There has been a lot of pushback from outside money,’ Assistant Law Director Christopher Brown said. ‘I think a lot of this outside money hasn’t read the charter amendment very closely, and they think it’s an outright ban. This is just an opportunity for a local voice to be heard.’
The environmental bill of rights would require companies seeking to drill and operate injection wells for fracking waste in Mansfield to obtain written consent from city council. Law Director John Spon sought the charter amendment after a Texas company obtained state permits to build two injection wells for disposal of fracking waste on land in Mansfield’s industrial park.”
— Linda Martz, Mansfield News Journal
