ATHENS COUNTY - An Ohio woman who chained herself to concrete barrels to protest what she termed the negative impacts of fracking waste water was arrested Tuesday for inducing panic.
Madeline Fittch, 31, was participating in a rally Tuesday afternoon with several other protesters on Ladd Ridge Road, at the gates to an oil and waste water injection well, said Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly.
Fittch and others were protesting the lack of waste water testing by the State of Ohio. Law enforcement arrived on the scene and relocated the group of protesters to a township road about 200 yards from the gate, said Kelly. Fittch remained at the gates, with her hands chained to two, 55-pound barrel drums filled with concrete.
She voluntarily freed herself from the barrels and went with officers without incident, said Kelly.
"It was not a violent protest, but the arrest was warranted," he said. "It cost a lot of resources and this occurred on private property."
No one else was arrested at the rally.
Kelly said despite the arrest, he does not disagree with her position, only her method of protest.
"I also would like to know what they are dumping into our water," he said. "My office will continue monitoring the vehicles dumping the waste and hope for better testing standards on the state level."
Fittch's court date is July 9.
