Month: February 2020

Even though they’ve been around for decades, most people only recently have heard of  “forever chemicals.”

This group of 3,500 man-made chemicals is used to make household products water-proof and non-stick. The problem is that the substance has found its way out of the household and into the nation’s water systems.

They’re called forever chemicals because they are resistant to breaking down in the environment and have been linked to numerous serious health issues. Worse, they are completely unregulated by the government.

The movie Dark Waters was based on the contamination of water in Parkersburg, West Virginia, with forever chemicals that were allegedly spilled by an area DuPont plant.

Two Ohio representatives want to keep forever chemicals out of Ohio’s drinking water by establishing maximum allowable contaminant levels for PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.

Rep. Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville) and Rep. C. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) are sponsoring House Bill 497 which confronts the problem of forever chemicals here in Ohio.

“The scientific data being gathered on these dangerous toxins has created an imperative to address the need for clean water and the elimination of pollutants in our environment,” Rep. Lightbody said.

Supporters of the bill say that it will compliment Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent call to explore the issue. DeWine issued an order in September 2019 to figure out how prevalent these chemicals may be in Ohio’s drinking water.

A PFAS Action Plan resulted from the order, which will be taken on by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Health.

This would be the first step in learning how widespread the problem is in the state.

Building on that effort, the legislation would require the Ohio EPA director to adopt rules establishing maximum levels for both drinking and surface water. Among specific chemicals to be policed include Chromium-6 and 1.4 dioxane.

Environmental watchdog groups say contamination of U.S. drinking water with manmade forever chemicals is far worse than previously thought.
In forming the rules, the OEPA director would be asked to consider limits adopted by other states, studies and scientific evidence, materials produced by the federal government and recent independent and government agency peer-reviewed studies.

“The scientific data being gathered on these dangerous toxins has created an imperative to address the need for clean water and the elimination of pollutants in our environment,” said Lightbody.

The EPA has known since at least 2001 about the problem of PFAS in drinking water but has so far failed to set an enforceable, nationwide legal limit. The EPA said early last year it would begin the process to set limits on two of the chemicals, PFOA and PFOS.

The EPA said it has helped states and communities address PFAS and that it is working to put limits on the two main chemicals but did not give a timeline.

Throughout 2019 and now in 2020, the scope of this new potential health crisis has come more into focus.

About 700 PFAS-contaminated sites have reportedly been identified nationwide, while more than 110 million people may now be drinking contaminated water. More recent testing found high PFAS levels in drinking water in 34 major US cities.

Some researchers say nearly every source of surface water in the country is contaminated.

“They’re everywhere,” warned Christopher Tavenor of the Ohio Environmental Council, “and there are serious health concerns with these substances.”

Some drinking water supplies in Ohio have been impacted, including water supplies in Belpre and Little Hocking Water Association. They both sit across the Ohio River from a DuPont plant near Parkersburg, WV, that relied on forever chemicals for production.

The plant first came under scrutiny in the late 1990s after Ohio environmental attorney Rob Bilott got a tip from a farmer. The farmer’s cattle were dying after drinking contaminated water.

Bilott took the case and went on to become the lead attorney in the nation on PFAS contamination, successfully taking DuPont to court for negligence and winning millions of dollars in damages in class action lawsuits.
Ohio also filed a lawsuit against DuPont alleging the company “caused widespread PFOA contamination in Ohio as a result of decades-long, intentional releases of massive amounts” of the chemical into the environment.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has long advocated for tough federal standards for PFAS and related chemicals, far lower than the EPA’s suggested guidelines.

The EWG set up an interactive map that shows PFAS in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities, including metropolitan areas. PFAS Contamination in the U.S.

Another map reveals industrial sites in Cleveland and across the country that have used the chemicals for industrial uses such as electroplating, raising concerns over the chemicals seeping into ground water, rivers and streams. Suspected Industrial Discharges of PFAS

Under pressure from Congress, the EPA in January took steps toward setting new, lower legal limits for two PFAS chemicals. It’s also proposing a regulatory determination to set national standards.

The PFAS Action Act of 2019 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. It would require the EPA to designate PFAS and related “forever chemicals” as hazardous materials. The legislation is currently being reviewed by a Senate committee.

 

A television reporter’s request for help from an Ohio legislator resulted in a newly proposed law, House Bill 510.

The reporter was Ron Regan of 5 on Your Side in Cleveland. Regan was working on a story and needed some specifics on the number of accidents caused by unsecured loads on Ohio highways.

The representative Regan went to for help was Tom Patton (R-Strongsville).

When Patton obtained the information the reporter needed,  Patton realized there was a serious problem in the state that needed to be addressed.

“The numbers were way up there,” said Patton. “When you’re seeing 6,800 crashes because people are not taking the time or that extra strap to secure a load, something needs to change.”

What Patton discovered was that, according to crash data from the Ohio Highway Patrol, debris from unsecured loads contributed to some 6,794 crashes from 2015 to 2019.

“There were an alarming number of crashes,” said Patton. “Some of these resulted in very serious injuries and even some fatalities.”

