We won!
 
Thanks to your e-mails and the tireless work by the OEC and our partners, we made solid progress for Ohio's environment in the new state operating budget.

Progress like: 

• securing more adequate funding to protect safe drinking water, control air pollution, and continue cleaning up our lakes and rivers;
• stopping cold the efforts to open state parks to oil and gas drilling and to add trash and fossil fuels like tires and coal methane to Ohio’s Renewable Energy Standard;
• stopping oil and gas drilling in state parks and assuring the continuation of Ohio’s historic Scenic & Wild Rivers program.

Please take a moment to send an e-mail (using the form at right) thanking Governor Strickland for including these protections in the final budget.

Not all the news is good, through.

State lawmakers agreed with Governor Strickland to make deep funding cuts for Ohio's state parks and forests and to completely wipe out all general funding for Ohio’s 134 State Nature Preserves.
 
We already are gearing up for the next fight: Lawmakers are expected to return to the Statehouse in the fall. That’s when they may revise spending levels - and reconsider some law changes. 

But the OEC will be there, ever vigilant, fighting for a cleaner, greener Ohio!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Thank you for supporting:

--better funding for safe drinking water, clean air, and clean lakes and rivers;

--keeping our beautiful State Parks protected from oil and gas drilling;

--continuing Ohio's Scenic & Wild Rivers program;

--keeping Ohio's Renewable Energy Standard free of dirty energy sources such as burning tires and trash;

--giving homeowners an option for low-cost financing of roof-top solar projects; and

--establishing more secure funding for food safety inspections.

Thanks to your support:

When I turn on the tap, I can continue to be assured of safe drinking water.

When new energy start-up companies consider investing in Ohio, then will know that Ohio's Renewable Energy Standard counts only clean energy sources (like solar, wind, and hydropower), not tires and trash.

And when I plan a weekend getaway to Ohio's great State Parks, I can count on enjoying our parks' natural beauty, knowing they are safe from the threat of oil and gas drilling.

Please know, though, that I am deeply concerned about the future of Ohio's 89 State Nature Preserves.

As you know, the new two-year State Operating Budget completely eliminates general funding for the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. State Nature Preserves contain many of the last remnants of Ohio original prairie, old-growth forests, and wetlands.

How can Ohio care for these priceless natural resources with no general funding?

Please visit http://bit.ly/cF8qf to learn more about these and other concerns.

Thank you again for all of the progress in the new state budget law. And please find a way to protect - not abandon - Ohio's last bit of wilderness.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
July 21, 2009