Around Randolph: Data center and environmental protection petitions taken up around Randolph

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Gandhi

Sixty senior citizens walked 7 to 12 miles a day with the Great Ohio Climate March to bring greater awareness of the dangers of horizontal shale drilling on public lands and mega data centers. As the only participant from Portage County, I learned that Ohio is the only state in the nation that allows its state parks to be horizontally drilled (commonly nicknamed fracking). A rig is scheduled to go up a fourth of a mile off the main entrance of Salt Fork Park and then they will drill under Salt Fork Lake which is used for swimming, paddle boarding, and kayaking. Horizontal drilling brings forth massive amounts of air emissions and radioactivity that are linked to an increase in asthma, childhood leukemia, various cancers and other diseases.