Freshwater Accountability Project will collect air and water quality data near schools, and daycare and senior centers close to the site in Belmont County.
When it became clear that coal ash waste from a nearby power plant was making them sick, residents of one West Virginia town mobilized. But activists fear weakened regulations will make it harder for others to do the same.
The groups will drop their appeal of the plant's air permit in exchange for additional monitoring and disclosures. If built, the Ohio plant would be similar to Shell's cracker in Pa., shown above.
The group says their effort will provide a baseline of health in fracking communities and will be able to determine if fracking is impacting people's health.
Ohio regulators have never turned down an energy company's request to force a landowner to sign a lease. The company needs to show that without the landowner, their project would not be profitable.
The group is growing 9,000 plants to make natural dyes for fabric that is grown, woven and dyed in Cleveland. Their project marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River Fire.
