A rally against giving the Oklahoma Corporation Commission the power to enforce rules and regulations over the oil and gas sector is drawing opponents who plan what they call an “809 Rally” later this month at the State Capitol.
Sponsored by the Sierra Club, the Oklahoma Conference of Churches and a group called Stop Fracking Payne County, the rally is similar to one held last year as the legislature debated SB 809 before turning it into law.
This year’s rally will be held on what the groups call “Earth (Quake) Day on April 12 beginning at 8:09 a.m. and continuing until noon. They call it a gathering to speak out about the right to transparency in government and the need for stewardship.
“SB 809 quietly supplanted local control by giving absolute control to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission over the community’s right to determine where, when and how the energy industry could drill and dispose of harmful wastewater,” stated the groups in their announcement. “This is but one example of legislation that took effect without adequate community involvement: many such bills now pending for 2016.”
The groups contend health, property, employment and future are at stake and that SB 809 was introduced to the legislature last year and “passed through the process without engagement and input from the people who lost their ‘local control’ to protect community resourcs as a result.”
Rep. Richard Morrissette, a Democrat who is an announced candidate for Corporation Commission is to be one of the speakers. Others include Rev. Doctor William Tabbernee, Executive Director of the OK Conferences of Churches; Johnson Bridgwater, director of the Sierra Club; and Angela Spotts, co-founder of Stop Fracking Payne County.
