Tell Mike DeWine: No fracking in our Ohio state parks or wildlife areas

The final meeting this year for the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission is less than a week away on November 15. That’s when they must decide the fate of four Ohio state parks and wildlife areas. Read more here

But the commission isn’t the only authority who can weigh in on this question. The members of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission are appointed by the governor, and through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, they ultimately report to him.

The buck stops with Mike DeWine. Tell him not to allow fracking of our Ohio state parks and wildlife areas!  Call 614-644-4357 or 614-466-3555, and/or write a message on the governor’s contact form at governor.ohio.gov/contact.

Message pointers

We have learned the voice mail for 614-644-4357, the phone number on the governor’s contact page, fills up quickly — so call in the morning, and keep calling each day. If you get a voice message, leave your name, city, phone number if you like, and a brief message.

If the voice mail box for the first phone number is full, try the second phone number, 614-466-3555, and leave your message there if you don’t reach a person.

If the voice mail for both numbers is full, then write a message to the governor on his contact form. In fact, even if you speak to a person or leave a voice message, you can follow up with a written message on the contact form at governor.ohio.gov/contact.

Your message can be short and sweet, something like:

My name is XXXXX, and I live in XXXX, Ohio. I am calling on you to tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to deny fracking near, in, or under our state parks and wildlife areas. As an Ohio citizen, my taxes pay for public lands, and I use our parks frequently. Even if a frack pad is not located inside a park, the air and water pollution, truck traffic, toxic chemicals, flaring, noise, and lights are not compatible with visitor experience. No fracking our Ohio public lands!

The buck stops with Mike DeWine. Tell him not to allow fracking of our Ohio state parks and wildlife areas!  Call 614-644-4357 or 614-466-3555, and/or write a message on the governor’s contact form at governor.ohio.gov/contact.

Currently multiple oil and gas corporations have proposed surrounding Salt Fork State Park with up to 16 frack pads, most only 400 feet from the park’s border. That much fracking next to Salt Fork is not compatible with hiking, camping, swimming, birdwatching, horseback riding, stargazing, and anything else that users of the park want to do there.

Oil and gas companies have also proposed surrounding Wolf Run State Park, as well as 1,000 acres around the park, with frack pads. The park is a popular destination for camping and swimming, and the nearby area includes an Ohio State University agricultural research station. Both Wolf Run and Salt Fork lakes provide drinking water to surrounding communities.

Fracking will take tens of millions of gallons of water from the streams that feed these lakes. It will entail thousands of truck trips to bring in toxic chemicals and take out wastewater that must be injected into wells that leak into drinking water. The air pollution, noise, and light pollution from fracking is incompatible with any purpose for Ohioans to visit a state park.

The buck stops with Mike DeWine. Tell him not to allow fracking of our Ohio state parks and wildlife areas!  Call 614-644-4357 or 614-466-3555, and/or write a message on the governor’s contact form at governor.ohio.gov/contact.

Never forget: We the citizens of Ohio own and use our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. We deserve a say in what happens to them.

Thank you so much for your support of Ohio’s state parks, wildlife areas, and other public lands. We would not have a Save Ohio Parks campaign without you.