Holiday Wishes for You
OVEC’s staff and Board of Directors extend to you all good wishes for love and joy in the holiday season. May we find comfort in friends, family, community, and the great beauty of our state. In the New Year, may we all find much strength and resolve as we work to protect all that we hold deer—er—dear! 

Return to Index

Step Up to the Plate for Bats
What the frack? Nine oil and gas companies want the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to issue them a 50-year (!) incidental take permit for impacts their activities might have on five bat species in WV, PA and OH.

Not to worry though… As part of the permitting process, those companies must come up with a habitat conservation plan (HCP) to mitigate those impacts. The FWS must develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) before making a permit issuance decision on the HCP. 

FWS is in the midst of a 30-day public scoping period, during which they are invite input regarding the development of the draft EIS.

If you’ve made it through that sea of acronyms, this is where you come in. Step up the plate for the bats! Make written comments, make comments in person, or comment during an on-line meeting on December 20. Find much more information here.

The in-person meetings are coming up in PA, OH and WV. We’ve got them all posted on our calendar page.

One WV meeting is on Wednesday, December 14 from 5-7 pm at the Beni Kedem Temple Ballroom,100 Quarrier Street, Charleston, WV,, 25301.

The other is on Thursday, December 15 from 5-7 pm at the Village Square Conference Center, Ballroom A, Rt. 19 South/1489 Milford St., Clarksburg, WV, 26301. 

Return to Index

Stop #Fracking in the Wayne: Call Now
Will you make some calls on behalf of the Wayne National Forest? On December 13, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to auction off leasing rights to some fracking oil and gas companies for 1600 acres in the Wayne, Ohio’s only national forest.

More than 92,000 people have signed a petition to BLM asking that this auction be called off. We’ve joined in filing a formal letter of protest. 

Now, allied groups over on the Ohio side of the Ohio River are calling on you to call a few politicians and agency officials to register your opposition to this auction. Please take a few minutes today to make these calls. Details here. officials on behalf of the Wayne National Forest.  

Return to Index

Retired ED Janet Keating Asking for Your Help
OVEC’s recently retired Executive Director Janet Keating wrote our year-end appeal, before we knew the results of the 2016 election. So, where she says, “However, our work is far from over,” well, ahem, that could now be considered an understatement.

If what is unfolding now at the state and national level has you alternating between rage, despair, and awe at the strength and resolve of forward-thinking people to unify and redouble our efforts, well, then you are not alone.

If you’ve been thinking of tapping into the phenomenon dubbed “rage donation,” get small and local with it, and show OVEC some rage-love with a tax-deductible year-end gift. 

As Janet says,”You can feel proud to be a member of such a tenacious, hard-working environmental group.”

We know that OVEC wouldn’t have become such an effective organization without your loyal support! Thank you. We stand ready, together, for 2017.

Return to Index