The Barnesville-TEX team, as part of the GeoPolicy Connect cohort developed at the GeoPolicy Connect meeting in October 2017, accomplished a number of activities since their collaboration launched in January 2018. Dr. John Stolz of Duquesne University has had a chance to visit Barnesville twice from his base in Pittsburgh, PA. Not only has he had a chance to view the area, but he’s also been able to meet with local residents about the hydraulic fracturing that’s been occurring in the area. Further, Jill has written an article on the issues the local community has faced from this issue – also highlighted in a local newspaper (See Columbus Dispatch article).
Since the community tour both Jill Hunkler and Lea Harper (of the Cambridge-TEX project) hosted in early 2018 that featured special guest and former Ohio Governor, Dennis Kucinich, they have also jointly hosted a conference on April 28, 2018 at Salt Forks.
The team has a project plan in place and by the next time they have a check-in with TEX, they hope to have secured funding and determined what can be done. John aims to head out to Barnesville again and collect more data and do more field measurements. Then, they anticipate identifying locals willing to have their water tested and have sources readily accessible.
