WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jill Hunkler of Barnesville testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Environment on Thursday — Earth Day 2021 — opposing government subsidies to the natural gas and oil industry.

Her appearance was virtual, using an online platform rather than an in-person visit to Washington. Also speaking were representatives of Harvard University and Stockholm Environmental Institute’s Climate Policy Program, along with Swedish youth activist Greta Thunberg, who is known around the world for her efforts.

Hunkler has long opposed the fossil fuel industry and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — a process that uses high-pressure water, sand and chemicals to fracture the bedrock and release gases trapped within it. On Thursday, she described her experience of living in Appalachia.

“Continuing to subsidize the fossil fuel industry will not only perpetuate the climate crisis, but the plastics pollution, environmental justice and public health crises as well,” she said. “I’m a fracking refugee. I was forced from my home at the headwaters of the historically pristine Captina Creek watershed … after being surrounded by oil and gas infrastructure and its associated pollution, including a compressor station, 78 fracking wells, an interstate and gathering pipelines — all within a 5-mile radius of my home.”

Hunkler said air pollution from the industry “hovers in the hollows” of the local region. She said people living in the hills have health issues as a result, and that residents must deal with unsafe roadways due to industry traffic, air and noise pollution and spring and well water contamination. She also referred to the 2018 well pad explosion near Powhatan Point and a 2017 brine truck spill outside Barnesville.

“I never imagined that my quiet country and healthy way of life would disappear. The negative health impacts we experienced were too much to bear,” she said. “Belmont County is the most heavily fracked within the state, with over 595 producing wells.”

Hunkler is also worried about fracking wastewater being transported via barges on the Ohio River and opposes the PTT Global Chemical America ethane cracker plant proposed for the Dillies Bottom area along the river and Ohio 7.

“In the years since the fracking boom began, Belmont and other Eastern Ohio gas producing counties haven’t gained jobs,” she said. “In fact, we have lost more than 6,500 jobs according to the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the region’s population has declined by more than 13,000 people according to research by the Ohio River Valley Institute.”

In answer to a question from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, Hunkler said she had experienced odors, headaches, body aches, rashes and mental confusion. She said little action from the state came in response to complaints.

“Now the petrochemical industry wants to invade and create even more toxic air pollution. The industry will require even more fracking in our region to make feedstock for plastics. The regulatory agencies are already failing to protect communities from air pollution from fracking, and now they have granted air permits to the PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker plant,” she said, adding she fears the facility would emit tons of hazardous contaminants into the air if constructed. She also expressed concerns about the proposed Mountaineer Natural Gas Liquids storage facility planned near the Ohio River in Monroe County, which would develop salt caverns to store materials such as ethane in proximity to the Ohio River.

“Companies are securing federal support for these petrochemical projects in the form of loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. This cannot be allowed to happen,” she said.

“We are asking the subcommittee and the Biden administration to halt the continued development of oil and gas in the petrochemical industries,” Hunkler said. “We must embrace a better vision for Appalachia, creating renewable energy economies and regenerative agricultural development. A global commitment must be made to restore peace and harmony with nature and one another. We shall remain persistent and resistant to all that threatens our children’s future.”