BOWLING GREEN

Pipeline ban to appear on city ballot

Andrew Kear, an associate professor with Bowling Green State University, center, calls on Nexus Gas Transmission (NEXUS) to reroute their proposed new pipeline at a press conference Wednesday, February 8, 2017, at Farnsworth Metropark near Whitehouse.

BOWLING GREEN — The Wood County Board of Elections on Wednesday certified a ballot proposal for a Bowling Green city charter amendment, which would block fossil-fuel pipelines from passing through the city.

Called “Community Rights to a Healthy Environment and Livable Climate,” the ballot measure will appear before city voters on Nov. 7. The language would create a right for the city to be “free from new infrastructure for fossil fuel transportation within the City of Bowling Green or on property owned by the City of Bowling Green, except for infrastructure to transport fossil fuels to end-users within Wood County.”

Other language in the charter amendment would allow residents to enforce the law through non-violent direct actions if the city does not enforce it.