Tell Mike DeWine to protect Ohio's public lands from oil and gas extraction
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz
A deer peeks out of the forest at Beaver Creek State Park in Columbiana County, another Ohio park in the crosshairs of fracking.
Salt Fork State Park. Fernwood State Forest. Woodbury Wildlife Area. These are just three of the over 300 state parks, forests, and wildlife areas in Ohio targeted for oil and gas extraction starting in April.
Thanks to amendments stuffed into HB 507 -- a bill intended to regulate poultry sales -- oil and gas corporations will be able to approach any state agency that owns public land with demands to frack and extract -- and starting April 7 when the law goes into effect, the agency will be compelled to let them.
Oil and gas corporations have been eyeing our public lands for fracking since 2011 -- but until HB 507 passed, there was no process for that to happen. HB 507 gave them that process.
In signing HB 507 into law, Gov. Mike DeWine stated that while frackers could set up shop near a state park and conduct horizontal drilling for mineral rights under our public lands, his administration would not allow surface impacts on our public lands.
"I am instructing the Director of the Department of Natural Resources to continue to follow the processes first established by the General Assembly in 2011 in this area," DeWine wrote. "This includes continuing my administration’s policy of prohibiting any new surface use access in our state parks."
Yet the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission has drafted a lease form instructing oil and gas companies to create a special agreement with the agency that owns the land allowing for surface impacts. This agreement would be made behind closed doors with no public notification or comment.
By surface impacts, they mean things like frack well pads, pipelines, pump stations, tank batteries, dryers, separators, compressors, access roads, temporary or permanent pits, timber removal, fencing, gates, and water withdrawals -- none of which we want on our state lands.
Gov. DeWine said in signing HB 507 that compels fracking on our public lands that there would be no surface impacts -- yet the state agency tasked with overseeing the law has outlined just how oil and gas corporations can have all the surface impacts they want with no public involvement.
This is wrong! Sign here to tell Mike DeWine to stick to his word and protect our state parks, forests, wildlife areas, and other public lands from oil and gas extraction!
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Gov. DeWine and ODNR Director Mertz,
On January 7, 2023, Gov. DeWine signed HB 507 which directs the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to outline procedures, including a draft lease form, for oil and gas companies to lease parcels of Ohio public lands for oil and gas extraction.
The commission has begun the process of promulgating administrative rules for oil and gas extraction on public lands. However, those rules will not be in place before late May, but HB 507 goes into effect 90 days after signing on April 7.
During this interim period, HB 507 mandates that any state agency approached by oil and gas corporations to extract from public land they manage -- including state parks, state forests, and state wildlife hunting areas -- must allow it. This is mandated through the "shall lease" amendment to existing law passed in 2011.
This will happen with no notification to Ohioans who own and use our public lands, and no chance for us to comment.
Even after the rules are in place, they will include a lease form that directs oil and gas companies to make a separate agreement directly with the state agency if they want to engage in surface impacts on our public lands -- things like frack well pads, pipelines, pump stations, tank batteries, dryers, separators, compressors, access roads, temporary or permanent pits, timber removal, fencing, gates, and water withdrawals.
This means that when the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission considers -- and the public sees -- any parcels of our public land nominated for oil and gas extraction, we will not know if any surface impacts are planned.
It further means that any agreement with a state agency regarding surface impacts will be made behind closed doors, out of sight of the commission and Ohioans who own and use these lands for campaign, hiking, hunting, and other recreation.
This is wrong!
Gov. DeWine, when you signed HB 507 into law, you stated:
"I am instructing the Director of the Department of Natural Resources to continue to follow the processes first established by the General Assembly in 2011 in this area. This includes continuing my administration’s policy of prohibiting any new surface use access in our state parks."
You promised there would be no surface impacts from the oil and gas industry on our public lands. Yet your own agency has just outlined a process in which the oil and gas industry can get all the surface impacts they want, behind closed doors, with no oversight from the commission or Ohioans who own these lands.
We the people petition you, Gov. DeWine and Director Mertz, to keep your promise. Do not allow the oil and gas industry to create ANY agreements for surface impacts from oil and gas extraction on Ohio public lands. BAN surface impacts from oil and gas exploration on Ohio public lands completely.