WASHINGTON, DC — “Ohio Governor John Kasich showed real leadership earlier this month when he introduced an energy bill with the most comprehensive rules in the country for chemical disclosure during oil and gas operations. The Governor’s bill would have required disclosure of not only the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing – as a number of other states have done – but also the full range of chemicals used throughout the lifecycle of a well. Hydraulic fracturing gets all the attention, but the Governor and his team understand that dangerous chemicals are also used in drilling, producing, servicing and shutting down wells. The entire process should be transparent from beginning to end — ‘from spud to plug,’ as it’s called.
This was smart policy when the Governor proposed it. And it’s smart policy today. Unfortunately, the energy bill passed yesterday by the Ohio General Assembly fails to fully deliver on that vision. In the face of intense industry opposition, lawmakers eliminated many of the reporting requirements contained in the original bill. EDF is disappointed the final bill does not live up to what Governor Kasich proposed, but we give the Governor credit for putting the idea forward and expanding the terms of the debate – both in Ohio and nationally.”
— Matt Watson, Environmental Defense Fund
We invite readers to check the claims in the above column against the bill Governor Kasich actually had introduced. The bill was formally sponsored by Ohio Senator Shannon Jones; the words “by request” after her name means that Kasich wrote it. As we discussed at the time, whatever Kasich’s vision was, the right-to-know had nothing to do with it.
— Paul Ryder, Assistant Director, Ohio Citizen Action
