Someone recently shared with me a letter they wrote to their state senator in Ohio. They asked to remain anonymous:
Subject: We CANNOT sell our home
Dear Senator Grendell,
Thanks to the ODNR, the [neighbors], and the city of Broadview Heights, we have a $400,000 albatross. People see the home and tell my Realtor " I'd buy it in a heartbeat if it weren't for the 3 gas wells right behind it". Or they walk in and see the gas wells and leave immediately.
At 49 and 44 years of age,we can raise our family at horrific risk or cripple ourselves financially.We live in 900 sq feet. We have left our 3400 sq ft all brick home. We are sick of the noise and stench of living next to oil wells. We cannot risk the chemical exposure that has made so many other victims of hydro frack drilling sick. All of this is legal in the great state of Ohio. The state continues to destroy property value for residents and there is no end in site.
With incidents like the one in the Gulf, more and more people will become aware of the dangers of gas and oil drilling. Soon people will avoid moving to states like OH, PA, DE and CO. As Chrissy Hynde would say " Oh way to go Ohio".