The Oberlin Review

The NEXUS pipeline’s route through Oberlin.

Eight Years In, NEXUS Fight Continues

April 22, 2020

For the better part of a decade, Oberlin residents, City officials, and College students have been involved in a battle against NEXUS Gas Transmission, a 256-mile pipeline extension that was ultimately built through Oberlin city limits and continues to be opposed in court. The pipeline, which begins in the eastern part of Ohio and travels through the state before connecting to a transfer point in Michigan, is designed to carry up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. The project represents a ...

Appalachian Storage Hub Development Sparks Concerns

Dan Kennedy, Features Editor

April 22, 2020

Appalachia has been a hub of fossil fuel extraction for over a century, and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition has been leading anti-pollution efforts in the region since Dianne Bady founded the organization in 1987. In 2017, months before her death, Bady was sifting through industry magazines and noticed several proposed projects related to plastic production. Slowly, she stitched together a picture of what was to come: a massive petrochemical complex, now known as the Appalachian Storage Hub, spanning Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. This facility would store fracked natural gas fluids in underground caverns and process these petrochemicals into the building blocks of plastic. The coal industry ha...

Court of Appeals Sides With Oberlin in NEXUS Dispute

Ella Moxley, Senior Staff Writer

September 20, 2019

In a legal blow to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the City of Oberlin and other plaintiffs who opposed the NEXUS pipeline’s proposed use of eminent domain in the construction of the natural gas pipeline. Oberlin took NEXUS to court because the 256-mile natural gas pipeline, which stretches from Kensington, OH to Canada, runs through land within city limits. The city argued that under the Natural Gas Act, FERC could only grant authorization for the use of eminent domain to companies like NEXUS for interstate projects, not international ones. The legal concept of eminent domain concerns reclaiming of private land for public need without compensation. In addition, Ober...

Off The Cuff: John Elder and Steve Hammond

April 6, 2018

John Elder and Steve Hammond are co-founders of the group Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy, an environmental group that has been working to fight the NEXUS pipeline and advocate for Oberlin’s Community Bill of Rights. Hammond is also the Pastor for Oberlin’s Peace Community Church. The group has been fighting the NEXUS pipeline since 2013, pursuing lawsuits, engaging community members, and advocating with City Council. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How did y...

City Councilmembers discuss the NEXUS pipeline settlement prior to voting. Council voted unanimously against NEXUS, a shift from the previous vote of 4–3 in favor of the settlement last month.

Final Pipeline Vote Rejects NEXUS Settlement

March 9, 2018

Oberlin City Council voted unanimously to reject a proposed settlement with NEXUS Gas Transmission Monday night. The council was previously split on accepting a deal with NEXUS, voting 4–3 for the deal at the previous meeting on Feb. 20. The meeting contrasted with earlier hearings on the settlement. At the Feb. 20 meeting, students both picketed and directly addressed members of council, but on Monday those in attendance were silent and reserved. Students held signs and provided emotional te...

Tuesday’s City Council meeting, where more than 60 students and community members stood chanting to protest the city’s vote to settle with NEXUS over the incoming pipeline.

Council Votes to Settle with NEXUS

February 23, 2018

“They’re breaking our laws, they’re taking our rights, but we won’t give up without a fight,” chanted the more than 60 Oberlin students and community members who protested during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Councilmembers voted 4–3 to move forward with a potential $100,000 settlement with Enbridge, the company set to build the NEXUS pipeline. After nearly an hour of public comments asking Council to oppose the agreement, the ordinance authorizing the city manager to execute the...

Students Against NEXUS Must Stay Active, Should Refocus

Patrick Wai, Contributing Writer

February 23, 2018

At the town hall meeting Tuesday, the turnout against City Council’s settlement with NEXUS was amazing; not only were all the chairs filled, but students lined the walls with signs in opposition to the settlement. After the Council opened the floor to anyone to speak, numerous townspeople and students lined up to speak against the settlement. Students spoke out against the fatalistic attitude of submitting to NEXUS and reminded the Council that the Oberlin Community Bill of Rights rejects a settlement of this type. I even spoke, which surprised me. After the public opinion section, the Council moved to the vote. Students began chanting, echoing the same sentiments of the public forum; this led councilmembers to leave the ...

City Should Continue Fight Against NEXUS Pipeline

Nathan Carpenter, Columnist

February 16, 2018

When I first arrived at Oberlin in fall 2016, I learned that the impending construction of the NEXUS pipeline was a key community issue that much of the city firmly opposed. I also learned that Oberlin had a silver bullet that would stop the pipeline from being constructed within city limits: its Community Bill of Rights and Obligations. The CBRO unequivocally states that, following its codification, new gas and oil pipelines cannot be built within the city of Oberlin — without exception. It is a powerful document expressing our community’s commitment to self-determination and affirming Oberlin’s ongoing leadership in combating climate change. For some time, the outlook for the anti-NEXUS camp was hopeful — p...

Monday’s City Council meeting, where councilmembers and community members discussed the possibility of settling with NEXUS for $100,000.

City Council Votes to Wait on NEXUS Settlement Decision

February 9, 2018

Oberlin City Council did not proceed with an emergency vote on a proposed $100,000 settlement with NEXUS at the council’s regular meeting Monday night. After hearing the public’s opposition to the settlement, the council voted to not accept the offer from NEXUS and wait until further public discussion was possible. The terms of the settlement dictate that the city not engage in any further litigation intended to interfere with construction of the pipeline and grant full easement rights in e...

Students, Community Must Collaborate Against NEXUS Pipeline

John D. Elder, OC ’53; Vice President, Communities for Safe and Sustainable Energy

December 8, 2017

To the Editors: A big “thank you” to the Review’s Production Editor Eliza Guinn for last Friday’s front page story “Court Rules Against Construction in Ohio City, Gives Oberlin Hope” (The Oberlin Review, Dec. 1, 2017) about the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that has blocked the construction of the NEXUS pipeline through Green, Ohio. As her article points out, Oberlin has also filed a case against NEXUS and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to keep NEXUS from threatening the safety of Oberlinians. Though this fact was not included in the article, a local grassroots organization, Communities for Safe and Sustainable Energy, drafted the Community Bill of Rights and Obligations Ordinance in 2...

Court Rules Against Construction in Ohio City, Gives Oberlin Hope

Eliza Guinn, Production Editor

December 1, 2017

Construction on the NEXUS pipeline halted in the Northeast Ohio city of Green after the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals voted in a 2–1 decision to block the company from building within city limits. Members of Oberlin City Council and Students for Energy Justice, an organization at the College, are continuing work to raise awareness and protesting with hopes of achieving the same result. Green spent $350,000 of the city’s annual budget of $32 million fighting the pipeline’s construction. Green Mayor Gerard Neugebauer claims he opposed the plan since he was hired more than two years ago, and this court ruling provides a reprieve — likely of several months — before any further arguments or court actions ensu...

The NEXUS pipeline, which was recently approved for construction by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will be running through the southernmost part of Oberlin.

City Council Rejects NEXUS Offer For Easement

November 3, 2017

City Council held an emergency meeting Saturday, deciding to reject a $3,500 offer from NEXUS for means of access. The offer would have given NEXUS the legal right to use city property without owning it, granting the company the ability to begin building its pipeline. The Oberlin Community Bill of Rights, which was created in 2013, prohibits the creation of infrastructure relating to fracking in the city. City Councilmember Bryan Burgess added that the city also does not have authorization to...