Specifically, during that same time period, there were 715 injuries and at least six fatalities, data showed.

Motorists were charged in some of the incidents but the charges and fines were minimal, even when significant injury was involved.

Ohio is among the most lax in the nation when it comes to fines and penalties for unsecured loads. Currently, this offense is capped at $150 in Ohio with no jail time. There is no provision if someone is injured as a result of the unsecured debris.

Patton’s legislation would significantly increase fines and penalties for drivers convicted of unsecured load violations.

If passed, House Bill 510 would boost fines to $500 for an unsecured load violation and $2,500 and a third-degree misdemeanor if someone is injured. The violation is currently considered a minor misdemeanor.

Ohio is unlike 28 other states that have maximum fines from $500 to $5,000 and 16 others that provide for possible jail time, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

As introduced, the new legislation states that no trash, rubbish, waste, wire, paper, cartons, boxes, glass, solid waste, or any other material of an unsanitary nature that is susceptible to blowing or bouncing from a moving vehicle shall be driven or moved on any highway unless the load is covered with a sufficient cover to prevent the load or any part of the load from spilling onto the highway.

The exception to this rule, according to the proposal, is when driving or moving a farm vehicle used to transport agricultural produce or agricultural production materials. It also excludes rubbish vehicles in the process of acquiring a load.

The Ohio Revised Code currently only required that vehicles are “so constructed, loaded, or covered as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking or otherwise escaping”.

The era of the death penalty could be slowly coming to an end in Ohio, where executions have been on hold during a year-long struggle to obtain execution drugs.

Now there’s a new effort underway to abolish capital punishment in the state.

Conservative leadership in the Ohio House last week announced its effort to eliminate the death penalty through the formation of the Ohio branch of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.

The group is a network of conservatives questioning the alignment of capital punishment with their conservative principles.

As policymakers and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction seek to obtain intravenous execution drugs or to pass a law allowing an alternative method, there seems to be growing momentum for scrapping the death penalty altogether.

Gov. Mike DeWine said pharmaceutical companies don’t want their products used to carry out executions and have threatened to block access to the medications, which have other medical uses for Ohioans.

Since taking office last year, DeWine has issued 11 stays of execution delays. At the same time, juries have handed down six new death sentences.

The state is the eighth in the country in total number of executions. There have been 56 executions since the state resumed the death penalty in 1999.

Thirty-five conservative leaders from around the state have signed CCATDP’s national Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty, something that they pointed out has already occurred in half of the other states in the nation.

The creator of Ohio’s death penalty law said he thinks the state won’t have another execution. Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who wrote Ohio’s death penalty law, said he thinks Ohio has already seen its last execution. He said this is a good thing.

Pfeifer said he now opposes how the law is used, but he doubts lawmakers will abolish the law entirely.

“I think it’ll be a tough sell to get the legislature to repeal the death penalty that’s on the books,” Pfeifer reportedly said.

Pfeifer is now with the Ohio Judicial Conference. Pfeifer admitted that the death penalty has been good for one thing: plea bargains, which is useful in avoiding trials that are painful for the victims’ survivors and costly for the courts.

While support for death penalty appears to be mounting, Senate President Larry Obhof, (R-Medina), reportedly said in early February that it is “unlikely” the Ohio General Assembly will abolish the death penalty completely within the next year.

Obhof said that most lawmakers still favor executions in “particularly heinous cases.”

The Conservative Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty was signed by 35  Conservative leaders listed below:

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An Ohio legislator is working to protect legal gun owners by removing “vague” terminology from the Ohio code that, he said, puts concealed carry permit holders at risk.

Representative Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster) sponsored House Bill 425 which would modify this rule to clarify when and how to notify law enforcement to avoid confusion.

It would require those with concealed carry handgun licenses to verbally tell an officer that they’re armed or hand over that license after being asked for identification. The current law merely requires them to tell law enforcement “promptly.”

Proponents of the legislation are being heard in committee today at the Statehouse.

It is currently a first-degree misdemeanor if a permit holder fails to “promptly” reveal that there is a firearm in the vehicle when pulled over by police.

HB 425 also would downgrade the penalty for not notifying from a first-degree misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 to a civil citation, with a maximum fine of $25.

Wiggam said the new legislation would protect concealed-carry licensees so that they may comfortably answer law enforcement’s questions without fear of being arrested due to subjective notification language and harsh penalties.

Buckeye Firearms Association supports HB 425 and has said that the requirement to “promptly” notify an officer that one is carrying a gun is too vague. The association said this leaves lawful gun owners at risk of being subject to repercussion.

This is the fourth time the Buckeye Firearms Association has made that argument before the General Assembly in recent years. Similar legislation has failed.

Proponents said that 41 of 50 states have no duty to notify, as law enforcement is trained to assume citizens may be in possession is firearms.

A new flashing lights law for horse-drawn vehicles would save lives.

It’s been a top issue from constituents since Rep. Scott Wiggam took office, slow-moving, horse-drawn vehicles on roadways and the resulting collisions. Not surprising, since Wiggam’s House District 1 includes Apple Creek and other Amish-populated communities in Wayne County.

