Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here, and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a Mill Creek sewer overhaul plan that includes bringing back a long-buried creek in the area. The unconventional strategy is the Metropolitan Sewer District’s (MSD) attempt at dealing with storm overflow in a green, sustainable manner that also saves taxpayers money — particularly in comparison to an expensive deep underground tunnel that the EPA originally suggested. CityBeat previously covered MSD’s green plans in further detail here. A law that would ban mandatory union membership is temporarily back on the Ohio House agenda, leaving union advocates worried that Republicans are trying to push the anti-union law, which supporters of the change call “right to work,” once again. Still, lawmakers say they’re only giving the law one hearing as required by House rules for legislation introduced early on in the session. Under current law, employers and unions are allowed to agree to mandating union membership for employees, but the anti-union law would bar that agreement. Many states have already taken up similar laws, and they’ve been linked to a significant decline of unions around the nation. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is partnering with Ohio State Board of Pharmacy Executive Director Kyle Parker to continue the fight against synthetic drugs. In a statement, DeWine’s office said the partnership will help state officials expedite the process of banning synthetic drugs as they are found. “Despite the success of House Bill 334, which outlawed a multitude of synthetic drugs in 2012, rogue chemists continue to create new, dangerous chemicals that fall outside of Ohio's controlled substances law,” DeWine said in a statement. Cost for vehicle registration in Ohio could go up under a plan being considered by state lawmakers. Two more alleged voter fraud cases were sent to the county prosecutor. So far, most of the Hamilton County voter fraud cases involve people voting twice — supposedly on accident — by first early voting and then voting on Election Day. A Gillette commercial is at the center of the most important question of our time: How does Superman shave? The “cutest couple” at a suburban New York school is two boys. Being from Ohio may have ruined Neil Armstrong’s most famous quote. In case you missed it, here is the news section for the latest issue of CityBeat: Cover story: “From the Inside: Inmates told CityBeat about violence, staff ineptitude and unsanitary conditions inside Ohio’s private prison. Then came the surprise inspections.”News: “What’s On the Books?: Northern Kentucky tea party-backed lawsuit threatens library funding across the state”Commentary: “Commissioners’ Proposed Streetcar Cut Ignores the Basics”

A new study released by the oil and gas industry claims the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been overestimating methane emissions from natural gas and fracking, but environmental groups have dismissed the study as “fatally flawed” and “biased.” The study, released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), claims methane emissions given off during natural gas production are as low as half of what the EPA is estimating. The study arrived just in time for a June 19 congressional hearing in which industry officials are testifying in defense of natural gas production and fracking, a relatively new drilling process that involves pumping thousands of gallons of water underground to break up shale formations in order to release natural gas and oil. The nonprofit environmental group Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) has questioned the methodology behind the study. One criticism is that the study only covers 20 out of hundreds of oil and gas operators. This makes the study “statistically invalid,” according to Anthony Ingraffea, a professor of engineering at Cornell University and a member of PSE. Ingraffea also says questions for the study were framed poorly. In one example, he pointed out that the study gave survey-takers, which work within the oil and gas industry, EPA estimates of methane emissions. Given the industry’s interest in making sure methane emissions are low, this could have “coached” survey-takers into giving lower estimates, according to Ingraffea. Ingraffea says he would have preferred a study that randomly samples a larger number of operators from all over the country with more objective questions. That, he says, would have produced much more credible results. Ingraffea also emphasizes that the data from this study is made up of estimates derived by mathematical equations, not any actual measurements taken from the field. “No one, with one exception, has actually gone out into the field and made measurements,” he says. The one exception is a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that was published February in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The NOAA study measured Colorado gas wells in an attempt to get more accurate data than what the EPA and the industry have been providing. The measurements showed methane emissions were at least twice as large as what the EPA was previously estimating, leading NOAA researchers to conclude the EPA is greatly underestimating emissions, a stark contrast to the API/ANGA study.