Politics & Government

Sen. Oelslager Praises North Canton's Volunteerism, Talks Fracking at Rotary Meeting

Sen. Scott Oelslager stopped by the North Canton Rotary Club meeting this past week and gave the Rotarians an update on fracking, jobs and state revenue

The North Canton Rotary Club got an update on state politics when Sen. Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton, stopped by the group's meeting at this past week.

Oelslager shared with the Rotarians what he's accomplished as a member of the Ohio Senate and gave an update on several key issues such as fracking, state revenue and jobs.

Take a look below at some highlights of the meeting.

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VOLUNTEERISM IN STARK COUNTY: "Think of all the volunteers who were involved in () and over 3,000 runners, some of them members of my family ran in that. That's awesome. I talk about our college fundraising that goes on … and all the hundreds of people who do that. The list goes on and on and on … We're an old-fashioned booster community. We all care, and we should always remember that because it is really unique."

JOBS: "As far as some of the bills are concerned and the work that we've done, we've really concentrated on jobs. Jobs and progress. … What have we done? JobsOhio. It's a coordination of public/private partnership between the state and what we call our JobsOhio program. We've completely redone the Ohio Department of Development. Most of the thrust now is in this quasi-private agency called JobsOhio. We're giving them seed money through the liquor profits that enables them to literally work with businesses and invest in businesses." 

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GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: "What we've done for a more efficient government is performance audits. They're now mandatory. The state auditor will now be doing performance audits on all the government agencies to try to see where we can save money in the state of Ohio. They've always done audits, but this is a different type of audit that they're doing." 

CASINOS:  "The casinos (Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino and Toledo's Hollywood) brought in $19 million ... in the first month. All that money will go to local schools and local governments as far as the profits are concerned. That'll be funneling down to local schools and local governments to help them meet the needs of their local constituents. We estimate that the casinos in round figures will bring in between $400-500 million a year." 

FRACKING: "Some people are nervous about it, certainly. We just passed a bill dealing with better oversight … that will require more monitoring of the well water before, after and during the pumping process. Most of the chemicals will be released and easy available to the public. There will some proprietary that's not and that will be available to law enforcement and fire if there's a problem so those people responding will know exactly what's there. You have setbacks as far as where these sites can be. You've got extra regulation in more urban areas, but I don't look for them to do much in urban areas for franking.

If it's done properly, it can be a bonanza for the state. Will there be some human error? Perhaps. But if we built a regulatory scheme through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that will allow good oversight, strong oversight of the situation."


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