Environmental activists and students will pressure the committee
to reiterate the concerns raised by Ecology Committee chair Kevin Crist
and Dysart Woods Subcommittee chair Christine Knisely at previous meetings
and at a public events, that the watershed buffer zone of Dysart Woods
be
protected from mining.
Ohio Universtiy owns Dysart Wooda, and for 27 years top
administrators have lobbied for the protection of the watershed buffer
zone from mining. But recently OU has cut the buffer zone by
12 times in
their Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition soon to be submitted to
the
Ohio Division of Mines and Reclamations (ODMR).
Dysart Woods is one of two subcommittees of the Ecology Committee.
The OU Ecology Committee met last May to discuss Dysart Woods.
At that
meeting, OU Facilities Planning Director John Kotowski showed maps
of the
watershed buffer zone that Mary Stoertz drafted last year in response
to
Ohio Valley Coal Co.'s coal threats.
Activists will question OU's massive compromising of this buffer
zone and insist that the committee speak out against the pending permit
D-0360-7 (permit 7) that would violate the watershed buffer zone.
Activists will remind the committee of the thousands of letters, petition
signatures, Student Senate motions, Graduate Student Senate motions
and
Faculty Senate motions all calling for the protection of the watershed
buffer zone of Dysart Woods.
The ODMR will likely decide on permit D-0360-7 that would mine
500
acres of the watershed buffer zone in one or two weeks.
Ohio University would have 30 days to appeal if they lived up
to
their legal obligation to protect Dysart Woods. But OU says it
does not
plant to appeal.
"The OU Ecology Committee needs to hold a public hearing for
people to address this critical issue in a democratic fashion," said
Dysart Defender Chad Kister. "More than a dozen groups have requested
such a hearing for more than 5 months. If OU is to live up to
its mission
of being an open, democratic institution, the massive call for the
protection of the watershed buffer zone must be heard."