Since 2023, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission has approved the leasing of our state parks and publicly owned wildlife areas for industrial fracking. Salt Fork State Park, Egypt Valley Wildlife Area, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, and Leesville Wildlife Area are some of the natural spaces that have been targeted.
Despite near-unanimous public opposition, the OGLMC has approved leases with no discussion and no apparent consideration of the many groups and individuals who have written and submitted comments against this destruction process.
The negative health effects caused by proximity to fracking sites are well documented. Low birth weight, preterm births, congenital anomalies, asthma and childhood cancers have all been linked to living near fracking infrastructure.
The damage done by frack pads, truck traffic, compressors, toxic radioactive brine, flaring, and the burning of fossil fuel is irreversible. This profit-driven extractive process is unneeded and unwanted.
The January 2025 fire and explosion at a fracked well pad near Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County burned for a full day, releasing toxic chemicals into the air, soil, and water. Despite the fact that the company operating this well had already been fined $1.7 million dollars and despite the fact that this company was found to have systematic deficiencies in their vapor capture and control systems, this company was allowed to continue fracking near our prized state park. This must stop. Our public areas and Ohio communities must be prioritized and protected.
Ohio State Parks are a treasure that we must preserve. The white tailed deer, black bear, wild turkey, the bats, bobcats, the ospreys, the wood thrush, the spring peepers and the black rat snakes all need these natural spaces as much as we need them to be in it. We depend on thriving natural ecosystems, not the ruins left by abandoned wells and broken pipelines.
No other state in this country has allowed the atrocity of fracking under their publicly owned natural areas. In Ohio, against the will of the people, this commission has allowed the destruction of 30,000 acres of land that is publicly owned and preserved as natural areas for wildlife and recreation.
New York protects over 11% of its land in parks and natural areas. In Maryland, 10-11% of the land is saved and preserved to support the healthy ecosystems that everyone needs. California holds 19% of its land for parks, monuments, and wildlife conservation. But in Ohio, only 4% of our land has been spared from commercial use. Only 4% of our land has been held sacred as state and federal parks, forests, and wildlife areas. We have so little left. The destruction of our home must stop.
Ohioans need the fresh water that runs through our state parks to stay clean. We need the air to remain breathable and the soil to continue to sequester carbon while it supports the trees, shrubs and wildflowers that grow in this venerated land.
The members of the Oil & Gas Land Management Commission have the authority to stop this insanity. They must stop the leasing of our public lands to an extractive industry that harms Ohio communities and will destroy the remaining natural spaces that have been left to us.