At 15, FaCT Ohio is Still Growing

by Ron Prosek

It was 15 years ago this June that FaCT first formed. What follows is a brief history of FaCT.

We first gathered at East Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirtland, Ohio in June 2011.  Eight congregations of various faith traditions were represented, including UUs, UCCs, Presbyterians, Catholics, and others.

Our purpose was to form an interfaith group to oppose fracking, which had just come to Ohio.  We wanted to create a voice of moral authority, and so we turned to our faith communities in the state.

From 2011 to 2015, we rotated monthly meetings among the participating churches.  Eventually we had more than 40 congregations participating in Ohio.  In those early years we persuaded NPR in Cleveland to drop its sponsorship of the annual pro-industry shale conference in Cleveland.  We also marched with 350.org to block fracking trucks from entering a major injection well site in Portage County.  When injection wells induced earthquakes in Youngstown, we joined a large march of citizen activists there.  Also, we joined a large march in Kent, marching through the snow to the campus.

In 2015, we became incorporated as a non-profit in Ohio.  That same year we obtained our 501c3 status with the IRS as a "non-profit public charity." We also adopted bylaws and elected a Board of Directors.

Also, in 2015, we began the Ohio Health Registry.  We traveled to various communities in the state threatened by fracking.  We registered residents to create a baseline data base to track health changes among residents living in the vicinity of fracking.

Volunteers gather for Ohio Health Registration in Athens

While meeting many aggrieved residents, we collected numerous stories detailing the dangers and hardships created by fracking in the state.

When Covid arrived in 2020, we had to stop our visitations.  We refocused our mission on education and advocacy.  Using Zoom and printed materials, we educated on topics such as fracking, injection wells, toxic and radioactive fracking waste as well as specific proposed legislation in the Ohio General Assembly.

In 2021, we launched our Distinguished Speakers Program, which features a monthly online (Zoom) live presentation by a variety of authors and scientists dealing with fracking, injection wells, climate change, data centers, and AI.

In 2023, we launched our Anchor Program.  Our Anchors are our most active congregations in FaCT Ohio.  They work as organizing hubs to recruit more congregations to our movement.  We have Anchors in northeast Ohio and southeast Ohio, and currently we are looking to add anchors from central Ohio, especially in the Columbus area.

In the last two years, we have worked hard to educate our state lawmakers about our environmental concerns and specific proposed legislation.  We have been in close alliance with two other nonprofits: the Buckeye Environmental Network and Save Ohio Parks. This has been a frustrating experience for all three organizations.  

Though we worked very hard providing information and both oral and written testimony on proposed legislation, we feel that we aren't being listened to. Our allies and we have concluded that we must build the strength of our movement so that our voice is loud and powerful enough to instill some fear in politicians: if they don't respond to us in meaningful ways, we can affect the longevity of their careers in the General Assembly. That is how we are currently re-focusing.  We also changed our name from “FaCT” to “FaCT Ohio” to emphasize that we are focused on Ohio.

We certainly welcome new congregations to our movement--especially now in central Ohio.  Building strength there now is essential!