![The water supply for the city of Akron is stored in LaDue Reservoir. [Google Earth]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e4a3b60/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1342x467+0+0/resize/840x292!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2021%2F02%2F964315024_10227394.png)
Land owned by the city of Akron will not be leased for oil and natural gas drilling after all.
Mayor Dan Horrigan announced during a virtual Town Hall meeting Thursday that the city is withdrawing the proposal to lease the land near LaDue Reservoir to DP Energy Auburn LLC.
Horrigan said the deal is being pulled from Akron City Council’s agenda because of widespread community concern. While he understands apprehension about fracking, The city would not jeopardize the safety of citizens and the drinking water, he said. He’s also concerned about misinformation.
Horrigan also said this issue is not the same as the public health crisis in Flint, Mich.,where the city’s drinking water was contaminated.
“Flint was somebody actually changing the water supply to a lead-laden, mercury-laden water supply from a safe one and then not telling anybody about it. And this was not this at all," Horrigan said. "We're not selling the water rights or the rights to do that. It would have been a lease, and quite frankly, I haven't been bought by campaign donors. I wanted to make that clear to all of that. So we've listened to your concerns.”
Horrigan said he is willing to have a policy debate about the issue of fracking at a later date.
He also said the city will have to come up with a creative way to make up for lost revenue from the proposed deal, which would have generated an initial sum of $237,500.
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