Mr. John Fortney,

I recently saw your letter to Marietta City Council and I just have to ask: were you our local weatherman? I distinctly remember a handsome weatherman by your name going to my kindergarten class to teach us about weather phenomena. It may have been my first exposure to the wonderous, “tornado in a bottle”. I remained rather smitten with that man and was always pleased whenever I heard of his apparent upward mobility over the years. I was delighted to learn that you were also a member of the long blue line.

Now perhaps I should not begin this missive by reminding you of your age… Rather, I would remind you of your roots and the fact that you haven’t been forgotten here. But, I wonder if you have forgotten us, your neighbors.

It was disappointing to read your letter and to find that you think you can sway your former community with the obvious dog whistle of “radical leftists”.

The concerns from the Marietta City Council are echoed from our community and we have no interest in what Californians think of the condition of our local water supply nor our oil and gas wells. This is our concern alone. I condemn your letter as being political, as trying to leverage the support in our area for conservative politics in order to exploit the people in this community. It is well known that local, loyal Republicans have been ousted from the county headquarters over the injection well issue. You will not be able to convince us that this concern is leftist or radical in origin.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out how grossly hypocritical your concerns are regarding “conflicts of interest”. Would you have us believe that you, Mr. John Fortney -Communications Director of the Ohio Senate Republican Caucus, weren’t aware that Republican Senator Brian Chavez was formerly CEO of Deep Rock Disposal Solutions? That you don’t know who serves that role currently? You don’t have to go nearly as far as the west coast to find your dreaded special interest, try the Capitol.

I will also point out your clumsy, weak argument that the city council has sent messages that it “doesn’t support clean energy, high paying careers, and affordable power”. Our city council values those AND the health and well being of our community members.

Fracking waste is known to have migrated miles from injection sites and brine can leak underground, a fact of which I’m sure Chavez is aware given the lawsuit against him.

I hope this finds you mildly unwell and not a little chagrined.