Just imagine: a proposed coal mine threatens to destroy the drinking water supply for your small town and surrounding communities.  Wouldn't you want the state government to step in and stand up for you? 

That is what the Village of Barnesville, in eastern Ohio, hoped when it petitioned the state of Ohio to deem the lands adjacent to the city's lone dinking water reservoirs as unsuitable for mining.  Yet, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources under former Governor Taft slammed the door on Barnesville, and rejected the Village's effort to protect the only reliable drinking water supply in the area. 

This decision by Gov. Taft's administration threatens not only Barnesville, but public water supplies throughout the state.  Such a precedent would make it impossible for the state to approve any petition to protect sensitive lands and groundwater threatened by harmful mining practices.  ODNR's decision is now in state appeals court, but the Strickland administration could right the wrong of the previous administration and protect the people of Barnesville.

Clean water is essential to all of us. Any time there is a threat to the continued availability of fresh, pure drinking water, the state MUST step in and protect the health of its people.

Send a letter today to Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management Chief, John Husted, and urge the Strickland administration to reconsider this potentially devastating precedent.