Movie on beauty of state parks fails to men­tion frack­ing

By Melinda Zemper

Save Ohio Parks volun­teers across Ohio are dis­trib­ut­ing lit­er­at­ure out­side theat­ers and museums to edu­cate Ohioans that pristine state parks fea­tured in a new doc­u­ment­ary IMAX film are at risk of being despoiled if Ohio pub­lic lands con­tinue to be fracked for nat­ural gas.

The non­profit has already hand-dis­trib­uted bro­chures to hun­dreds of people across the state, includ­ing to many plan­ning to view the new

Ohio Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources (ODNR) doc­u­ment­ary film, “Wild at Heart.” The film pro­motes Ohio’s state parks and includes scenes from these state parks: Hock­ing Hills; Kel­ley’s Island; Magee Marsh; John Bryan; Mohi­can; Pun­der­son; and Shawnee.

“We love our Ohio state parks,” said Anne Sparks, board mem­ber at Save Ohio Parks. “That’s why we need to pro­tect them. Frack­ing pol­lutes our air and increases the risk for can­cer and other ill­nesses. It depletes and con­tam­in­ates our fresh water; des­troys biod­iversity; and heats the planet.”

Pro­posed House Bill 399, sponsored by Reps. Tristan Rader, D- Lake­wood, and Christine Cockley, D-Colum­bus, would ban frack­ing state parks and Lake Erie. The bill needs a second hear­ing before the Ohio Nat­ural Resources Com­mit­tee, where testi­mony from cit­izens, experts, and stake­hold­ers can be presen­ted before it pro­ceeds to the Ohio Sen­ate.

Rep. Mon­ica Blas­del, R-New Water­ford, whose Columbi­ana County 79th dis­trict is loc­ated in East Palestine, Ohio, chairs the com­mit­tee.

In 2023, a Nor­folk South­ern train derail­ment and vinyl chlor­ide chem­ical explo­sion in East Palestine caused the deaths of seven people, includ­ing a new­born baby, and the evac­u­ation of 2,000 res­id­ents. Many people there still suf­fer from anxi­ety and breath­ing-related issues from smoke, soil con­tam­in­a­tion and chem­ical emis­sion expos­ure.

Nat­ural gas frack­ing releases meth­ane gas, which is 80 times more potent at trap­ping heat in the atmo­sphere than car­bon diox­ide. It accel­er­ates cli­mate change. Young chil­dren who live with a mile of a frack­ing well pad exper­i­ence rare can­cers five to seven times higher than people who live fur­ther away.

Meth­ane gas emis­sions from oil and gas pro­duc­tion also increase adult can­cers, asth­mas, COPD, infer­til­ity, low thyroid, hor­mone dis­rup­tion, pre-term births, and low birth-weights.

Save Ohio Parks either hos­ted or plans edu­ca­tion events for theat­ers where the film will be shown in Toledo, Dayton, Cin­cin­nati, Colum­bus, and Clev­e­land.

Save Ohio Parks and a coali­tion of 30 envir­on­mental organ­iz­a­tion mem­bers asked Gov. Mike DeW­ine last Feb­ru­ary to declare a morator­ium on all bids, nom­in­a­tions, leases, and per­mits to frack under Ohio state parks and pub­lic lands. He has not respon­ded.

In indus­tri­al­ized Ohio, half of our homes already suf­fer from among the highest radon levels in the nation, with more than 2,500 Ohioans dying of lung can­cer each year.

Addi­tion­ally, if Ohio’s pro­posed Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence data cen­ters are powered by nat­ural gas, not only would frack­ing be locked in in Ohio, but res­id­ents liv­ing close to cen­ters would also exper­i­ence sim­ilar dis­eases caused from increased meth­ane gas emis­sions.

“It’s clear Ohio law­makers have not con­sidered neg­at­ive health, envir­on­mental and planet-warm­ing harms of con­tinu­ing to embrace a fossil fuels energy policy,” said Sparks. “We have the tech­no­logy avail­able today to power much of Ohio with cheap, reli­able and emis­sions-free renew­able energy like wind and solar. There is no need for the state to frack our state parks and pub­lic lands.”

Save Ohio Parks offers vir­tual and in-per­son com­munity present­a­tions on the facts about frack­ing. Visit https:// http://www.save­o­hioparks.org or email hello@save­o­hioparks.org for more inform­a­tion.

Melinda Zem­per is a volun­teer with Save Ohio Parks.

This op-ed originally appeared in the Dayton Daily News on January 1, 2026. It was reprinted in the Springfield News Sun and Butler County Journal-News.