BARNESVILLE, Ohio – Members of the Olney Friends School community have long treasured the pastoral setting of our 350-acre campus, which provides the opportunity for students to help grow their own food and to study their natural environment. But a new challenge to Olney’s stance on stewardship now comes from the ground literally beneath our feet.
Olney Friends School stands just east of Barnesville, Ohio – a village where football defers only to the King Pumpkin in ruling the autumn months – in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where it has drawn on the Quaker traditions of simplicity, integrity, stewardship, peace, equality and community to educate generations of young men and women. Today neighbors all around the school, from individual farmers to the public school district, homeowners and even the village itself, are taking advantage of a natural gas and oil boom that is burgeoning throughout the region. They are entering lucrative lease agreements that include large signing bonuses and promise royalty payments once gas and oil production begins. Some nearby landowners have seen energy companies drill “monster wells” on their properties, resulting in some of the highest production rates in Ohio’s history.
Drillers are using a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to access the rich reserves they previously could not unlock. Crews first drill a vertical shaft and turn it horizontally to reach the areas they wish to tap. They then “frack” the rock by injecting a pressurized mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the shale layer to break it apart and release the petroleum products it contains.
Like others in the surrounding area, Olney had the opportunity to lease the mineral rights to its land and secure hundreds of thousands of dollars for its coffers. Based on the Quaker tradition of environmental stewardship – and alarmed by fracking’s potential to damage land, air and water – the Olney Friends School Board of Trustees twice decided not to lease the land for fracking.
“By publically placing responsible stewardship of the environment ahead of short-term gain, Olney leads by example, to the ultimate benefit of all those – today and tomorrow, for a semester or for a generation – who call this place home,” said Ernie Hartley, Olney Class of 1957 and retired board member. “The board’s decision is based on a long tradition of concern for the wise use and preservation of our natural resources …
“The school farm is an important outdoor laboratory utilized by many facets of the school’s academic program. There exists a strong concern to maintain these lands in natural, healthy and ecologically balanced conditions for agricultural production, the growing of food for Olney’s dining room and academic teaching purposes. We are concerned that fracking jeopardizes the air, land and water that so many have protected over the last 139 years.”
In addition to choosing not to lease its land, Olney partners with environmental organizations to further its mission of stewardship. The Captina Conservancy is headquartered in the school’s new Stillwater Science Center. Its members act as resources and mentors for faculty and students.
Olney also has joined forces with Concerned Barnesville Area Residents, a grassroots organization dedicated to the protection of our natural resources in the face of massive shale industry development. Members have educated themselves about potential negative health and environmental impacts associated with the industry. Many of these concerned residents of southeastern Ohio insisted on responsible development and achieved success in a campaign to halt construction of a fracking waste facility a mile from the village of Barnesville. CBAR members often meet at the Stillwater Science Center, and Olneyites have joined them in speaking out in public forums.
The aim of these partnerships is to supplement the interdisciplinary academic program. Such activities encourage collaboration, innovation, curiosity, critical thinking and social responsibility. Olney graduates are equipped to become ethical leaders and analytical problem-solvers. Perhaps an Olney graduate will one day resolve the concerns that make fracking objectionable to the Olney community and its partner organizations today.