“One of the main complaints is lack of visibility and the speed differential,” said Wiggam (R-Wooster).

Some 120 accidents were reported in Ohio last year, many of which involved serious injury and fatalities.

Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville) was receiving similar complaints. Kick’s district includes Holmes County, which is 42 percent Amish. The two representatives put their heads together and created legislation that they said would increase buggy visibility, reduce collisions and save lives.

“We put together a bill that I believe 100 percent that will save lives,” said Wiggam.

The Roadway Safety Legislation would require that horse-drawn buggies be equipped with flashing yellow lights and new high-visibility reflective tape. But it hasn’t been an easy sell to some Amish communities. Currently, Ohio code requires only one light on front of the buggy, one reflector in the rear and a slow-moving vehicle emblem.

The new law would require that the flashing lights be active during daylight hours, as well. “Anytime they are using the roadways they would need to be on,” said Kick.

The lights would likely be battery or solar powered.
Ohio has the highest number of Amish in the nation, with a population nearing 60,000.

The two representatives have met with Bishops of several Amish orders and are awaiting their input.

Some Amish in the state have taken it upon themselves to install flashing lights and high visibility reflective tape, said Wiggam. Other Amish sects, however, have held out citing religious reasons. Kick said that once the law would go into effect, those not abiding by the ruling would be ticketed.
There have been more than 870 crashes involving horse drawn buggies since 2014, according to data.

Wiggam explained that Amish lives are more threatened in a collision because of the speed differential and the weight of the vehicle vs the weight of the buggy. The representative said the bulk of collisions occur during daylight hours.

“You can see the flashing light before you can see the vehicle,” said Kick.
The lights would be mounted at the top of the buggy, according to Wiggam. “Either the back uppermost part of the buggy or the top,” said Wiggam. “Both would work.”

There are many different Amish groups, within the statewide Amish community .

“Some are much more progressive in lighting of their vehicles with battery or solar powered, even turn signals,” said Kick. “Some in the older order Amish don’t want any type of reflective tape, making them flashy. It’s not an easy sale for some.

“This has been requested for many years,” added Kick. “A lot of people feel it’s time to bring them up to date for the sake of safety.”

Driving in Amish communities is different than driving on other rural or urban highways.

In Amish communities you will see horse-drawn buggies or equipment on the roadway as they travel to town or the fields. Statistics show that more than 65 percent of all traffic deaths occur in rural areas and 50 percent of those deaths are on country roads, according to statistics from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The legislators said the new bill would bring uniformity across the state.

Since 2014, there have been over 872 reported crashes involving an animal with a rider or an animal-drawn vehicle in Ohio, including at least 18 fatal crashes that killed 20 people, according to statistics.

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Regardless of legislators’ stand on the death penalty, Ohio won’t be conducting executions anytime soon. The state’s access to lethal injection drugs has been blocked by pharmaceutical companies, leaving officials with a law on the books that cannot be enforced.

With 138 inmates on Ohio’s death row, executions are at a standstill. Ohio’s last execution was July 2018.

Difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs and the expense of prosecuting and appealing death-penalty cases has lawmakers questioning if Ohio’s death penalty should be phased out.

Gov. Mike DeWine asked legislative leaders to consider repealing Ohio’s 18-year-old law. Since taking office in January 2019, DeWine has granted numerous death penalty reprieves due to lack of necessary pharmaceuticals.

Drug companies oppose the use of their drugs for executions and DeWine has expressed concern that drug makers could withhold the medications for other purposes if their drugs are used for lethal injection.

The governor’s most recent warrants of reprieve were issued for condemned prisoners Gregory Lott, John Stumpf, and Warren “Keith” Henness. The inmates were scheduled to die later this year. DeWine moved Lott’s and Stumpf’s executions to 2021 and Henness’ execution to 2022.

Another concern of lawmakers is the cost of imposing the death penalty. The appeals process for convicted capitol offenders can take years to decades. Taxpayers are often left footing the bill for attorneys on both sides.

Ohio is one of 29 states with the death penalty.

Unfortunately, Ohio does not have specific data on costs associated with the death penalty. A study comparing costs of death penalty cases and life without parole cases in the state hasn’t been conducted in over a decade. The weight of evidence, however, suggests that death penalty cases nationwide are more expensive than life without parole cases.

A 2016 fiscal analysis reviewed fourteen state and federal studies on the topic and all found death penalty cases to be more expensive than life without parole cases, usually to the tune of $1.2 million more spent on death penalty cases in 2015 dollars.

Earlier this month, The Columbus Dispatch called upon Ohio legislators to end the death penalty. Given Ohio’s lethal-injection dilemma and policy concerns, the Dispatch concluded, “The only reason left for execution is vengeance, which is not an element of justice or the proper business of the state. It’s time for Ohio to do away with the death penalty.”

Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty released a statement asking states to repeal the death penalty. In a webcast press conference last year, the organization highlighted on-going efforts by conservative advocates in Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming to abolish the death penalty in those states.

The organization stated that the death penalty is a failed policy that does not keep communities safe or help victims’ families heal.