For the sixth and seventh times: No fracking Salt Fork!

They simply won’t leave Salt Fork State Park alone. An unnamed gas and oil company has nominated Salt Fork for fracking for the sixth and seventh times since this process began.

That’s right, there are TWO new nominations to frack Salt Fork State Park:

• 24-DNR-0007, covering 371.42 acres
• 24-DNR-0008, covering 513.11 acres

We know it’s tedious, but it’s important that the citizens of Ohio weigh in to tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to DENY these nominations for Salt Fork State Park.

Our resistance has contributed to four previous nominations for Salt Fork being withdrawn, one being denied, and one whose bid was not awarded. We need to keep up the fight!

Please go to the commission’s Comment Portal and leave a comment using Nomination #24-DNR-0007. Then go back to the commission’s Comment Portal and leave the same comment using Nomination #24-DNR-0008.

***Because these are two separate nominations, you need to leave two separate comments for your comment to count for both nominations.***

Tell the Commission: No fracking Salt Fork!

Salt Fork State Park is Ohio’s largest and most iconic state park with more than 20,000 acres in Guernsey County. At Salt Fork, you can visit the iconic Hosak’s Cave and historic Kennedy Stone House, swim in Salt Fork Lake from the longest inland beach in Ohio, explore miles of hiking trails, camp, boat, fish, birdwatch, ride horses, and stay in the expansive state park lodge. None of these activities are compatible with fracking!

Need some ideas for what to say in your comment? You can find the comments so far by your fellow Ohioans here:

• Comments so far on 24-DNR-0007
• Comments so far on 24-DNR-0008

You can also use our sample comment below, but please personalize this to explain what fracking in Salt Fork State Park means to you:

To the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission:

I am writing to strongly oppose fracking of Salt Fork State Park. Salt Fork is Ohio’s largest and most iconic state park with more than 20,000 acres. At Salt Fork I can visit the iconic Hosak’s Cave and historic Kennedy Stone House, swim from the longest inland beach in Ohio, explore miles of hiking trails, camp, boat, fish, birdwatch, ride horses, and stay in the expansive state park lodge.  

None of this is compatible with the noise, toxic chemicals, air pollution, methane leaks, lights, and numerous truck trips entailed in any fracking operation.

Of particular concern is what will happen to the large and beautiful Salt Fork Lake. Fracking requires tens of millions of gallons of water per frack. This water is laced with toxic chemicals including the forever chemicals PFAS. This water is then injected deep into the earth to break up the rock and release the gas.

When the water comes back up, it brings back radioactive elements. It can never be put back into the water cycle again. Instead it is typically disposed of in injection wells — which are known to leak. Six injection wells in Athens County had to be closed because their toxic contents are leaking.

Where will the water to frack Salt Fork State Park come from? If hundreds of millions of gallons of water are taken from the streams and runs that feed Salt Fork Lake, that will change the chemistry of the water so important to the park’s natural habitats. Eastern Ohio is already experiencing an extreme drought – taking so much water for fracking will only make it worse.

The people of Ohio pay for and use our public lands, including Salt Fork State Park. We do not want to see oil and gas extraction from this land. Enough is enough. Please DENY nominations 24-DNR-0007 and 24-DNR-0008, and preserve Salt Fork State Park as it was meant to be.

Thank you.

Please go to the commission’s Comment Portal and leave a comment using Nomination #24-DNR-0007. Then go back to the commission’s Comment Portal and leave the same comment using Nomination #24-DNR-0008.

***Because these are two separate nominations, you need to leave two separate comments for your comment to count for both nominations.***

Tell the Commission: No fracking Salt Fork!

Thank you for standing up for Ohio’s state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands!