Ohio students are ready for action after the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition winter training retreat. Over 30 student leaders from nine different colleges converged at Kenyon College for a weekend full of trainings for organizers, leadership development, and state networking.  Many colleges including Ohio State University, Ohio University, the University of Cincinnati, Oberlin College, Wooster, and Kenyon are ready to tackle big polluters with effective organizing tools learned over the weekend. Student leaders from these colleges return home to work on campaigns targeting fracking and coal industries. As we have already seen with several actions in Ohio, such as the a human oil spill at Speaker Boehner’s office in Cincinnati and the Mic Check at OSU against fracking, Ohio students are empowered by their state-network.

At the end of the training students launched an action calling out the fracking industry. The Elkhead Oil and Gas Co have targeted the areas surrounding Kenyon College including Mt. Vernon and Knox County. The company injects toxic fracking chemicals from Pennsylvania which has passed laws against injecting the waste in their own state. At the action launch we drove through back roads to the primary injection well online. Students witnessed first hand the high volume of conventional wells already in existence and their proximity to residents' homes. Passing by the injection well we witnessed one truck actively dumping. Emerging on the main highway at the end of the road, five teams coordinated efforts to post up six-foot signs exposing the industry in Knox County. Many members of the community are unaware of the toxic chemicals being injected right next to their homes, and Ohio Student Environmental Coalition members hope to inform and educate the community about exactly what is happening in their town.

The Midwest is in many ways ground zero. Ohio students are joining forces and building power. Armed with awesome leadership and organizational tools, there is no stopping members of the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition from continuing to shut down coal plants, build leadership, beat back the frack attack, and keep on winning environmental battles all over Ohio.