Fracking-ban petition invalid

An environmental group that wanted to ban oil and gas extraction and waste disposal in Columbus has failed to collect enough signatures to put their initiative on the ballot.

The group submitted 11,221 signatures to the city clerk on March 13, but only 7,766 were deemed valid. A total of 8,890 valid signatures were needed to put the issue on the ballot before voters.

Franklin County Board of Elections sent a letter to the city clerk Thursday after vetting the signatures. It is the second time such an initiative has failed to gather enough signatures in Columbus.

The initiative would have outlawed oil and gas drilling in Columbus, though it would have grandfathered in existing wells. It also would have banned using existing wells as an injection well to store the byproducts of drilling.

“We’re more worried about the waste,” said Greg Pace, co-founder of the group seeking the ballot initiative. “We’re really concerned about the long-term aspect of our watershed.”

If the initiative had passed, violations of the proposed changes would have been a first-degree misdemeanor.

The proposal also would have established a “community bill of rights” for residents to have clean air, soil and water. It would have assigned rights to “natural communities and ecosystems … to exist and flourish within the City of Columbus.”